Book Review: Crafty Superstar

Published May 5, 2012 by kurolace

Scan of the cover.

Author: Grace Dobush, 2009

Publisher: North Lights Books (Cincinnati)

ISBN-13: 987-1-60061-320-3

This book was an unexpected discovery I made one day while browsing the arts & crafts section at my local used/new book store.  I was actually looking for stitching patterns or crochet books, when I saw this book laying out in the book shelf’s “display” section. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about setting up an Etsy shop, or maybe doing some consignment arrangement, in order to sell a few of the many crafts that I’ve made. It was a used copy, and marked down 50% of its “new” price, so I went ahead and bought it.

While I haven’t read straight through it, cover-to-cover, I have browsed it extensively. Its a very useful and practical guide to setting up a small craft business. I particularly found the parts about branding, copyrighting, and pricing to be useful (although, for copyrighting, the book basically says “get a lawyer”, lol). The book is peppered with various “case-study” type examples collected from successful artisans. Additionally, there are multiple appendices filled with lots of useful links and information at the end of the book.

Here’s a brief summary of each chapter:

Chapter 1: Do you DIY?

This chapter discusses the handmade / indie trend’s history and popularity, as well as suggesting that you do some serious thinking regarding your expectations and motivations for getting into selling.

Chapter 2: Biz Basics

This chapter is focused on all of the small and big things that you need to take into consideration when naming, organizing, and running a small business. Topics include pricing, boosting production, organizing a workspace, and keeping track of income/expenses and legal issues like taxes and copyright.

Chapter 3: Selling Out

This chapter includes information about different ways to sell your products. For instance: online sites like Etsy vs craft shows vs consignment shops. It also talks about building a website and customer service, and even bartering your crafts for services and goods!

Chapter 4: Indie Craft Shows

This entire chapter is devoted to the notion of selling at craft shows, which, despite the rise of the digital era, is still probably one of the most popular and most utilized methods of selling crafts. The chapter talks about things like applying for shows, prepping products, creating displays, networking while at the show, and hosting your own show.

Chapter 5: Get Noticed

This chapter is all about marketing your business and building up a customer base. There are some suggestions about getting coverage in magazine and blogs.

Chapter 6: Finding Balance

This final chapter is about balancing your day job, family, and craft job, as well as maintaining your inventory. It has a few recommendations regarding either reducing your crafting business, or increasing it to a full time gig.

There’s also a brief Epilogue, and then the following appendixes:

  • Appendix A: Forms and Templates
  • Appendix B: Craft Communities
  • Appendix C: Awesome Craft Blogs
  • Appendix D: Craft-Friendly Publications
  • Appendix E: Small Business Resources
  • Appendix F: Reading List
  • Appendix G: Online Consignment Shops
  • Appendix H: Samples
  • Appendix I: Major North American Indie Craft Shows

In A Nutshell: I am happy with is book and it was totally worth the $18 original price (I paid $9 – so, double yay!). Sure, you can find similar information and suggestions online, probably for free – but I appreciate having it all together in one place. Its sorta like having check list to work on item-by-item. If you are considering selling your crafts and want to do something more than just a one-time craft show, then I think this book and a worthwhile investment. 🙂

Check out my brand new…crocs?

Published April 28, 2012 by kurolace

The color here is pretty accurate...although perhaps a bit lighter than in real life.

The other day I was thinking about the jelly shoes I used to wear as a kid…. in my late elementary school – middle school era. You know, the ones with the glitter? Yeah, I was a 90’s kid, people 😛

Anyways, I decided to look around on the internet just to see what sort of jelly shoes might be available these days. Of course.. in the last 11+ years my tastes have changed dramatically, and the pink & silver clunkers that made me happy at age 9-11, just don’t cut it anymore. Fortunately, it turns out there are a few jelly shoe options out there for women too! On Zappos I found a few, but they all seemed over priced and were often the “thong style” which I’m not terribly keen on. Amazon had a few others that I liked better, not to mention they were at a more reasonable price.

I was kinda amazed to see that the style I liked best were actually a pair of crocs! Of course, I kinda knew crocs had moved on to more styles than those nasty, huge, stinky, clogs. But I hadn’t really paid much attention to the brand, as generally they aren’t really something that fits into my goth aesthetic.

The pair I ended up ordering yesterday  aren’t really very goth either, at least not by most people standards. But they are very ME.  Although I had chosen the 2-day shipping option thanks to my Amazon Prime account, that shipping is free), I was pleasantly surprised when the shoes arrived today. Occasionally this happens, if it ships from the right distribution center 😛 … Oh BTW, the style is called “Adrina”.

Anyways…. As for my thoughts on the shoes after having worn them for a few hours: They are definitely very comfy. The only gripe I have is that my heel tends to come out of them as a walk…. but I have that issue with pretty much all ballet-flat style shoes. The positive side of that problem is: with these crocs, the plastic/rubber/whatever-it-is is soft enough that it doesn’t hurt my heels. With other ballet shoes (actually any slip-on type) I usually have to wear a band-aide or tape on my heel to avoid a bloody heel.

The sizing is just about right on… I normally take anything from an 8 – 10, and the pair I bought was a 9 (they only come in whole sizes, BTW). (In my ideal world, shoes would come in quarter sizes, and then I’d like to have a 8.75)

“Adrina” is available in 8 colors… I thought about getting the black, but its actually kind of a charcoal. I decided to go with “Ultraviolet / Berry” which has a blue-purple body and a pinkish-purple sole. The picture on amazon is pretty much accurate in regards to color. I’m gonna wear these for a week and see if I feel tempted to buy another pair in a different color. $30/pair is cheap enough in my opinion to warrant 2 pairs 😛

Eh... taking pics while wearing them requires a better set-up than I had patience for... lol. So please excuse the not-so-great angle/focus... not to mention the chipped pedicure.

Henna Adventures…. or: How-to Dye Your Hair Naturally

Published April 26, 2012 by kurolace

Hello Again!

Yesterday I dyed my hair with henna for the second time. The first time was over 9 months ago. Back then I used a henna/cassia mix because I wasn’t sure how red I wanted the results. This time I used a henna/indigo mix because I wanted to darken my hair a bit. I sort of messed up and didn’t take a before picture… sorry :P… my hair was sort of a warm, slightly red, light brown, but with ashy-brown roots.

1 day after using a 2/3 henna, 1/3 indigo mix (picture taken with scanner - so that's why there's a weird light :p)

In high school I had a few crazy colors in my hair, and then started using boxed grocery-store hair dye… but in college I eventually developed a sensitive scalp and had to find a new way to dye my hair. I actually let my hair grow out for about 1 year, then last summer I decided to try henna…. (it wasn’t the first time I had tried henna.. but the really-first time was such a messy disaster without any results what so ever – That was the bought-at-co-op type henna that is all twiggy and leafy when you open it up)

After searching the web I found a great site about dying your hair with henna, called: Henna for Hair. That site links to one where they sell the pure henna, cassia, and indigo that you might want to dye your hair with. Its much higher quality henna than what you might buy even at the whole foods store. Its also extremely well powdered and certified by an independent pharmacy to be safe. The pricing isn’t too bad – its more expensive than the grocery store boxed dyes, of course… but it isn’t as expensive as a trip to Aveda. I bought about 200g of henna, and 100g indigo, for $36, and it turned out to be twice the amount I needed.

 

Steps for dying your hair:

1) (Optional) Do a test swatch by harvesting hair from your brush and preparing a small amount henna to dye it in. (I’ll admit, I always skip this step – but if you area really picky about what color your hair turns, then you should go ahead and do this) Try different strengths of solution and different lengths of time until you get what you want. Henna for Hair sells small sample amounts that you can use to find your ideal color.

2) Buy enough henna to cover your hair  – if you haven’t already. The Henna for Hair website claims you need about 100g per 3inches of hair, but in my case that wasn’t true. I have really fine hair, so although its long, it just doesn’t need a full 500g of dye (the amount that I bought the first time ). Even 300g was too much. BUT I think you’re best getting the full recommended amount the first time, so that you don’t run out. – Luckily henna can be frozen and stays good for a few months that way (so you can save left overs – just don’t forget about it!). Unfortunately I don’t think indigo can be saved.

3) Mix up your henna the night before, using something acidic like lemon juice. Let the henna develop for 12 hours.

4) The next day, section your hair carefully and wind the sections up into mini buns all over your head. The more sections, the better – it’ll be easier and faster to apply the henna. MAKE SURE to use plastic accessories / pins, because metal can react with henna and ruin it.

5) Clear the area where you’re going to work. If you want to, you can put down plastic or wear a garbage bag if you are worried about getting stuff on you or the floor. Definitely wear latex / rubber gloves – or else by the time you finish dying your hair, your hands will be dyed too.

6) If you are using any indigo… now is the time to mix it up with some water, then add it in with the henna and stir well. Don’t let it sit around, or it will loose its potency.

7) Apply henna to head. The instructions that came with my order said to “pack it on like a child making mud pies” lol… I used a salon highlighting brush to apply my mixture… you can easily buy one on amazon. It took me forever to apply the mixture… about 1.5 hours. But I am slow and have a hard time with the back of my head … plus my hair is long. The easiest (and fastest) way to dye your hair, of course, is to get someone else to apply the mixture to your hair – like your mom, sibling, girl/boyfriend or friend.

8) After you’ve gotten all of your hair covered in dye, wear a shower cap. You’ll need to leave the dye in for a long time…. at least 2 hours. You can blow dry your hair a little bit to speed up the process.

9) Rinse all of the dye out. Shampoo and condition if you want to. Henna darkens a little bit over the next 2 days.

Above the instructions, you may have noticed I mentioned both Cassia and Indigo. Cassia is sometimes called “blonde henna”… but its a different plant. Its a very lightly colored dye and wont show up much (or at all) if you have darker hair. But it makes a good “spacer” and a conditioner. That’s why I used it to dilute the henna for my attempt 9 months ago. Indigo is a plant which can dye your hair black. It only takes about 2-3 hours to become useless, so that’s why you don’t mix it up ahead of time like you would the henna or cassia.

Natural hair dyes can’t get you blue, green, or purple hair…but you can achieve dark auburn, red, or black hair… which are all good Goth hair colors in my book. 🙂 By mixing different amounts of henna, cassia, and indigo, as well as a adding a few herbs, you can really tweak your hair color to exactly what you want. For instance…. mixing henna and cassia together, and using it on light hair, can result in strawberry blonde hair. Pure henna will usually result in red or auburn hair. Henna mixed with indigo can result in auburn, dark auburn, or brown hair. And indigo, applied after rinsing out henna, can create a beautiful midnight / jet black.

 

 

 

Gemstones – Uses and Meanings

Published April 25, 2012 by kurolace

Oh, hi there….. 😛 Sorry for being absent for almost 2 months. I’ve been kinda busy. In March, one of my cats had to be put to sleep 😦 Well, it wasn’t a surprise… he was 17 years old, diabetic, and also had cancer. He suddenly stopped eating, and after 2 days of no food, he could no longer move around on his own – not even to go the bathroom. So, my parents took him to the vet and did what had to be done…. 😦 RIP Maximilian.

Also I had to sort out my taxes. This is the first year I filed taxes by myself. To make it complicated, I have to do self-employment taxes since I’m technically an independent consultant when it comes to my job. On top of that, one of my former employers (from my time at the university) sent my W-2 to the wrong address, so I had to request another be sent.

Enough excuses… lets get down to business.

Today I want to write a little about gemstones. Attributing meaning to rocks and minerals is an age old practice. The most common place we see this in the modern era is birthstones. Birthstones are commonly used in jewelry. If you make jewelry, designing birthstone-themed pieces can be a good starting point when you are lacking design ideas, or if you’re making a gift for a friend. One thing about birthstones that I find interesting are the wide variety stones you can choose from for each month. Yep – that’s right – there are actually a lot more birth stones assigned to each month than just one….. But the one that you are likely familiar with comes from the English traditions – which was “standardized” in 1912 by the National Association of Jewelers.

What’s Your Birthstone?

Wikipedia has a great chart which lists the birthstones according the month of birth, and there’s also a poem from the middle ages about birthstones. However, its missing some of the Eastern and Ancient birthstones.

Here’s a list combining both ancient and modern birthstones (US standard / popular listed first):

January — Garnet … and: Onyx, Quartz, Beryl, Jet, and Obsidian

February — Amethyst … and: Blue Sapphire, Hyacinth (yellow zircon), Lapis, Aquamarine,

March —  Aquamarine & Bloodstone …and: Diamond, Turquoise, Jade, Jasper, Tourmaline,

April — Diamond … and: Ruby, Red Jasper, Rock Crystal, Carnelian, Coral

May — Emerald … and: Chrysoprase, Golden Topaz, Lapis, Azurite, Agate

June — Pearl, Alexandrite, & Moonstone … and: Cat’s Eye, Crystal, Agate, Aquamarine, Beryl,  Turquoise

July — Ruby …and: Cornelian, Moonstone, Pearl, Green Turquoise, Sapphire

August — Peridot … and: Amber, Sardonyx, Ruby, Jacinth, Topaz, Moonstone

September — Sapphire …and: Pink Jasper, Rhodochrosite, Azurite, Star Sapphire, Lapis Lazuli, Zircon

October — Opal… and: Fire Agate, Agate, Tourmaline, Coral

November — Topaz … and: Cat’s Eye, Citrine, Coral, Garnet, Ruby, Zircon

December — Turquoise … and: Amethyst, Bloodstone, Malachite, Ruby, Tanzanite, Topaz

 

Gemstone Powers – Uses and Meanings

Remember those power bead bracelets? Different colors of stones / beads were attributed specific benefits that they were supposed to grant the wearer. You could often buy them up near the cash register in bookstores or novelty stores… I’m sure you can still find them in some shops (although, it seems to me that the height of their popularity was back in about 1998-2000). The only problem with such bracelets was that there wasn’t always a consistent pattern in regards to which stone bracelet represented what.  Sometimes the meaning was based more on the color of the stone than anything else.

I have an entire book on the subject of gemstones’ beneficial properties and effects. Its called Stone Power, by Dorothee L. Mella…. published back in the 1980s. In it she lists some 48 stones with their uses and meanings. Needless to say, that some of it overlaps and some contradict…. I’m generally of the opinion that things mean / represent whatever you want them to represent. But here are just a few of the more popular associations:

Lapis Lazuli – A spiritual stone, it was associated with power, love, and Universal Truth (Ancient Egypt)

Opal – Commonly believed to open one’s mind to visions, used for prophecy and divination (Greece)… also considered a stone of romance and love

Pearls – Associated with femininity and beauty.

Peridot – Believed to contain the power of the sun, and the ability to cure liver disease, as well as jealous thoughts (Ancient Egypt)

Obsidian – A stone of protection, often found in ancient South American amulets and lucky charms.

Malachite – Thought to ward off negative energies (additionally thought to be able to warn owner of impending danger by breaking in half)

Moonstone – Associated with moon magic… but also used to promote love. Romans associated the stone with Diana.

Emerald – Represents security in love… also thought to strengthen memory and increase intelligence.

Garnet – A protective stone thought to help heal emotional issues and also clear the body of toxins. Increases positivity.

Coral – Thought to destroy negative energy. It was used by the Romans to protect children. Also used to by newlyweds to protect against sterility.

 

Well, that’s all for now, since this post has gotten rather long! Hopefully this has been of some use to someone out there :)… Of course, you can find lots of additional information by looking up specific stones, or by looking into specific traditions (Modern vs. Ancient, Western vs. Eastern). I’m sure there are newer books out there than the one I have (which, btw, was kind of a random handout from my grandmother, lol).

 

Two Ways to Heat-Free Curls

Published March 4, 2012 by kurolace

Hiya! The other day while working, I was also on YouTube browsing through some beauty videos. I came across two really great videos about how to curl your hair without heat. I found both of these ideas really interesting, and although I have yet to try them, I wanted to share them here on my blog. I’m a big fan of “no-heat” or “little heat” hair styles. I personally don’t blow dry my hair unless I absolutely have to, and I prefer to use old-fashioned means for curling my hair (satin rollers are one of my favs!)…

The first video shows you how to use a head band to get curls. I actually went out to the store to buy a suitable head band to try this with… Then when I started trying to use it, I realized that I think my hair is a little too long for this method, so I’ll have to wait until after I cut my hair (which I’m planning to do soon).

The second video uses socks(!). This is genius and one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” sort of things. Actually, I was thinking that instead of socks I might go buy some terry cloth from the fabric store, cut it into strips, double them over and sew them, so that they are a little smaller and easier to take up high on the head. BTW, the girl in this video… I am SO jealous of her hair. I wish I could grow my hair out that long and have it look so full.

Well, there you go. 🙂 Hope you find these videos as interesting as I did 😛

Rediscovered Sketches & Comic

Published February 29, 2012 by kurolace

A few days ago I found one of my old notebooks tucked away in my room. Its a grid-design, top-spiral bound note book that I used back when I was in driver’s ed to kill time (nope, not a single driver’s ed note in it – lol, so maybe THATs why I had that accident about 3 years ago). I was “in my prime” as an artist back then. Sad, I know, considering the quality of drawings. These days I’m not even this good, since I don’t practice often 😦 I really should get back to it.

Just for fun I thought I’d upload the scans here so you can see them. The highlight of the bunch is the 3 pages of comic-intro that I was making. I’ve always wanted to make a comic / manga but I often get stuck trying to figure out a good plot. After looking at these pages, I feel kinda like I want to restart PROJECT PEACH (which btw, was inspired by my love of peach-buns from the Chinese buffet! lol).

So… here are the pictures… lol. Tell me what you think of my mad16-yr-old drawing skills (other than the obviously lack of understanding in regards to human anatomy). At the time I was  trying to move away from manga style drawings… with a mediocre amount of success. Unfortunately, this notebook is from the time right around when I started to develop serious symptoms of narcolepsy… I pretty much slept through the last 2 years of high school and stopped doing everything.

Eyebrows: Seeking the non-drawn-on alternative

Published February 27, 2012 by kurolace

Hi!

So, as we all know, drawn on eyebrows are kind of a iconic thing in goth fashion. They can be natural-ish, or extreme. I know some people even have their “trademark” style and color. The problem for me is, I’ve always been terrified to actually try to do this. To be honest, its mostly because I am a tad bit lazy and I don’t want to have to draw on my eyebrows everyday or otherwise be “the eyebrow-less wonder.” I also somewhat doubt my ability to draw them on perfectly even… I already have enough trouble with symmetry with my natural brows! And thirdly – I actually have a tiny mole under my left eyebrow… so if I were to shave off the eyebrow, suddenly I’d have yet another mole to try to deal with.

Sadly I have kinda bushy eyebrows. Its really annoying, because the hair on my scalp is very fine…. you’d think that it would mean that my eyebrows were also fine / small…. but apparently there is no relationship between the two. Ever since high school I’ve always pluck and shaved my eyebrows. There have been times when I’ve been good at maintenance, and other times when I hardly bothered with them at all. Recently I had just been plucking the bare minimum, but I was starting to get annoyed with the shape, so I decided it was time to break out the stencils, tiny electric razor, eyebrow scissors, ruler, and black eyeliner!

Eyebrow templates - contains four shapes... if only I could get eyebrows like the model on the package, lol.

I decided to do most of the shaping by using the electric trimmer ( bought at Bed, Bath, & Beyond). That way, if I did make a mistake, the hair would  grow back fairly quickly. On a clean face w/ no make-up, I started by using a ruler to line up the corner of my nose and eye… then I marked were the brow should begin. Then I held the stencil over my natural eyebrow and used black eyeliner to fill it in. I used to use the “classic” eyebrow template a few years ago, but this time I decided to go with “elegant” (The template set I have has 4 shapes total). The only problem with the elegant style was that the outer part of the brow was at a completely different angle as my natural brow. So I decided to only use that part as a guideline  for length.

I then shaved away anything that was outside of the template area. I also plucked a few of the most obvious stray hairs.

After I finished both brows this way, I wasn’t entirely sure I liked the end results… my eyebrows are kind of unsymmetrical naturally, and the problem seems to carry over a little bit whenever I am trying pluck or shave the new shape.

I did take a few lousy, unflattering pictures… so you can see for yourself.

Before plucking / shaving

The color is way off on the second/”after” picture… not sure why that happened!

1 day after reshaping / shaving

Anyways… like I said, I don’t know if I’m all that happy with the results, all though I do think they are an improvement. Maybe I should just suck it up and completely shave off my brows.

Do you shave & draw on your brows?

Hair Accessory Madness

Published February 22, 2012 by kurolace

Hiya! Lately I’ve been somewhat obsessed with making hair bows, bead barrettes, and other hair accessories. So today I thought I’d show off a few of my creations. 🙂

For the beaded things, I use a mixture of glass beads and swarovski beads… I actually have a ton of crystals in my beading collection, but haven’t had anything to use them for… so I figured barrettes were as good as anything… After I use them up I’ll have to decide whether or not I want to stick with using glass beads / pearls, or keep using some crystal beads / pearls.

I bought some display /packaging cards at Hobby Lobby, because I thought I should maybe use them to help me remember which barrettes are made with which materials. However, considering the cost of the cards, and the fact that they are actually too big for the baby barrettes that I made, I might try making my own in the future using paperboard or something like that.

Okay, so here is the gallery of creations…

How-To: Easiest Bracelet Ever

Published February 21, 2012 by kurolace

Whether you are new to making jewelry, or an old-timer who just wants to whip up something fast, these stretchy bracelets are the easiest beading project I know of.

A nice & short supply list

One thing that makes them easy is the fact that you don’t need any pliers or wire cutters or crimps, etc. You just need:

  • Some beads (I’m using black 6mm matte glass beads & flat diamond-shaped red glass beads)
  • Stretchy Beading Cord – This comes in different colors and diameters, so make sure you get the right diameter for the beads you are using.
  • Hypo-Cement
  • Scissors and a measuring tape or ruler

You should be able to find every thing you need at your local hobby / craft store, but if not, you can certainly find it online.

One of the most important things about making a stretchy bracelet is to make sure you make it the right length. It needs to be long enough to fit around your wrist comfortably, but short enough that it doesn’t fall off your hand. If you are making the bracelet for yourself, you can measure your own wrist to get an idea of how long to cut the cord. If you are making the bracelet as a gift, or to sell, then you can usually go by the guideline of about 7-7.5″ for most adults. (7.5″ is usually a bit too long for these stretchy bracelets though) Cut the cord to at least 8.5 inches just to be safe – this way you’ll have enough for when you make the finishing knot.

If you are using really big beads, you’ll need to make the bracelet longer. If you use really small beads, you’ll make the bracelet shorter. So as

I actually only cut the cord to 7.5", which was almost too short. I barely could tie the knot!

you string the beads,  keep checking the length of the bracelet by wrapping it around your wrist.

Once you’ve got it to the proper length, you’ll need to tie a knot. I use a basic square knot (right over left, left over right).

Now the awkward part… Before you pull the square knot tight, you need to put a dab of hypo-cement in the middle of the knot. Then pull the knot tight, and hold it for a few minutes as the glue sets. Try not to get any glue on the beads next to the knot.

Let the knot dry completely – say, about 10 minutes to be sure. Then try the bracelet on. Take it off, put it on, pull on the cord a little bit to make sure the glue & knot hold.

Finished!

If you used a small enough (diameter) cord, with beads that have larger holes, you might be able to stick the cord ends back through the beads. Otherwise, trim the cord down so that there is only about 2 mm on each side of the knot.

Voila! You’ve got yourself a bracelet. You can wear just one, or make a few to mix & match.

A few extra notes:

  • If you are planning to sell the bracelet or to give it as a gift, please take if for a “test drive” : Wear it for at least a few hours or a full day, to make sure the knot holds.
  • You can use a crimp bead & cover on the larger diameters of cord if you want. This way you cover the knot up.
  • Clean the tip of the hypo-cement off before trying to put glue on the knot. Having old, semi-dried globs at the end can make the knot look messy.
  • You can string a lot of bracelets and then knot and glue them all at once (This way you only have to uncap & use the hypo cement once). I use those clamp-paper clips (the ones with the black clamp) at each end of the bracelet in order to hold the beads on the cord.

Some of the many stretchy bracelets I've made.

Review: Unquiet Grave (The Ultimate Goth Collection)

Published February 19, 2012 by kurolace

I have a lot of crafting and DIY posts I want to write, but I haven’t had a chance to get some pictures taken… so in the meantime I’d like to write a brief review for one of my best purchases ever!

Now, I’m not exactly a scene kid, mind you, and my musical taste is rather eclectic. I pretty much never listen to the radio and I don’t really go clubbing… so I discover most of my music via random searching on iTunes.

Image

Cover

About 8 months ago I was on iTunes, trying to find some new music to listen to. I decided to go ahead and just type “goth” into the search bar to see what would show up. There were a few results, but the one that caught my eye was “Unquiet Grave.” Apparently this collection was originally released on several separate discs… but iTunes offers the entire collection for just $16! And its 131 songs! I pretty much thought that given how many songs there were, I was guaranteed to like a least a few of them. So I went ahead and bought the album / collection… it took awhile to download, but as soon as it finished I put it on my iPod and started listening…

I was really thrilled to discover how many of the songs I liked. I recognized some of the artists, but other than Abney Park, I hadn’t really listen to any of them. There were a few songs which I immediately loved:

“Dark Romantics” by The Awakening

“Breathe” by Flowers & Machines

“Vision in Black” by Advent Sleep

“Love Lies Bleeding (Part Two)” by Black Atmosphere

“Funeral Night” by Bella Morte

“Vote for Love” by Tiamat

And a handful of others….

When I first get a CD, I click through all the songs and pick out the ones that catch my attention. Later I’ll listen to the whole album while I’ve working or crafting, and then I discover a second set of great songs. So, for Unquiet Grave, the second set of songs that I fell in love with tended to be some of the slightly slower / softer songs, such as:

“The Sky is Blushing” by Jennifer Hope

“This, My Melancholic Masquerade” by Autumn Tears

“Bell, Book & Candle” by Stare

“Doganch” by October Hill

“Raining in Kyoto” by Adenosine Tri Phosphate

“Fireworks” by Ocean 8

“At Mortlake” by Peter Ulrich

“Dragon Song” by Corpus Delicti

“myphilosophy” by Inner

“Desert Snow” by October Hill

And other…

The collection has a pretty wide range of music types.. from industrial, to IDM, to rock, to “ambiance” types… One thing you’ll notice is that none of the stereotypical, old-school goth artists are present (Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, etc)… but in my opinion that is a good thing, because we’ve all heard of those artists anyways!

The only disappointment came when I decided to get back on iTunes to check out some of the artists that I had liked songs from… Either I couldn’t find them on iTunes (I guess they aren’t popular / current enough), or I didn’t like what I did find. Of course, as we all know, sometimes it can be hard to decide if you like a song just by listening to the sample snippet on iTunes, but I also don’t want to buy an entire album just because I happened to like a single song by that artist. (So I guess what I need to do is go to Barnes & Nobles and see if I can listen to some longer samples.) I also am guessing that perhaps some of the artists featured in the collection were sort of “one-hit-wonders,” at least in regards to goth-y music, or that their usual style isn’t properly represented by the single song included in the Unquiet grave collection.

That being said, I highly recommend this collection of music. Especially if you are new to goth music or are looking to sample a larger selection of artists. I mean, come on, its only $16! Which is like $0.12 / song! I’m sure that you’ll find at least a few songs you like, and perhaps a lot more than that!