You can take the girl out of the goth scene...

...but her heart will always be black around the edges.

My Etsy artist spotlights so far have been for items I felt were great and worthy of recognition but weren't items that I had personally favorited. So this time, I'm focusing on three Etsy shops that are on my favorites list. And you'll find that they all have a little something in common.

Madame Talbot's Victorian Lowbrow and Gothic Lowbrow



Satan, skeletons, serial killers and other sinister images adorn the elaborate pen-and-ink artwork of Madame Ashleigh Talbot. Madame Talbot's posters recall times long past when magic was real, quacks did not yet have their own talk shows and sideshows were still a viable source of income. With a grin and a wink, Madame Talbot pays homage to a variety of subjects such as Sweeney Todd, the Black Plague, Robert Johnson, Dixieland Jazz, Lizzie Borden and Man's Ruin.

You can also sample her art through T-shirts, apothecary and mourning dolls and framed curios.


Artwork by Monique Motil



Using her skills as a costume designer, Monique Motil creates gorgeous art dolls with a difference. Monique uses skulls, claws and bones from creatures passed on, then drapes and dresses them with elegant materials and the finest of details to create a vision of decadent decay.

While these creations aren't everyone's cup of finely-brewed tea, there's no denying that they have a unique and fascinating spirit. Author Christopher Moore was even compelled to make them characters in his book A Dirty Job.


foldedpigs



foldedpigs offers the perfect dinnerware from which to eat some spicy, spicy brains...or just a hunk of tiramisu. Meredith Host uses her morbid sense of humor and skills with pottery to repurpose restaurant ware for the home. The heart, brain, skull and even the bugs that might feed on all of those parts when they're in demise adorn Meredith's delightfully gruesome plates, bowls and cubs.

Joining the line are Meredith's new brain bowls, handmade in porcelain with interiors painted in lurid red. Imagine eating your corn flakes out of these containers. Brain food, indeed.