October 29th. Two days to go.

After a relatively hellish morning including nightmares in true Halloween style and a day fixing all kinds of stuff me and Lus took out the Halloween box of awsomness. It's still kind of tiny but give it a couple of years or 10.  

I love decorating for Halloween... sometimes I let the decorations stay because I kind of like the strangeness of finding a bottle of laudanum with a skeleton inside behind the baking powder. But anyway! with some fake spider web ,lights, bottles and twigs  we now have the first steps towards a spooky feeling.

Last year I didn't dress up so this year I really want to...but there is not much time so we'll see how that goes...!

Gonatt x

October 28th. Halloween countdown.

It is finally here! Halloween, my favourite holiday. I have been in the mood since Lus asked for a ghost costume and I started watching Great British Ghosts and that is a long time for a goldfish such as my self!

But starting today, with the help of my lovely boys, the Halloween preparation can begin..

If only I had a real witched brush, because today has been a backbreaking cleaning day. In a way it feels ironic to sweep away the real spider web from the windows just to be putting fake spider web in them the next day, but I still did. Washing, dishing, sweeping, jar collecting and looking for inspiration...

Tomorrow we will be going trough what there is aand putting ghoulish things out. So far it is mostly about decorating, Lus already has two different costumes and I will have to improvise sometime during this four day countdown...looking over at my husband there in the kitchen wondering how far I can take this costuming idea of mine...!

But anyway, this is, so far, my favourite inspiration for the spooky night.  

Countdown fact nr. 1:

Being scary at Halloween is to scare away the spirits that come trough when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest at this very night...dressed up the ghosts will not recognise you and you will live to see another year.

Waiting for the storm.

A storm is sweeping over the south east of England this night..or so they say. I just put some pots in the kitchen for the water to drop into so it must be true. 

But before I put my hair up and creep into bed (which is looking more bohemian by the day, thanks for asking)  I want to tell you about my creative dream. Her name. Is Elsa.

Ok I don't actually have her yet, but that's what dreams are for! I realised not long ago that partly why I keep dropping my creative ideas like enthusiastic flies on a light bulb is because I lack a foam-stuffed companion. So I have decided, for the good of the art and for my peace of mind, I must find one. And when I do find a suitable mannequin. I will call her Elsa and that is that!

Lets see how it goes.

It's finished. My box home is finally finished after a couple of days of obsession.. 
 

It did turn out quite like I had in mind..a little tidier actually, but I suppose the full debauchery of 2006 would be hard to recreate in a box..at least when it comes to the dirt and crowdedness!

 

I decided not to include people after all. Turns out that my past home contained a lot more people than a simple shoe box could hold, so instead I went for hinting at the existence of people. For instance, notice the shoes that's been taken off on the way to the bed ( no shoelaces?) and the drenched petticoats on the hanger.. Both beds are unmade, one possibly being slept in right now, the other just a blanket and pillows on a mattress, dirty and thrown around... Someone didn't have the time to finish breakfast beside the bed. There is an iron being heated on the stove..no cooking needed for bread and apples!
 

In a way, more than anything else, this reminds me of those moments when I stumbled, exhausted and hungry, into my rarely empty flat..ate my noodles and fell asleep. Some hours later waking up to live the rest of my life. It's very much a Victorian styled idealization of my own long gone past..It's my point of view.

It is a past that made me. I did love it..but I am so happy it is over!