Tag Archives: contemporary crafts

Bi Pride Crown with holographic PVC!

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Bisexual Pride crown by Suzanne Forbes March 2020Pretty things give me strength.

I made this crown early this month, thinking I could raffle it to raise money for marginalized folx in Berlin. But it quickly became clear that things like raffles and events where some proud Bi person could wear this are things for the future, not right now.

Bisexual Pride crown by Suzanne Forbes March 2020So I added some more details.

Bisexual Pride crown by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 detailYou know I love to add more details.  The main structure of this crown is the same as the Fairy Rainbow Unicorn crown from last month.

It’s a headband with curved fans of holographic vinyl wire and glued to it, and three iridescent plastic icicles left over from my Snow Queen projects in 2013.

Like that crown, it uses a product called “Angelina Fantasy Film.” Angelina Fantasy Film is a transparent, iridescent, heat sensitive film often used to make fairy wings for dolls, as I did here for Fearless Pink Gay Santa and his Jolly Ally Reindeer.

I posted a little video of me using a lighter to shape the Angelina Film here on my Instagram.

You can see an amazing video of brilliant corsetry materials innovator Joni Steinmann of Rainbow Curve Corsetry using a heat gun to shape laminated strips of bonded Worbla TranspArt and Angelina FIlm over Apoxie Sculpt forms here. And a bunch of cool Angelina Film projects on Instagram here. Here are some incredible projects on AmStamps.

Bisexual Pride crown by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 left detailI had a small sample pack of film I got from fab eBay dollmaker and materials specialist MorezMore for the Snow Queen projects.

However, I have now used up all my Angelina Fantasy Film, and I wanted to order more, back in the first week of this month. Back when I was still thinking of mail as something I could use sparingly rather than something that should be used only when necessary to save it for those who need essential supplies.

Obviously I do not want my craft supplies to add to the tremendous burden Amazon and DHL and GLS and other carriers’ workers are carrying for us all now. But back then, I looked for a UK/European seller of Angelina Fantasy Film.

Do you know how hard it is to google “Angelina Fantasy Film”?

Bisexual Pride crown by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 rt detailI did find a couple UK sellers, but decided not to order any.

The comments in the post by Joni Steinmann yielded a hot tip, that US art supplies site ArtGlitter.com sells Fantasy Film in 10″ wide strips, much bigger than other sources. Hopefully someday I’ll be able to order some. See her gorgeous finished project here!

For now and the near future, my art supplies and my mixed media art process consist of using what I have. Using everything I have. Getting everything I’ve made documented and accessible.

I am so grateful for the support of my Patrons, whose monthly subscriptions mean I can work safely at home.

The Alien Carnivorous Venus Flytrap Finale!

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Alien Venus Flytrap Headpiece by Suzanne Forbes March 2020Used the last of the Audreii Two’s to make a terrifying headpiece and hair clip.

I had a lot of silk leaves and plastic plants left over from the potted Alien Venus Flytraps and fascinators, so I used ’em up! This moment in time is all about using all my hoarded materials.

Alien Maneating Venus Flytrap Headpiece by Suzanne Forbes March 2020I had planned to make the headpiece and donate it to a fundraiser or raffle for Berlin queer performers.

Now, of course, I can’t imagine when in-person raffles or fundraising auctions will happen again. But I am filling a box with things that can be donated to raise money for the incredibly hard-hit performers of our city, who have lost all their income in a swift stroke.

And when it’s time, these wonderful things can be sold, donated or raffled to help my beloved Berlin nightlife folx, whose inspiration has made the last years the most fulfilling of my life.

Alien Venus Flytrap Hairclip by Suzanne Forbes March 2020The Carnivorous Venus Flytrap hairclip uses a very special piece of recycled material.

Suzanne Forbes making Bettie Page at Chicken Johns for Balsa Man 2009In the second half of the Oughts in San Francisco I wore my hair and eyebrows bright red.

It was part of my brand, how everyone knew me and spotted me drawing at an event. I’m only five four, but the hair and flowers piled on top of my head helped me stand out!

For special events I added feathers and tulle and tiny tophats, but for everyday (or I should say, everynight) going out I wore two double-flower red dahlia hairclips.

I have no idea where I got them, probably Target or Claire’s, but I wore them whenever I went anywhere for five years.

You can see me wearing them in the photo above, taken at Chicken John’s warehouse in the Mission in 2010. I was working on a balsa wood Bettie Page for Balsa Man.

Suzanne Forbes photographed by Libby Bulloff 2009Here I am wearing them when photographed by Libby Bulloff in Seattle in 2009!

Alien Venus Flytrap Hairclip by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 2

Then somehow I lost one in 2010, while having sex in my car outside a SOMA goth club with a bouncer half my age.

I wore the other til I went blue-haired again in 2013 or so, and I kept it, afterwards, because I had this idea I’d use it for something. It went in the shipping container with all the craft materials, and arrived in Berlin, and has been sitting in a craft drawer.

Alien Venus Flytrap Hair clip by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 3I found the thing to use it for!

It came out so well! This is a pretty special item, and if the virus doesn’t get me I’ll offer it up for sale worldwide whenever it’s safe to ship things again.