Favor Feb: Shadow Manor interview

To honor the fact that tonight I shall be seeing Iron Maiden for the third time, and that Favor Feb has been a smashing success, I've got a very special post for y'all. Jenna from Shadow Manor and the Art of Darkness blog has agreed to answer a few questions about favors, weddings, and her embarrassing taste in music.

Skull bath bombs, $1.10, from Shadow Manor

Who is Shadow Manor and what do you do?

Shadow Manor is a small company which focuses on customers who have integrated "goth" into their lifestyle as a whole. Instead of clothing and jewelry, which is pretty widely available, we carry items for bridal, home décor, crafts, etc.

In honor of Favor Feb, tell us what you have in the way of weddingfavors for the Wedding Skulls Wedding?

We offer prepackaged items like "Death Mints" and absinthe-flavored candies, plus personal items like miniature tins of bath salts and voodoo doll sachets. The blog also offers lots of DIY suggestions for favors: I'm a huge fan of the dark-yet-somehow-mainstream, so things like Dia de los Muertos-inspired sugar skulls, Medieval-themed bottles of mead, miniature corn dollies, bat-shaped chocolates, etc. etc. etc. are all good choices. Something inexpensive that's been carefully chosen (or even handmade) to fit your personality and wedding theme is a much more meaningful favor than a costlier "traditional" item.

Death Mints, $2.25, from Shadow Manor

What is goth to you?

To *me*, goth is embracing and seeing the beauty in dark things. Itake my inspiration from Morticia Addams...she was certainly dark by mainstream standards, but she was actually a very optimistic individual.

What drew you to the culture/style initially?

I don't know if I can specify any one thing, because my tendencies have always been a little on the morbid side. I was always that weird kid who was fascinated by old cemeteries and dilapidated mansions.

Voodoo kit, from Shadow Manor

How did you incorporate gothic features into your wedding?

I devoted an entire site to my gothic wedding: http://www.halloweddings.com/ Essentially, I had a Halloween party with a wedding in the middle of it. Everyone came in costume. The flower girl strewed plastic spiders instead of rose petals. I wore black velvet and my husband was in Victorian garb. It was informal, unique, and enormous fun.

Tell us a little about your design process - how do you choose materials/motifs/inspiration for your pieces?

Skully ring pillow, from Shadow Manor

I don't do "art" as much as "craft," and I like to choose motifs that are subtle enough to work in a mainstream setting but are perfectly gothy when you look closely. I love rich fabrics like velvet and brocade, and Victorian-inspired detailing.

Why do you think Shadow Manor appeals to so many people?

I think it's got a different vibe than the sites that appeal to "clubkids." The items that I tend to focus on are more in line with long-term lifestyle and decorating choices, so I guess you could say that I mainly appeal to the "settled" goth. I also try to be very inclusive and welcoming, so people who are just dipping their toes in the goth pool don't feel as though they're intruding in some kind of clique.

Name a couple of bands/songs that are on your stereo at the moment?

I have very embarrassing taste in music. David Bowie, Jonathan Coulton, and The Kinks are the three that came up first when I hit shuffle. (Believe me, it could have been much, much worse.)

What's coming up for Shadow Manor?

We're planning to significantly expand our "Doom it Yourself"selection to feature items like unusual buttons, charms, and fabrics.

Any advice you could offer to Wedding Skulls?

As far as weddings go, my biggest piece of advice is what Nike suggested: Just do it. Choose a theme that makes YOU happy, and unless your relatives are paying for it, ignore any tsks of disapproval. (If they *are* paying for it, you have a choice: Either scale back to a budget you can manage without help, or choose a more mainstream theme and try to incorporate subtle details of the theme you wanted. I'd advise the former.) If you do it tastefully, your guests might be surprised at how well an offbeat theme works, and it's *so* much more personal (and fun!) than a cookie-cutter wedding.

Favor Feb: Gothic matchbox art favors

For years I've been making matchbox artworks. I've been a dollhouse fanatic since I could walk and I love any art project that comes in miniature. So I thought I'd share with you lovely Skullys a DIY favor idea that's a little bit out there, a little bit zany. Because I know you love 'em.

With matchbox favors, you can either decorate the outer face only, leaving them as functional match boxes, or decorate the interior with pictures and trinkets or a thank you note and give them away as 'shrines' or 'matchbox lockets'.

Have your matchboxes follow the theme of your wedding. You can either make them all the same or create a unique design for each guest.

DIY Matchbox Art favors

You will need:

• Matchboxes (enough for one per guest)
• Inspiration (loads of it)
• Craft wire - needs to be very thin and pliable - I use the inner wire from twisty ties.
• Scraps of craft paper, beads, stickers, scrapbook paper, inks, paints, buttons, ribbons, stamps, etc...
  

What to Do.

1. Before you begin, browse online for altered matchbooks and match box shrines. You'll find heaps of inspiration on craft forums and etsy.

3. If you've decided to use them as matchboxes, paint around the striking boards. They won't work if you paint over them. Paint the interior drawer and box (different shades if you want) and leave to dry. You may need to use two or three coats.

4. poke two holes in the centre of the matchbox drawer for the handle with a needle or the end of the wire. poke the wire through one hole, thread a bead onto the end, twist the wire back around and secure in the inside. Now you have a cute little drawer handle.

Ideas for decoration:

I love using torn up scraps of newspaper or old bibles or dictionaries (because you can tear off relevant or humorous words). Tear the edges so they're uneven and stain them with black or brown ink.

Use scrapbooking trinkets and embellishments to add texture.

For a masquerade wedding, cut tiny masks and decorate with feathers and harlequin patterned scrapbook paper.

Fill with tiny candies, spices or a thank you note.

Replace drawer handle beads with buttons. You can often find beads or buttons in cute skull shapes

Sometimes, nail polishes are an excellent substitute for thick, glittery or glossy paints.

Look for themed rubber stamps and embossing medium - I've made beautiful matchboxes using embossed greek vase and column stamps my mum found. So elegant with purple or rep papers.

Try not to go too overboard. Remember, they're only favors! Use scrap paper, ribbons and beads you have lying around.

Above all, have fun! Have a look at all the fab matchboxes for inspiration (no, none of these are mine). And this one which I can't get to show up on the blog, but TRUST ME, it's worth a looksie.

BHG Halloween Wedding Feature - Coffin Favor Boxes

Via Art of Adornment's delicious blog, I've been tipped off that Better Home and Garden magazine has featured ideas for a Halloween wedding reception in this cool but slightly annoying slideshow format. There's lots of cool ideas for halloween weddings - I love the ripped vellum invitations and the burnt-edged guestbook with ink splatters and faux-fountain pen.

Given the nature of Favour February, I'll give you the link to their DIY Coffin Favor Boxes filled with Halloween Candy - these are just adorable. The edges are 'weathered' with chalk.

Punk Rock DIY Candy Buffet

Argh, well, I suck. Second day into Favour Feb and I'm already behind on the posts. I WAS halfway through this post yesterday, but a power cut that destroyed half of Auckland city (my half) and a disasters with the wonderfully delightful ARC bus service left me rather annoyed and powerless and short on blogging time. Rest assured I shall make it up to you all today, perhaps with a wonderful BONUS post later on. Yaaay!

I'm doing a feature on Alexzandra and Kevin's fab punk rock wedding later in the month (be prepared for quite possbily the COOLEST WEDDING CAKE EVER), but for now, a sneak peak at their oxblood red, zebra print and black decor and their awesome CANDY BUFFET.

One of the joys of a candy buffet is that you don't have to supply dessert, so although they're not necessarily cheap, they're probably cheaper than the $10 a head dessert menu from your caterer. They're also SO much fun and just about the coolest thing you can have at a wedding reception, EVER.

DIY Punk Rock Candy Buffet

You will need:

• Several bell jars, containers or bowls for the candy
• black, red and zebra print ribbon
• white cardstock
• contrasting cardstock - black, red or zebra print.
• pattern for chinese takeout boxes (either download and print a pattern online or buy a takeout box from a craft shop and flatten it out)
• bulk sweets
• plastic scoops
  

1. Well before the wedding, copy the pattern onto the white cardstock several times - one box for each guest. Cut these boxes out and glue them together.

2. On a computer, draw up some suitably punk rock nametags for your guests. Print these out and cut to a uniform size - say 2cm by 6cm.

3. From the zebra print paper, cut squares slightly larger than the nametags - say 4cm by 8cm. Glue the nametags to the centre of the zebra print paper.

4. Glue the tag onto the front of each takeout box.

5. Purchuse several bulk bags of candy - choose your favourite childhood sweets or the latest chocolately goodies. You could look for sweets that match your wedding colours or flavours that say something about you as a couple. If your buffet table will be outside in the sun, try to avoid chocolates as they will melt.

6. Source your jars and candy containers - for the punk rock look, scour second-hand shops for odd shaped jars, decanters and vases. Mix a few martini glasses in for effect.

7. Using the same method as the nametags above, make labels for your candy jars.

8. Take the ribbon, and wrap around the centre of each jar. Secure in place with double sided tape. Cover the join with the label and glue in place.

To Set Up the Candy Buffet

1. On the Eve of the wedding arrange your jars on the table in an aesthetically appealing pattern

2. Rearrange when fiance comes along and 'accidentally' messes up your design

3. Fill jars with candy in a punk rock fashion - think stripes and swirls, clashing colours and skulls and sparkles as accessories. Cover table with cloth, keep out of sun, and clamour in excitement for the following day.

DIY Halloween Wedding for $200

I just stumbled across this Squidoo page from Webspinstress, who details how she and he fiance planned a Halloween Wedding for 20 guests in their apartment with a budget of only $200! She's got some lovely costumes - diamond painted pumpkins, and other decorating ideas for you DIY couples on a budget.

Webspinstress' home Halloween Wedding