This nail lady is brilliant! Visit her youtube channel here and see what other stuff you can find. In the meantime here are a few Valentine’s Day tutorials from Professional DQ:
Voodoo and hearts? Of course!
Pirates and hearts? Why not!
Skulls and hearts? Hooray!
Black and white striped gothic hearts? Woo hoo!
More gothic hearts? Goodness!
Sparkly pink heart pendant (but still cool, don’t panic)
On the anniversary of the day I hatched from my egg, I bring you a post of bizarrely inventive antique costumes for Halloween:
I’ve been in a documentary mood lately (it comes in fits and starts) and have managed to stumble on some rather interesting ones. Here we go:
1. Henry Darger: The Realms of the Unreal. Very sweet and rather sad story of a janitor nobody really noticed who, upon becoming ill, was found to have created an illustrated novel of over 1,500 words by his neighbours.
Titled The Realms of the Unreal, it was an entire universe he’d worked on his whole life. It truly proves you can never have anyone completely figured out, and ‘boring’ people probably don’t exist – we just don’t know what’s going on inside.
2. Derailroaded. In a similar theme to the previous entry, Derailroaded explores the life of Larry ‘Wild Man’ Fischer. Plagued by mental illness, Larry nevertheless had flirtations with fame first by appearing on Frank Zappa‘s label Straight Records and then releasing albums with out there artists Barnes and Barnes.
Whether you like his music or not is beside the point, this is a fascinating film of an unusual personality. On the flip side, though everyone already knows about this I’m sure, I also loved the film about Daniel Johnston. Watch that one too.
3. Live Nude Girls Unite. Strippers formed a union and took their argument to a tribunal? I can hear you chuckle. However this shows each of the characters involved in the fight for fairness at club The Lusty Lady through the eyes of Julia Query, a woman who strips between comedy gigs.
I found this film quite amusing, so maybe you will too. It’s very low-fi and quite short, but it was a fun way to pass an afternoon.
4. The Last American Freak Show. I’ve mentioned this one before but I like it, so I’m mentioning it again. As a disabled man filmmaker Richard Butchins is uncertain of the ethics behind freak shows and rightly so.
The 999 Eyes travelling show is ramshackle, poorly organised, ill equipped to deal with all of its member’s problems and the owners spout constant nonsense about why freak shows are actually really good. But…its this unexpected turn of events that makes it so fascinating. We glimpse the reality of life on the road and meet some genuinely interesting characters. And meeting new people is good.
5. Man on Wire. I’ve seen this film lots of times and I’m sure everyone else has too, but it’s beautiful and very French and it contains a circus performer, so why not hear about the tight-rope walker who balanced his way between the World Trade Centres in New York one more time? Plus the music by composer Erik Satie helps me sleep at night.
Well, Bob’s your Aunt and Fanny’s your…cousin, that’s your lot. Before we pop orf however I’d like to leave you with two lilting melodies garnered from the films mentioned. Number one is the dreamlike piano of Erik Satie, and number two is a rousing tale of fish heads and their various uses by Barnes and Barnes:
If I ever decided to get married (and, you know, get a boyfriend and all that boring stuff) this is the cake I want! I found it on Deviant Art by ‘yobanda‘. It trumped a gingerbread house by miles:
I found the recipe here on tastykitchen.com:
I use Ateco food coloring, which can be found at http://www.atecousa.net
For the cake, make one box cake mix according to the directions on the box. Separate batter into 3 bowls with roughly about 1 cup of cake mix per bowl. Add desired food coloring to each bowl (purple, blue, green).
Bake cakes in round pans according to box instructions, but make sure you check the cake about 10 minutes before it’s supposed to be done. With less mix in each pan, they can cook faster.
Repeat for the remaining colors (red, orange, yellow). You will now have six layers of different colors.
For the frosting, mix together softened (room temperature) butter and softened (room temperature) cream cheese until well combined. Add vanilla. Combine. Slowly add in powder sugar.
(After the 5th cup of powdered sugar, taste the frosting and see if you would like it sweeter. I tend to use the full 6 cups, but some prefer the frosting less sweet.)
Cake assembly:
I try to first level each layer of cake with a large bread knife. For the rainbow cake especially, if all the layers are level, then they will evenly display when you cut into it.
Start with the PURPLE layer first. Put the purple layer on your cake stand or plate. Add enough frosting to cover the layer and some to spill over the edges, anywhere from 1/2 to one cup of frosting. Run the flat, straight side of a knife around the cake to smooth out the edges.
Add the BLUE layer of the cake. Put frosting in the middle, start spreading out frosting with the flat, straight side of a knife so that it covers the cake and falls out over the edges. Then run your knife around the outside edge of the cake to smooth out the sides.
Put the cake into the fridge for at least 2 hours or freeze for 1 hour.
Repeat with GREEN layer, then YELLOW layer.
Put cake into fridge for at least 2 hours or freeze for 1 hour.
Repeat with ORANGE layer, then RED layer.
Cover cake with frosting and run the flat, straight edge of a knife around the edges of the cake to smooth out the frosting.
(It was important for me to freeze the cake between layers for a couple reasons. The cake can get really heavy by the time you are adding the 4th, 5th, and 6th layers, but if it is somewhat frozen at this point, it will not get schmooshed or crushed. Also, it is much easier to frost the cake when it is solid, or not wobbling all over.)
Once you have finished frosting the cake, add any decorative touches or words that fit your occasion! Good luck!
(I set the skill level as difficult, but ONLY because of the time involved. Truly, anyone can do this, and do it well! It just takes a little patience. The end result is SOOO worth it!).”
There now, hop to it and post me some!
Madeleine Swann 