There Be Creepy Crawlies Here

It’s almost Halloween and I had been considering a dark beauty theme this week, but the real world has, as it so often does, presented me with another source of inspiration for this week. It is no less frightful, though, let me tell you.

Here in California, where I spend about half my time,  we have found ourselves in a very scary house. No, really … it’s quite unsettling here. It’s not haunted exactly, although the frightening presence within the walls, unseen for years but slowly taking over, is pretty spooky stuff.  Its was revealed when this strange spongy whiteness came creeping out into a closet, taking over a stack of my dear man’s t-shirt collection and his shoe rack.  An inspector came out, looking very much like a guy from Ghostbusters with his large beeping machines and funny probes, and after running them back and forth across the suspect wall, determined that, yes, the house was possessed … by a myriad number of mold types and other fungus. So, guess what is happening suddenly while I am neck-deep in editing and layout, trying to get the next issue of The Polymer Arts together? We are being run out of our house.

So, I have my mind on mold. Which brought Jasmyne Graybill to mind. She had the honor of being the very first artist featured on this blog back in 2012. Because she creates these polymer clay textures in a context in which we see it as an unwanted growth, it appears rather disgusting to us. But look closely at this plate. If you recreated that texture on a bracelet or as a constrained band around a vase, we’d think it were quite lovely. So, it’s not the texture that is inherently repulsive, it’s just our knowledge of what it represents. Beautiful textures can be found in even the creepiest of natures organisms.

I am presently trying to see the beauty in the natural organisms that are invading the house, but I have to say, even though I do find beauty in all forms of decay, I have now come to terms with the fact that I do still prefer it stay outside and away from our apparel, at the very least.

That is my spooky-themed story right now, and as soon as I finish writing this I must get back to boxing things up so I can move operations back to Colorado tomorrow. So I’ll be on the road tomorrow and Wednesday, but by then we should be ready to reveal the Winter issue’s cover. It’s quite dramatic if we do say so ourselves. Stay tuned for that not-so-spooky installment of “The Polymer Zone”. And if you find yourself attracted by the beautiful fungal texture here, take a look at Jasmyne’s collection on her website.

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