Tattooed Madame (Tell me your story)

 

This is the second instalment of my series of works inspired by 19th century sideshow. This is a corset based on the tattooed women of the 1880s, and the stories they created to tell on stage. It was prompted by my thinking of alteration of one's self, for any reason. It kind of amazes me to think of these women letting or getting themselves get covered from head to toe in tattoos, especially at a time when such technology was only just making an appearance. It must have been a little bit painful... Still, they transformed themselves into living canvases, and joined a different world. It strikes me as brave.

This corset consists of two layers of heavy cotton, two layers of light canvas, plastic boning, red stitching, silk, fringe, ribbon, metal eyelets, and temporary tattoos placed on the cloth. I chose to use the fringe for its showgirl-burlesque ideas, and the fact that it also hides the hyper-feminine form created by a corset. Which, is my way of referencing the hiding of the tattooed skin, even by a disguise as revealing as a corset.

I already have my next work planned out, and I'm terribly excited to get working on it. It's going to be extraordinary. I hope. It's going to be strange, at the very least. Also, it will be challenging, because I am going to try to fit it to someone else. A little hint- it is inspired by male sideshow performers, such as escape artists, human blockheads, human pincushions, and the like. Some of these didn't exist in their form that they do today, but I want to link the past to the present, while making other links and discussions. Due to the fact that it is a piece about men, I am making a male garment. Usually, I would make the garments to fit myself. However, I am not a man, so I will be fitting it to someone who is. As I have it envisioned, this work is going to be absolutely beautiful. Silkscreen, satin, buckles... OOOOH I can barely wait to get to work!

Beautiful Things

This afternoon I tracked down songs that make me think of beautiful things, and the result was a playlist that, in listening to it, kind of sparked me back to life. 

It's not really that I was not alive or anything... it was just more of a refreshing reboot that kept me relaxed all day, as I listened to these songs over and over again. You'd think that I would get sick of these songs, but that isn't happening. Instead, I feel so wide awake at this time of night, and I want nothing more than to stay awake forever, and fill the world with the beautiful and wondrous things I imagine when I listen to these songs. It all kind of started from listening to a song that a friend posted on the Facebook. The song is 'Dirty Paws' by Of Monsters and Men. I've listened to a bit of them before, and thus I was prompted to listen to this song. It caught my soul in the rhythm and the lyrics just made my mind reel in wonder at... whatever it is that makes it so beautiful. The lyrics...

Jumping up and down the floor,

My head is an animal.

And once there was an animal,

It has a son that mowed the lawn.

The son was an ok guy,

They had a pet dragonfly.

The dragonfly it ran away,

But it came back with a story to say.

Her dirty paws and furry coat,

She ran down the forest slope.

The forest of talking trees,

They used to sing about the birds and the bees.

The bees had declared a war,

The sky wasn't big enough for them al.

The birds, they got help from below,

From dirty paws and the creatures of snow.

And for a while things were cold,

They were scared down in their holes.

The forest that once was green

Was coloured black by those killing machines.

But she and her furry friends

Took down the queen bee and her men.

And that's how the story goes,

The story of the beast with those four dirty paws.

I could create art based off of these lyrics for the rest of my life. 

And thus, I am sitting awake, knitting with tiny needles and listening to beautiful things.

Important Differences

I drew this a little after 12 o'clock this morning. Shockingly, I can entertain myself for hours.