Gris Gris

Gris - is the word for Grey in Spanish.

Gris Gris - is the name of a voodoo talisman which brings black magic on its 'victim'. They are adaptation of an earlier African Islamic tradition of amulets to ward off evil spirits. In Haiti and some African countries such as Senegal, gris gris still refers to a good talisman.

This post contains things related to both of those definitions.

Do you remember that in this post, I mentioned I was going clubbing in Leeds? Well I didn't get to wear that outfit because it wasn't an ordinary club night at all. It was a Zombie Prom!

I didn't have much time to plan a costume at all, so I simply shredded some old lining fabric I had lying around and make an overskirt for my skeleton cameo dress. I also added a piece of it to the streamer on my top hat and made a tiny axe out of cardboard and paint.

It was such a fun night! The make-up looks very washed out with flash, but everything was darker in real life; especially the blood! I used make-up rather than face-paint (like my friends) because I'm allergic to a lot of stuff and I didn't want to risk a reaction, and made my own fake blood from flour, water and food colouring (red with a few drops of blue and black gives a good colour) so that I could have it around my mouth without worrying about ingesting it when I ate or drank. It goes delightfully scabby looking too! Be warned though it will stain your skin, so I had to wear foundation and red eyeliner underneath it. This photo sort of terrifies me because it looks like I managed to roll my eyes completely back into my head! I might have to get some white eye contacts if I dress up as a zombie again because I think it works well!

By complete coincidence I also got asked to make a prop for a play. It's for my friends production of Witches of Eastwick. I love that she needed someone to make a voodoo doll and thought of me! I thought white would show up best on stage, so he's just made from a pair of socks! I resisted the temptation to make it neat and even too as I think it looks more creepy like this.

I got sent a lovely new jumper by my mum, who wanted me to have a really cosy jumper for my cold office (isn't she the best mum in the world?).

It's so soft and snuggly! I think I'm a tiny bit in love.

What I'm wearing:
Jumper: Dorothy Perkins
Pinafore: Miss Selfridge
White Underskirt: Vintage, my friend Gabby gave it to me because she thought I'd wear it more often than her =]
Tights: Pamela Mann, her tights are so expensive that I never buy them for myself. These were a christmas present from my auntie in 2007. Which just shows that the quality is worth the price really!
Boots: New Look.

I was inspired by the colour scheme of that outfit to make this choker for my Etsy shop. When it was finished, I really wanted to keep it, but I can always make myself something similar =]

Winter Blossom Choker, available here in my Etsy shop.

I've been making a few more things and using the equipment at work to take better quality photos so expect new listings and photo updates soon!

I've also started using Tumblr at last! I've been updating it with my new posts and I'm going to start putting up some old photos too (as well as re-blogging pretty things). I'm always looking for cool new blogs to follow so please send me a links. You can find mine here.