Gypsy Wonder

Finally some pics of the gypsy world costumes I designed for Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque...



The tailcoat vest worn by our man to the right was created from an old Turkish rug, hooray for odd materials and unusual garments. Pulling inspiration for the ballet russes, I made several garment for Lucent's new visual direction. Leave it to the gypsy circus to take the pieces and wear them in there own way.

Black Magic

With the witching hour right swiftly approaching....

I could not resist this stack of tiny black cauldrons

perfectly offsetting the otherworldly pallor

and eerie spikes of the succulents I chose to make my brew.

I planted one of my crystals in the pot for an added glint of magic.

Hidden Valley

So... It's been a while since I've put any love into this old blog. Seriously, It's been a beautiful summer in Southern California. I've been basking in the sunshine and ignoring my computer.
That said, I have a lot of magic spots to share with you so get ready to pull out your maps and hit the road...

This Past weekend My best Galls and I set up camp at Joshua Tree National Park. With it's void of desert sky, egg-like boulders and sparse linear trees, Hidden Valley on the north west corner of the park, looks like a Surrealist painting come to life. We picked a spot high up in an outcropping of rocks (hidden valley campground, about 14 miles off of highway 62, site 17, climb up up up past the rusted wire fence) and built ourselves a comfy eagles nest of pillows and an old futon mattress and camped under the full moon. We spent the day scramble climbing bolder piles and basking in the sun. On the way out of town we hit up Pappy and Harriet's. This ghost town is a former western film set turned barbecue restaurant and honky-tonk music hall, were over 50 classic western were filmed through out the 40's and 50's.

daisy, daisy

I never really thought of my self as a daisy girl, but the little patch in my front yard is so happy, stretching their bright faces eagerly to the sun, I've fallen in love. They match the simple fokesy feel of old Topanga Canyon.

Transplants

C

carefully removed from the hillside behind my house, and potted or planted in the front yard. wild california maidenhair fern and bracken.

crystal clear

While unpacking, I discovered a box, forgotten,unopened since my last move. It contained quarts crystals, dug from the earth with my own bare hands, near Mount Ida, Arkansas. (the most fruitful afternoon of climbing bulldozed mounds of earth I've ever spent)

Admittedly, hippy-dippy crystal lore, espoused by tye-dye clad gurus makes me cringe. But all the crystal energy healing mumbo-jumbo misses the point.... Crystals don't need to be mythologised to be magical. Through the varied, inexplicable dynamics of the universe, far beyond man's sphere of influence, erupted something of clarity and order. That's mind blowing enough.

Crystals are a natural manifestation of near-perfect geometry. A prism is created when the molecular structure of a liquid solidifies into ordered patterns that repeat in three spatial dimensions, under a precise balance of heat, pressure, and elemental chemistry. (You can still see the red Arkansas dirt on these little glimpses of essential truth.)

When formed under imperfect conditions, (i.e. changing conditions) the most interesting variations occur in the rock's shape, and color. It's the same with us, with all life... there is an underlying order, a repetition, but conditions rarely stay consistent long enough for something "perfect" to form. Luckily it's the variations, the constant adaption to change, which gives people and crystals unique character.

As the analogy stands... I would still rather be a clear, luminous, yet slightly quirky crystal, than a dull jumbled hunk of rock. We need some consistency if we expect to be clear, but accept what evolves in the changing conditions of the moment, it makes us who we are.

Wild Sage

Being a hunter-gatherer by nature (well ok, maybe just a gatherer, if I can find me a good hunter than I'd be in business) I stumbled upon a stand of wild white sage. I picked a few stems and brought them home to dry. Wild Sage is edible, and makes a nice incense. The plant can be identified by it's distinctive smell and silvery white leaves. Just don't pick more than you will use. I recommend picking just one stem per plant, as the wild population has been depleted by greedy smudge stick makers, no joke.