Tag Archives: art in berlin

The first ever Torture Garden Berlin!

The Pain Proof Priestess at Torture Garden Berlin Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesHoly heck, the first Torture Garden in Berlin was amazing!

It was held at the breathtaking, legendary, just re-opened Art Deco palais The Metropol. The performers were fantastic. Above, Bertoulle Beaurebec, The Pain Proof Priestess. She is incredible. More drawings of her to come! Ms. Beaurebec is wearing a headpiece created by my friend Sylva Hattington of Bubbles and Frown. Sylva did simply unbelievable costumery for the performance. I wore one of her creations too and I have never gotten so many compliments!

Marie Devilreux at Torture Garden Berlin Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesI got to draw fantastic multi-talented Marie Devilreux!

I have been wanting to draw her for absolutely ages! Her Instagram handle is Dressed to Kill You, which never fails to delight my 80s De Palma heart.

Marie Devilreux in Moon at Torture Garden Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Oct 26 2021Another drawing of Marie Devilreux, in her flying moon hoop!

I have to admit that this is only a rough approximation of the costume she was wearing, but I tried to capture the sense of what a sparkling lovely being she is and I think that comes through!

Gina Harrison at Torture Garden Berlin Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesAn elegiac exorcism and rebirth by Gina Harrison.

The stage was covered with earth and she emerged from – well, actually I’m not gonna spoil it, in case she performs it somewhere else! You can follow Ms. Harrison here, I highly recommend it! Louis Fleischauer is the performer with her.

Martini at Torture Garden Berlin 2020 by Suzanne Forbes Oct 26 2021Berlin’s radiant queen Martini Cherry was a featured performer too!

Love to see her light up a stage.

Devinity performing in AMF corset at Torture Garden Berlin Suzanne Forbes Sept 14 2022Devinity Berlin performed with fire wearing AMF Corsets.

It took me several years to finish this one!

I had such a thrilling time. Thanks so much to Torture Garden Berlin for the press pass and access, to my Patrons on Patreon, and to my dear friend Sadie Lune for moral support!

As usual these drawings are licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for all to share and enjoy!

In addition, I release the copyright on each drawing to the performer shown and they may use the drawings for their own profit and pleeeasssure in any way they choose.

Fairy Unicorn Rainbow Headband, what silliness!

Holographic glitter vinyl pvc unicorn fairy headdress by Suzanne Forbes February 2020I made this ridiculous rainbow glitter iridescent PVC headpiece so impulsively!

I saw the iridescent headband lying on a shelf in the bathroom just after I’d been admiring some holographic vinyl fetishwear on Instagram. I remembered I had some small sheets of glitter and holographic pvc I ordered as samples in my “sparkle” drawer. I grabbed those out, turned on the glue gun, and started cutting shapes out of the pvc without any pattern, plan or design whatsoever.

Holographic glitter vinyl pvc unicorn fairy headdress by Suzanne Forbes February 2020I had a vague idea I could fold or pleat the vinyl to make fans, and it turned out that was possible.

Holographic glitter vinyl pvc unicorn fairy headdress by Suzanne Forbes February 2020Intriguingly, the pvc could also be manipulated to create curving dimples around the folds. I made some fans and then poked a hole through their bases so I could use wire to secure the pleats as well as create an attachment.

I used my Tack Life mini-dremel to drill three holes in the headband, ran wires through the holes in the plastic icicles, and wired them on, then glue-gunned them stable.

Then I added the fans around them, using their wires and then the glue gun.

It actually worked!

After one has been making stuff for long enough, an invisible DOS of How to Make Stuff just runs in the brain.

I tried to take photos but I am so bad at that, so I made a bad drawing of how I did it!

Vinyl fan how to by Suzanne Forbes Feb 24 2020I was moving so fast I just grabbed a used emery board off the desk top to make a stem or handle for the bigger fans.

I snapped it in half and stuck it between the pleats, then wire wrapped it, which facilitated attaching the pleats to the headband. I used the gluegun almost exclusively for construction, which is bad because glue gun glue is heavy! But I love how fast it is.

Holographic glitter vinyl pvc unicorn fairy headdress by Suzanne Forbes February 2020 detailI did use my UHU alleskleber to attach miniature braid around the edges of each fan, which gave a nice finish.

And I used the Alleskleber to attach the various iridescent and rainbow shift rhinestones. I glittered the silk flowers by swabbing them (literally, rather than using a brush I just grabbed a Q-Tip) with Interference Paint in blue-violet, then dipping them in lavender micro-glitter.

Holographic glitter vinyl pvc unicorn fairy headdress by Suzanne Forbes February 2020 leftThe poufs of glitter tulle and color-shift organza are stuffed with holographic plastic Easter grass I had had since at least the late ’90s.

I can’t believe I finally used it!!! I just secured each stuffed pouf with wire at the bottom to make an enclosed bundle, then gluegunned that on.

All in, this project still took me a good ten-twelve hours. But imagine how long it would have taken if I had thought about it first or made some kind of plan for it! That probably would have added hours! Better to just dive in, for me 🙂