The Extroirdinary Goth Tag

 Hello my little Darklings and Snarklings. It's time for some more getting to know you stuff. I found this tag on youtube and decided to bring it on over here. It may already be a tag on here, but I haven't seen it yet so I'm going to do it. Here we go.

Questions:
1. How long have you been identifying as Goth? Pretty much most of my life. I was raised by bikers/hippies who really liked watching horror movies (Hellraiser in particular) and watching the surgery/medical channel while we were eating dinner. The macabre is all around.

 2. What was your first encounter with the Goth subculture? Probably when I noticed some people at the mall walking around. I wanted to be like them but I didn't know how to do it. Then I "discovered black" as my mom likes to tell the story (she's very fond of it and it IS hilarious). It all went haywire from there.

3. How many items of crushed velvet clothing do you own? Oh man. I don't know. I know at least one skirt that I wear to work all the time. It's penne I think so it's pretty washable.

4. What is your favorite/least favorite Goth clothing staple? I'd have to say my favorite clothing staple is a parasol or fan. My least favorite clothing staple? Oh man. I don't know. I really like pretty much everything.

5. What widely accepted Goth band can you not stand? Probably Skinny Puppy, but I'm not sure if they're classified as goth or industrial or what. Please don't hate me. They sound like noise (and I have misophonia).

6. In the Goth subculture, there is a lot of death imagery. What meaning does this hold for you specifically, if any? Hmm.... death imagery. Yeah I don't care. I'm pretty much a nihilist. Sure I believe reincarnation happens. Sometimes. Probably. But for the most part everything is pretty pointless. Oh, and it's probably going to hurt.

7. What is your favorite piece of Gothic literature, and can you name your three favorite characters from Gothic lit? Hmmm.... I mean, the typical Edgar Allen Poe. I honestly don't think I know that many gothic characters. I tend to read weird shit or paranormal shit. Oh, and pagan shit. Lots of pagan shit.

 8. Who are your three favorite Goth bands/artists?  Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Birthday Massacre, and Wolfsheim

9. What are your three all-time favorite songs to dance to in the Goth club? "Kiss them for me" by Siouxsie and the Banshees, "People Are People" by Depeche Mode, and "Sparrows and the Nightengales" by Wolfsheim.

10. What is the funniest encounter you have ever had with someone in response to your Goth appearance? I've had people ask me if I was going to a play in a pizza restaurant. Around Christmas. What the heck play would I be in when I am in full on white face with black lipstick and stuff.... around Christmas. Am I the Ghost of Christmas Past or something? I dunno. I thought it was amusing. Especially since it was the owner of the establishment and he wanted me to get a picture with Santa Claus. Life is funny.


Well, there's some stuff to look at. It's not crafty, but it's about me. And sometimes you like to know about the person behind the crafts. I hope you see the humor in what I do. I also hope that you don't find my beliefs offensive. I'm pretty open to everyone's beliefs. There are a few I don't care for, but that's normal. C'est la vie.

Lots of love little batlings,
-Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind the Darkest Designs

Mabon Celebrations

Holiday greetings my little Darklings and Snarklings!

Today is a very important day! Today is the pagan holiday of Mabon, also known as the Autumnal Equinox. It is one of the four throughout the wheel of the year. It is the day when the sun and the moon are in complete balance. Light and darkness are in complete balance, basically. Everything is alright and things are all good.

It is the second harvest festival/holiday on the wheel of the year. The first holiday is Lammas, of course, and the third and final harvest day is Samhain, which most other people will recognize as Halloween. They just so happen to happen on the same day. After the harvest festivals are your light and brightness festivals and holidays, like Yule (Which is the pagan version of Christmas, really). I've heard of this holiday being referred to as the "Witch's Thanksgiving."

I did some research into some other things about the holiday. It turns out there are a few deities who reign over this holiday, including Hecate, Demeter, Dionysus, and Tammuz. Each one of them are kind of over a different aspect of the day, but most people pick a female and a male deity to worship or pay their respects to.

Today is about the harvest and finding things to finish up. Finishing projects and finality. This way you balance things out in your life and express how thankful you are for them. It seems strange, but now is the perfect time to honor the darkness as well. You might find that a little strange (especially if you are the "lightworking" type) but if you think about it, we wouldn't have light without the darkness. Not all darkness is pain and evil.

Of the things to finish up, some examples would include:

• cleaning the house
• craft projects
• ritual ideas
• songs
• decluttering your life of various things
• money making projects
• harvesting crops
• ... and many more! 

The list is endless and could go on forever. There are so many things that you could finish today (or soon enough).

So I wanted to wish you all a Happy Mabon and may your harvest be bountiful.
-Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind the Darkest Designs

My Fellow Crafter: Screaming Demon Crafts' Dice Roller

Hello my little Darklings and Snarklings!

It's time to share something I think is really cool. My boyfriend is the owner of Screaming Demon Crafts and he wanted to make sure you all saw what it was he has been up to.

This product that I am about to show you took him about 12 hours to make (grand total). He worked really hard and used a bunch of different interesting materials. Everything is handmade and hand painted.

These are images of what he has been working on: 

What you see here is a custom dice roller for roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons and even Pathfinder. Heck, there are so many different types of role playing games that you could use them for. Oh~! You could even impress people when you are playing Yahtzee or Bunco!

If you are interested in purchasing something from him, you can find his products on ebay at:

Screaming Demon Custom Dice Roller



Check it out!
Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind the Darkest Designs

Glitter Pumpkin DIY Challenge

Hey there my little Darklings and Snarklings!

I was on my lovely Amino app on my phone and it asked us to do a weekend challenge with glitter. So I decided that I would do a simple but cute little project with some things that I have around the house and a LOOOOOT of glitter. Glitter's got such a bad rap, but I still like it. Yes I'm goth, leave me alone. LOL

So for my little glitter pumpkin I needed to use the following tools:

• 2 empty toilet paper tubes
• mod podge
• a small stick
• black paint
• translucent glitter
• scissors
• newspaper to put down
• a plate to transfer things on
• a paintbrush
• some yarn or twine to tie it together

Here are the steps:

Step 1. Paint your toilet paper tube or paper towel tube whatever colour you want. I used black paint so it would match the rest of the decor of my house.

 Step 2: Cut your tubes into little rings. This step is hard to do without bending them slightly. Mine bent quite a bit so I had to "fluff" them. Also: You do not have to have a cat like it is included in my picture. That's just one of my cats, Cotton Puff, who likes to help.

Step 3. Tie your string through the center of your rings. It will help if you can get them to sit adjacent to each other. If they each have their own room to sit, they will look more pumpkin-y. I used a grey yarn. You can see the knot just in the back of my pumpkin.I did a square knot. After that, take a hot glue gun and your stick and glue it in/through the center where all the rings meet. Make sure that your rings are in a really nice order~!

Step 4: Now it's time to do the glitter. I put a piece of newspaper down first, and then I put down a plate to catch the glitter so I could reuse whatever fell off and didn't work. Use the mod podge or elmer's white school glue (you could use glitter glue for an added effect I bet) and a paint brush to brush the glue or podge on. Then pour the glitter onto the spots that have the glue or podge.

note: I added more glitter on after I was done with this layer and it looked more like this:

Step 5: Allow to dry and enjoy the final product! You can make tons of these little guys for holidays like Halloween, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, or even Thanksgiving! I bet you could make some really ornate ones for Dia de los Muertos.

Doesn't it look cute? I love pumpkins. I might make a pumpkin pie with real pumpkin this year. Or maybe a pumpkin cake. Good stuff!


Happy crafting!
Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind The Darkest Designs

Bat Wing Headband Tutorial

Hello my Little Darklings.

Today I'm bringing you my first crafting project on this site. I decided that I wanted to do a project that would go along with the GIY theme for this month, which is "Things with Wings." I came up with something that is dear to my heart; Headbands. I love wearing goofy stuff on my head, so this sounded like the perfect time to make something absolutely silly, and still able to be gothed up, depending on how you make it. I didn't make mine too out there. I used really simple materials that you can get just about anywhere.

Here are my Materials (some not shown in picture unfortunately):

• thin eva foam
• acrylic paint
• paintbrushes
• low temp hot glue gun
• scissors
• pencil
• headband
• butcher paper or something to make a paper pattern
• mod podge
• ruler
• box knife or exacto knife

Steps


Step One: Make pattern for the wings to attach to your headband. You can make these in any shape you want, but I chose to do a bat wing for my head. (The purple tentacle is my favorite pen)

Step Two: Cut out the pattern.

Step Three: Trace onto foam.

Step Four: Cut out the foam shape. You can do this with a sharp knife or the scissors. Be careful!

Step Five: Score the foam around the base so that it has a large v shape. This v shape will make an excellent reservoir for the hot glue that we will be using.

Step Six: Hot glue the scored area together so that it is at a 90 degree angle.

Step Seven: Mod Podge the wings to stiffen them up and so that the foam holds paint. Otherwise, the foam will absorb the paint and it will not look as cute.

Step Eight: Wait for about 15 minutes to dry each time you put a layer on. I did a layer on both the front and the back.


Step Nine: Paint on the Details.

Step Ten: Glue the wings onto the headband and wait until it dries. Then enjoy the end product!

Hope you guys enjoy! I'd love to see your versions. Please feel free to send me links or comment below. I can't wait to see what you have going.


Lots of love,
Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind the Darkest Designs

30 Facts About Myself

Hey there Little Darklings and others!

I thought if I gave you some random facts about myself that you might like to get to know me better. What better way than to do the little fact post about things I do and like. I can't wait to share all of this with you. You guys are super amazing. As Jimmy from South Park says, "Man. What a great audience."

Here we go.

1. I speak a variety of language, but I only speak three of them relatively well. English (of course), Spanish (I know enough to get me in trouble, but not enough to form coherent sentences), and now German (I can introduce myself and count and do a little flirting thanks to DuoLingo). The other languages that I know are French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. The latter languages I only know enough to ask where the bathroom is and how to find it. Also, I know some American Sign Language. It's super handy. I love doing it and helping people out.

2. I really love helping people out. I always feel that if I needed a hand, I would want someone to be like me and help out. It's like that quote says, "Be the change you want to see in the world." I live by that quote.

3. I work at Joanns. I do a lot of crafting and I refer to myself as a Hobby Hoarder. Ha!

4. I like to make my own clothing. I'm not particularly good at it, though.

5. I read the Tarot and other divination methods. My favorite divination method is the Black Mirror and also the Tarot. It's kind of a toss-up on those two.

6. I am Goth. Obviously. I consider myself to be a combination of Romantic, Nu, Trad, Lolita, Corp, and Casual Goth.

7. My favorite game to play is "Guess the Goth Band." If you ever ride in the car with me, you will find yourself playing along with me.

8. I have a loving boyfriend who goes by the name of Batsz and Ex Mortis. He is an Elder goth. He is also 15 years older than I am. We find that time is just something to tell where you were in time and has nothing to do with how romantic you are.... Unless of course you are underage. We don't like pedophiles obviously.

9. I am pagan. I follow a Hedgewitch's path. I do a lot of herbal crafts and things to mess with around the house.

10. I make most of our incense, besides the Nag Champa that we buy at one of the local new age shops. Our favorite smells are Nag Champa (obviously), Darkest Sandalwood (from a store I will not name), and my version of a Christmas/Yule scent called "Dragon Breath." I'm considering selling or posting the recipe for it.

11. Most of my favorite people to talk to are all online. I used to chat with people all over the world in various chat servers and all of my best friends are all over the US or in other countries. I have very few people who are in my local area who are my friends.

12. I have a bad time with wanting to edit everything. I do not like bad grammar and spelling, even though mine isn't exactly the best. If I see an obvious error, I try to fix it or I point it out.

13. I watch the news in the mornings in a very specific order. My favorite Newscaster is Mitch English on what is our channel 25 Fox news in the morning. He is hilarious and always has something snarky to say (which makes my little goth heart happy).

14. Most of my family is from the East Coast. I don't think I have family past the midwest.

15. I play the flute, the guitar, and the keyboard. Unfortunately, I only play the flute well. I know how to play my school's fight song by muscle memory.

16. I am Plus Sized and my favorite store to shop at for clothing is Torrid, which is owned by the people who also own Hot Topic. I do a lot of my clothing shopping online on stores from overseas. It's hard to get just the right size, but as someone who knows my measurements by heart, that makes it much easier.

17. My old goth name is the stereotypical "Raven." The story behind it is that when I was in high school, my two friends and I decided that we would all have nicknames. Because I was the most stereotypical goth in our school, the decided to name me Raven The Omnipresent because I was such and also I was continually popping up literally everywhere all over the school. It was hard to get away from me.

18. My new goth name is Vyvyan Wormwood.

19. My actual name is Jet. (I won't be posting the long version of my name, as that is rather personal. This is what everyone calls me at work and other things)

20. My favorite television show is RuPaul's Drag Race.

21. I am genderfluid.

22. I am Asexual.

23. I can smell colour and feel music. It's an interesting experience.

24. I have Misophonia; A rare condition that causes me to become blackout angry or blackout sad. There are a few things that trigger it and cause me to become violent. Over the years I have learned to sort of control what I can of it with Mindfulness training.

25. I love cosplay and I used to cosplay all the time when I was younger. It was a fun way to use my sewing and crafting skills and also have a really great time with my friends. I also plan on getting back into it.

26. I love chainmaille. I'm not particularly good at it, but I love doing it. It's rather soothing.

27.  I used to hate clowns because a large inflatable costumed one almost stepped on me when I was younger. I find this to be a valid reason for being afraid of them. "Looking creepy" has nothing to do with it and I find that ridiculous. #sorrynotsorry

28. I have several blogs and social media to keep up with as much as I can. It's amazing. Social media is like magic.

29. I am an Empath, and can feel emotions over the internet. It's a rather handy skill.

30. I can't wait to get to know my audience better. You people are all very amazing and it's cool that you will get to know me some.

Feel free to drop some questions for me in the comments and I will answer them whenever I can.


Thanks friends!
Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind the Darkest Designs

Requests

Hey there little minions!

I'll be starting up with some of my crafting supplies soon. I have paints, yarn (I'm learning crochet), fabric (I mostly make patterns, but I try to make actual clothing. I'm bad at making quilts), beads, and some wire. I also have a ton of ribbon (tons. mostly Easter though...).

My question for you is, "What would you like to see me do?"

The monthly challenge on Goth It Yourself is "Things with Wings," and I am going to try to do something along those lines. I was thinking something maybe steampunk or something cute to do with bats. A lot of people are doing stuff with bats, since it is around Halloween (my favorite holiday!).

So leave me a message and see what kind of things you want me to try to attempt.

Enjoy your day!
Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind Darkest Designs

P.S. You can find Goth it Yourself at the following link: Goth It Yourself

Hello World!

Greetings my little minions!

This is my first post on this new blog. I am a goth and I am a crafter. I am super excited to be bringing you some of the things that I will be working on as time goes by. The posts will probably be kind of here and there, so feel free to stop by whenever you please.

This is a super exciting new avenue.

Lots of love,
-Vyvyan Wormwood
The Mind Behind Darkest Designs