Fenriss

I'm in my 50s, and yet, after all these years, I am basically still a goth, so I guess it's fair to say now that it wasn't a phase!

I live in the Washington DC area with some wonderful cats and and my two wonderful partners. I'm a passionate vegetarian cook, gardener, and enthusiast of a number of artistic media. I am an aspiring Buddhist, but the secular rather than the religious kind. I also practice some Pagan traditions. My favorite period in art history is Art Nouveau. I've been involved in mail art and swaps for many years, and was especially fond of the site called Nervousness.org, in case anyone remembers that.

Short list of "Dislikes" Just to get it out of the way

I don't really care for super cutesy or "kawaii" stuff. I'd never rate anyone down for sending stuff like that, but I've really got no useful purpose for them.

One other thing in the "dislike" category would be items of religious propaganda. I think that religious imagery can be very beautiful in the right context, but religious beliefs are a private and complicated thing in my life.

Other than that, no dislikes, no allergies, nothing I wouldn't be thrilled to receive. Moving on.

Favorite colors

Generally warm ones (red, orange, gold and earth tones), black (of course) and purple. I think all colors are lovely if used right.

Wish list

I am easy to please, but here are some things I would love to receive:

• Metal embellishments, filigrees, charms, and brass stampings, often found under the Tim Holtz or Vintaj brands. Really, you can't go wrong sending me just about anything by Tim Holtz.

• Cool Postcards, stickers, labels, or scrapping embellishments on themes like steampunk, art nouveau, antique florals, quirky patterns, fish or sea creatures, lizards, and especially anything spooky

• Antique maps, charts, or botanical drawings

• Stencils of nearly any kind, and especially ones that create backgrounds, are geometric or organic, and kind of wild and dramatic.

• Spooky ephemera, vintage Halloween stuff, diecuts, joss paper, things with monsters or dragons on them

• Halloween is everyday! Send me Halloween themed things any time of year, and I'll love you forever :)

• Unlike a lot of people, I am not especially sensitive to smells. So it's cool to send smell-good stuff! I don't really love strong floral scents, and tend to prefer earthy, spicy, or musky scents.

• Similarly, bath products are great! I especially like Lush products, or anything else that's mostly made with organic, food-grade ingredients. Please lean toward herbal, spicy, woodsy, mellow and musky scents, rather than anything too astringent or floral. Confession: I love patchouli! Also mint, bergamot, apple, sandalwood... my very favorite Lush product is the Demon in the Dark soap :)

• BPAL Imps are always welcome and cherished (see scent preferences above, but I can always use any imps for trading purposes, too.)

• Edibles are fine, and I have no food allergies. Teas, coffees, etc. are nice.

Here is a list of interests from my LiveJournal profile (believe it or not, I still have one, although I haven't used it in ages) just to give you a general glance into my madness:

arthur machen, axe throwing, ayahuasca, babylon 5, battlestar galactica, bauhaus, bellydance, bisexuality, buddhism, buffy, carnivorous plants, cats, classic horror, compassion, cooking, cranky old blowhards, culture jamming, david bowie, dead can dance, doctor who, dungeons and dragons, eddie izzard, edgar allen poe, edward gorey, embroidery, enfp, english, ethnobotanicals, fanfiction, farscape, feminism, fiber art firefly, forgiveness, funny, gardening, gender theory, ghost stories, ghosts, girls, glamourbombing, goth, gothic literature, guerrilla gardening, halloween, healing, herbalism, humor, icons, jim henson language, laughing, loving kindness, mail art, massage, medieval, medieval cuisine, mikhail bulgakov, monsters, neil gaiman, neurochemistry, new model army, nutrition, oscar wilde, p.g. wodehouse, paganism, paranormal, particle physics, permaculture, phantasmechanics, polyamory, post apocalypse, punk, radical politics, science fiction, scifi, second life, sensuality, serenity, sewing, sex, shamanism, social justice, solarpunk, spookiness, star trek, star wars, stargate, star-just-about-anything, steampunk, sustainability, tank girl, the daily show, theatrical costumes, thomas ligotti, tim burton, vegetarianism, venture brothers, victoriana, vintage pinups, web design, weightlifting, words, writing

Lately, my favorite music falls into a category I'll call "funky gothic world" music. Examples include Beats Antique, Gogol Bordello and Corvus Corax. I also like hot jazz from the 1930s and 40s (such as Django Reinhardt) and Industrial from the 1990s. I recently started listening to Lil Nas X, and that young man is musical genius! But I don't know a lot about these newfangled bands you kids like today :) Please educate me about newer music! I have pretty eclectic taste, but that doesn't mean I like everything. For example, I really like bluegrass, but not so much pop country.

I read a lot of science fiction and some fantasy. Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Octavia Butler, Ursula LeGuin, Asimov, Bradbury. Just recently started looking for titles that fall into the Solarpunk and Hopepunk genres. I absolutely LOVE Victorian ghost stories, and classic horror. I read a little contemporary horror, but mostly weird stuff like Thomas Ligotti. I also read a lot of non fiction... mostly food writing, explorations of world religions, and books about political and social issues, as well as some instructional books on how to write better myself!

I am not a big movie fan (with the exception of some sci fi and fantastic types) Although at this time, I'd say Mad Max: Fury Road is my favorite ever. I do watch a bit of TV. In the last couple of years I've gotten addicted to watching live tabletop roleplaying game streams (dungeons and dragons mostly). Critical Role and Dimension 20 are examples. If it sounds strange to spend time watching other people play RPGs, consider how many people watch other people play physical sports :) I really love shows like Mythbusters, where people build things. Other favorites are Doctor Who (both classic and New Who) pretty much all Star Trek and Star Wars incarnations. For Pride month, my partners and I are re-watching Sense8 and the She-Ra remake!

I love to sew! Fiber Arts are probably what I do most, including theatrical costuming, embroidery, slow stitching, and generally finding uses for scraps and off cuts.

I love to work in paper, polymer clay, resin, with recycled materials, and all kinds of multimedia assemblages. I enjoy putting patinas on metal pieces, casting my own cabochons, and generally taking on too many projects at once.