Courtesan’s Jewel Box

collections of an aesthete

[cabinetofabsurdities]

Dracula Shrine
Here’s a complete breakdown of everything I used to build my Dracula/Vampire-themed shrine—plus where to find each item (or where I found mine).

Media & Collectibles

* Renfield Vinyl – Amazon; mine came from At The Movies Shop

* Renfield DVDs/Blu-Rays – Widely available online and in-store

* Dracula Funkos (No. 799, 1152, 1634) – Amazon; No. 1634 also available at Easure.Net

* Fangoria Magazines – Amazon or Fangoria.com (often sold out on the official site)

* The Art of Horror Magazine Vol. 14 – Blacklava.store or Subversive-Shop

* Dracula Poster – Gifted (no purchase source, sorry)

* Dracula Medal Replica – Factory Entertainment (mine was from Amazon—much cheaper).
Warning: Do not wear, wash, wipe, or drop—it's fragile and easy to ruin.

Decor

* Blood Stick Candles – Easure.Net and Darkstore.de

* Skull Candle – Halloween seasonal item from Ersting’s Family

* Vampire Candle (burned down) – DW Home, bought at TK Maxx ~2 years ago (possibly discontinued)

* Candle Stick Holder – Gifted (no purchase source, sorry)

* Dracula Liquor Bottle – Easure.Net (currently sold out)

* Black Skull with Golden Ornaments – Amazon

* Golden-Greenish Skull – No brand; bought at a gift shop in Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow

* Silver Goblet – Gifted, but I’ve seen similar ones on Amazon

* Spirit Board Red Resin Skull – Killstar; I bought mine from Darkstore.de (may be sold out everywhere)

* Frame with Silver Bats – BatsBugsBones.com; also sells at Dark Market Leipzig, M’Era Luna, etc.

* Vampire Sticker Sheet – RockAndRoadkill on Etsy

* Vase – Woolworth

* Roses – real dried pink and red roses

Accessories

* Fangs (custom) – Handmade by @grill.meister_ on Instagram, based in Berlin

* Red & Black Crystal Tiara – NordicMystery on Etsy (currently unavailable, but she restocks occasionally)

Others

* Roses (Red with Black Accents) – Bought from Woolworth or NanuNana, painted with black acrylic

* Black Fabric – Sourced at a local fabric market

* The Satanic Bible & The Satanic Rituals – Gifted; available on Amazon

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[niceferatu]

girly, there is no one on this planet who loves butts more than this demographic

[2productive]

[gothredy]

[lakemermaids-deactivated2018012]

Painting of the Maharaja of Indore by Bernard Boutet De Monvel (1929)

[shikanji]

His name was Yashwant Rao Holkar II! He was the Maharaja of Indore from 1926 to 1948 and commissioned Bernard Boutet De Monvel to paint both him and his wife Sanyogita Bai Holkar, the Maharani of Indore.

There was also a second set of paintings where both wear traditional clothes also painted by Monvel in 1934!

[shaharizade]

can i also share these two specific picture of the two of them that i’m obsessed with

[shisasan]

March 14th, 1927 Virginia Woolf, “A Writer’s Diary” (1918 - 1941)

[phantomrose96]

I like when fic length/book length/movie length is its own punchline

[phantomrose96]

characters: Ah, I'm so glad that's all over now :). But luckily that's done and dealt with and we can all resume our normal lives now :)

fic length: Chapter 9 out of 48

[phantomrose96]

[medievalspecs]

[memorilore]

[epilepticfox]

Odysseus: Thank you for the concern, but brother, I can assure you Our journey is almost done.

Song 11 of 40

[courtesansjewelbox]

Analog Year

I’ve been seeing a lot of discussions and ideas the past week about living a more analog life but really you can try new (old) things at any time during the year. I started acquiring DVDs and CDs in the last few months—primarily from thrift stores and from our pile at work marked for withdrawal. And I’ve been making zines by hand for years. I also looked over my reading for the year and I did about fifty percent in print. So when I say this will be my analog year, I just mean continue what I’m doing but with more intentionality.

I have an upcycling sewing project in the works, and I have this solo rpg that involves sewing that I want to try, and an embroidery kit I got as a present.

I have started a few topic-specific notebooks (fashion, architecture, poetry) that I mean to continue though I still rely on a digital journal for when I need to dump or work through something.

I might try burning CDs at some point. And I want to fill a scrapbook of collected ephemera and printed photos. Will try creating a weekly movie night tradition whether DVDs or streaming. And I want to add new recipes to my recipe book. (I only add stuff I’ve tried and would want to recreate.)

I also want to annotate/draw marginalia in a book I own, write and draw on my backpack, memorize dance steps and song lyrics, send a letter or postcard by snail mail, hand-bind a notebook/make an artist book, and carve a rubber stamp or two.

[courtesansjewelbox]

2 month update: I got into a new fandom so my brain got hijacked so I spend a lot more time on music and mvs and other related content. I did write lyrics on my backpack (and on a tshirt and hoodie) as kind of diy merch. And I made a fanzine.

I have watched a few DVDs from work including Bride and Prejudice and a Canadian musical about hockey. But I failed out of one action movie. I just stopped in the middle and felt like ok that’s enough. 😭

We’re also going to do an analog week event at work (a kind of take on digital detox) so I might lead folks to make punch cards.

[iguessweallcrazyithinktho]

Imagine being in your 80s and looking this good 😭 they so badass

[flikkerij]

i will do ANYTHING but work on my essay apparently

[genderkoolaid]

hey boy don't kill yourself. green's dictionary of slang is available online and allows you to explore 500 years of english vulgarity. you can search by part of speech, source, time period, etymology, and usage. there's a whole category for gay slang. they even have specific citations listed so you can see the exact context for yourself. boy did you know that in 1927 "to kneel at the altar" was slang for "to sodomize"

[genderkoolaid]

some other hits:

Princess: an effeminate and relatively youthful male homosexual or lesbian (1931-4)

Daffodil: effeminate young man (1925)

To throw a fuck into: to have sex with (1919)

Top sergeant: a masculine lesbian (1939) [‘she takes command of the girls’ privates’]

Lily: penis (1919)

Wolf: sexually aggressive man (1847); a homosexual top (1918)

Soul kiss: a deep kiss, involving putting one’s tongue into one’s partner’s mouth (1907)

Tom: a lesbian (1909); [in 'old tom'] prostitute catering to lesbians (1966)

Church mouse: a male homosexual who frequents crowded churches in order to fondle any potential sex partners. (1941)

Discover one's gender: to accept or acknowledge one’s homosexuality (1941) / Lose one's gender: To return to living as a heterosexual

Minty: a masculine lesbian (1941)

Also a lot of early 20th century vulgarity is recorded in Letter from My Father, which is a collection of letters published by a man who's dad was, in short, a major slut and human disaster who wrote about his sex life for his son. It's insane. You can find copies of it online & it's a wild fucking read (literally!) and I think a really interesting look at the life of a person who goes against our stereotypes of what people in the past were "supposed" to be like.

Anyways feel free to add y'all's favs to this post. & if you use this for gay historical fanfic please share with the class

[genderkoolaid]

#OH THIS IS EXTREMELY EXTREMELY HELPFUL#writing#resources#saving for later#maybe i should move my 1920s story from '25 to '27 because..... bro..........

note for writers: these are dated to the first time they were recorded, not necessarily to their first use. I imagine for many of these, they came about naturally through spoken language before they were written down anywhere. This is especially true of more underground slang because it's probably being recorded (in ways we still have) the least. So if you wanna use a term but it's a little off date-wise, give yourself some wiggle room.

also gonna take this moment to highlight two more i found recently:

Best boy: a sweetheart, a boyfriend, a husband. (1893) [w the obvious equivalent term 'best girl']

Honeydripper or honeydrips: a sexual partner (1917)

Like. Honeydripper?????? That's so horny I can't stop thinking about it. We need to bring THAT back

[tiktoksthataregood-ish]

[rosegardendeprofundis]

Source: @laceypaigepoetry on Instagram

[depsidase]

[megpie71]

As a former humanities student, I feel it is my duty to reblog this one.

[zegalba]

Yuzu Kato: Borrowing from the Tiger's Majesty (2022)

[hellenicgoddess]

Ancient Greek Coins With Octopuses 🐙

[theprofessional-amateur]

My quilt guild got a private tour if the exhibit “Ecology of Quilts” currently on display at the American Folk Art Museum here in New York on this snowy Saturday

Please enjoy some of the amazing works

All pieces are hand sewn and hand quilted.

I am in love. (1856)

The colors! The patterns! The appliqué! The piecing! The trapunto (stuffing portions like the fruit for 3-d)! The patterns of the quilting! (Date given as mid 19th century)

😱😱😱

The incredible trapunto and cording! The intense process to actually achieve white fabric (this one is c1810)

This one was made by a congregation honoring members who had passed. Each block was made by a different person but using this same fabric combination and similar weeping willow motifs. Some had a name, some had poems.

[theprofessional-amateur]

More!

Made by two sisters in 1830-1831, chintz and stenciled with hand painted detailed floral blocks

Postage stamp quilt from the 1930s. Called this as every square a square inch resembling a postage stamp (and our wonderful tour guide for scale).

Men’s suiting quilt, c 1900. Made by a tailor that used the scraps and bits left over.

Several I completely forgot to take down any information about. Top two are 20th century, bottom two are 19th.

Exhibit site

An Ecology of Quilts: The Natural History of American Textiles | American Folk Art Museum

The American Folk Art Museum is free to visit.

Sorry the photos are crap. Light is low to help protect colors and I was distracted by the pretty.