Embroidery is not for the impatient. Those tiny stitches, painstaking and precise, individually add up to a practice and a pastime that quite literally passes a lot of time. I tried it myself nearly a decade ago, and it took me all day–probably 6 hours total–just to stitch seven words. Web weaving textile artist Lyla […]
DAY ONE: Jólabókaflóðið A dribble of candle wax, distant hearth-smoke, a fleck of chocolate Yule log on a thick wool sweater, and aged, yellowing paper bound by well-loved leather that has passed through many gentle hands. When I first heard of it, I immediately loved the idea of this Icelandic tradition of the year-end “book […]
“Secrets Garden” by @mel.odom // Mel Odom “The Blooming” by @susanjamison // Susan Jamison “Spiderwebs” by @catrin_welzstein // Catrin Welz-Stein “The Last Unicorn” porcelain doll by @marinabychkova // Marina Bychkova “The Watcher” by @alexkuno // Alex Kuno “Aesthetic and Artifice” by @martinwittfooth // Martin Wittfooth “Albino Owl” by @lukehillestad // Luke Hillstad “Harvest” by @venomous_swan […]
The featured image for this post is a current shelfie from my reading parlor because a sizable percentage of the books I wrote about this year were library books, and as I wish to remain a library card-holder in good standing, they were all returned long ago and could not pose for a collective glamor […]
OK. So I thought last week’s gallery was to be the last of the eyeball fodder for 2019, but then something slightly sad and somewhat unexpected happened, and I re-evaluated. To make a long story short, 8tracks, a website I’ve been using for over a decade to create “mixtapes,” or playlists, or whatever you want […]
S. Elizabeth: I initially wrote the following on Christmas eve, over a decade ago, but have since made an annual tradition of trotting out the creepy old chestnut to share with friends and kindred spirits. I cannot envision a more like-minded bunch with which to share a ghostly Christmas tale than my Haute Macabre family, […]
@brookeshaden // Brooke Shaden @jeremyhush // Jeremy Hush “Keeper of Malady” by @christinamrozikart // Christina Mrozik “Viridity” by @annitamaslov // Annita Maslov @irinajoanne // Irina Joanne @tiffanyhsiang // Tiffany Hsiang @brokensundowns // Amy Haslehurst @misterfinchtextiles // Mister Finch Textiles
If I were to wait for someone to ask, “oh, Sarah, won’t you divulge your bedtime routine and rituals to us?” Well, I imagine I would be waiting a very long time indeed because unfortunately, no one ever asks me those kinds of questions. But I do enjoy talking about all things bed and sleep and dream-related, so […]
Jordan Shiveley is that one acquaintance who you want to invite to a party so that you can introduce them to a like-minded friend and then you can eavesdrop on the conversation that ensues. Staging this encounter is actually your entire reason for throwing the party in the first place. You know your Jordan Shiveley […]
If you perused our weekly eyeball fodder earlier this week, you may have caught glimpse of the image above, a mysterious photo that has haunted me for years and for which I was requesting assistance in discovering its origins. I was certain that an Haute Macabre reader had seen this over the years and knew […]
I’m forcing myself to dial back the feverish intensity for this week’s eyeball fodder because I absolutely do not want to come across as an unyielding tyrant and I don’t want to be off-putting or self-righteously sanctimonious or an annoying know-it-all. I don’t want to be any of those things and yet I am afraid […]
@jodiemuirart // Jodie Muir “The Search” by @curvilinear // Amy Abshier @her_dark_materials “The Reading” by @catrin_welzstein // Catrin Welz-Stein “Silver Star / It Flows Through You As I Melt” by @oliverhibert // Oliver Hibert @elizabeth_blair_stephenson // Elizabeth Blair Stephenson @oriolangrill // Oriol Angrill @ellenjanerogers // Ellen Rogers
Weenie time, weenie time! It’s Weenie time at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab! I think I can skip the preamble this year and get right into it. I mean, I could very well wax poetic about my love of autumn leaves and long, dark nights and bloody harvest moons and spooky Halloween feels, but I’m pretty […]
Sadly I did not engage in my annual tradition of watching one horror movie a day, every day during the month of October. I didn’t have the time! I’m so sorry! If you missed them in previous years, you can find my 31 Days of Horror in our archives for 2018 and 2017. I’m definitely […]
The month of October is a most marvelous time to see spooky new art emerge on social media while artists all over the world are participating in eerie seasonal 31-days challenges such as #Inktober or the #Mabsdrawlloweenclub…and I eagerly await its arrival every year! There’s such a fantastically diverse variety of styles and mediums, from […]
“Buckeye” by @darktownsally // Naisa Gomez “The May Queen” by @billsafi // Bill Crisafi @debishapirophotography // Debi Shapiro @stephanieinagaki // Stephanie Inagaki @dromsjel // Pierre Schmidt aka drømsjel @memorialstitches // Carrie Violet @maryannheld // Maryann Held
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab released the expansion to its 2007 Good Omens collection this past May, maybe a week or so before the television series was released on Amazon Prime and BBC Two– and it has taken me quite a while to compile my thoughts on this bustling commotion of scents. I can’t quite put my […]
Alice Auaa is a dark couture house we have long loved here at Haute Macabre, having featured many of their fantastical, phantasmagorical runway shows and collections over the years. Avant-garde, romantic designs that deal in dualities such as beauty and decay, light and shadow, designer Yasutaka Funakoshi of Alice Auaa filters these concepts through a […]
“Lines of Enchantment” by @masks_of_the_moon // Brynna Levine “In the Dead of Night” by @mynameistran // Tran Nguyen “A Dance in the Lepidoptera Room, 1911” by @benzandchang // Dave Benz “Through the Never” by @gailpotocki // Gail Potocki “Swarms and Swallows” by @jakemessing // Jake Messing “Keeper Of The Lilies” by @studio.sheridansart // Laura Sheridan […]
DARKLY DREAMING: BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB. Part enthusiast’s memoir and part course guide. BPAL Intermediate and Advanced Studies Read Part I Apart from the general catalog of scents on The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website, you will also find Limited Edition scents. I have read someone comment that they doubted “the BPAL fandom would be […]
DARKLY DREAMING: BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB.Part enthusiast’s memoir and part course guide. As some people may remember where they were when a pivotal, life-changing occasion occurred, perhaps when a world leader was assassinated or something momentous happened in outerspace (I am editing these instances to keep it vague, I realize my original words make me […]
“The Eye Thief” by @i_justdraw // Allen Williams @helenaether // Helena Aguilar Mayans “Waxing” by @light_witch // Courtney Brooke “Cosmic Venus Bloom” by @yinshadowz // Meagan Boyd “femme fleur” by @_ofresia // monica merlo “Dutch III” by @lindseycarrart // Lindsey Carr “Elected” by @_grave_witness_ // Stuart Holland Bonus […]
“Querent” by @sydbeeart // Syd Bee @magpie.rodgers // Meagan Magpie Rodgers “Amare II” by @mjgs17 // Mariajosé Gallardo “Young Yaga” by @twistedmatter // Nadezda @hakannedjat // Hakannedjat “Totems” by @laurenmarxart // Lauren Marx “City of Earthly Delights” by @moon_patrol // Moon Patrol
WOW. We’re coming up on almost four years since Crimson Peak was released in all its gothic glory, and along with it, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s accompanying collection of spellbindingly immersive scents and accessories. I had written of my thoughts for this collection at that time, but in the following years, the reviews sadly became […]
Sarah Elizabeth’s carousel of inspiration. Follow her on Instagram @ghoulnextdoor. @jmalkova // Julia Malkova “Captured” by @_virginia_mori_ // Virginia Mori “The Find” (cropped) by @karilise // Kari-lise Alexander “Leda and the Swan” by @darla_tea // Darla Teagarden @majaeglicollages // Maja Egli @myr.illustration // Myriam Wares @nightjarillustration // Adam Burke […]
For the past year or so over in my Instagram stories, I’ve been sharing a collection of the art that tickles my eyeballs. Usually on a nightly basis, although sometimes I do get a little lazy about it. It’s a “semi-regular” thing at this point, I suppose you might say. I think this urge to […]
I can’t remember the last time I tuned into new music that I’ve been really excited about. Ages ago, in another life when I had more time on my hands, I used to schedule a weekly ritual of compiling a playlist of new-to-me music, and I’d post it up over on 8tracks. I remember asking […]
I had, for a time, sadly shelved the idea of a feature on digital collage artist Robin Isely, aka sliplead. I first mentioned this artist in my 2017 Needful Things roundup and I was immensely thrilled at the opportunity to connect with them for an interview, but unfortunately, their gorgeous Tumblr-hosted gallery–an obscurum of secrets, elusive […]
Sarah To be frank–and apologies in advance, Angelenos– but even though I had never been, I was pretty sure, like almost 100% certain, that I was going to feel some kind of way about Los Angeles. Aversion? Hostility? I’m not even sure what kind of way. But not a good way. Even though in my […]
Sarah’s Needful Things: Summer 2019 I feel like I should apologize in advance. I know we’re supposed to be all gawth and whatnot here at Haute Macabre, and looking it over, this following list is sort of …anything but? But hey–we are never just one thing, we contain multitudes, right? So, first on the list, […]
