A few Halloween things

Is everyone letting their freak flags fly yet? I haven't gotten too freaky....yet ;-). These Halloween pieces are more of the "cute" variety then the gruesome, hehe. Ok, maybe the eggs are a little creepy. I also made a couple of potion/apothecary/botanical...ish boards, which I love doing! I think that if I were to choose what kind of roombox I'd want, an apothecary would be up there, most definitely.

Straight from Paris, HoKiou's tiny marvels under glass!

I was on etsy a couple nights ago, with half glazed, tired eyes, looking through my two most visited categories- jewelry and fragrance. I snapped out of it when I came across a little jewel of a shop...and when I say little, I mean LITTLE, though definitely NOT short on display of talent! Some people know that when it comes to miniatures, I have a thing for uber tiny, and HoKiou's work did not disappoint! She sculpts wee scenes and pieces on rings, then encases them in glass bubbles....AND, she makes crochet jewelry and mobiles! They are pure eye candy!! I love them all, but if I had to pic my favorites, it would be the haunted house with bats circling above, and the birds on a wire ;-). Check it out:

Her etsy shop

My original "Birthing Pumpkin", and more, to kick off Halloween! Also, my obsession with oils

This was one of those pieces I made, I believe almost two years ago, that I will never duplicate (although I've been asked, and really, there are enough "spawns" out there, so I've been told ;-)). Like all of my wacked out ideas, it came to me out of the blue. Yes, I'm twisted, in case you haven't noticed! I haven't launched fully into making Halloween stuff just yet, but I'm slowly inching in that direction. Even my tomatoes are darker (Black Krims).

The bottom three pics are of my oils...essential oils, absolutes, CO2's, and fragrance. I got interested in making my own perfumes about a couple months ago. It's fascinating and fun, but not as easy as it sounds! There is alot that goes into making your own fragrance...top notes, heart notes, bottom notes...finding the right balance, etc. As you can see, I go a bit hog wild when something interests me, so my oil buying has been nuts. In one of those boxes is a vial of civet, which is extracted from the perineal glands of the wild mammal. It's used for musk notes. another vial contains castoreum, which is taken from the castor sacs of the North American Beaver. In other words, near it's asshole :-/. By themselves, they are NOT pleasant smelling, believe me...but when added judiciously in a blend, they add a real earthiness, which I adore. I'm not really a sweet fragrance lover. I tend to like chyphres, orientals, fougeres, etc. Oh, and I like the marine, "oceany" types as well.