Category Archives: Art

Artwork and various creative projects and obsessions from Berlin artist Suzanne Forbes.

Insect Art: Glitter cicada with holographic vinyl!

3 Replies

3D printer pen jeweled cicada by Suzanne Forbes Mar 21 2020Made with a 3D Printer pen I got from my mom-in-law for Christmas!

I broke out the 3D printing pen last week! It’s basically a glue gun that takes different colors of PLA filament. It came with fifteen colors. I used seven colors, darker ones on the bottom and going brighter towards the top layers.


This is the naked filament armature.

Then I took a ratty brush and painted the whole thing with blue-violet interference paint. You can see other posts about acrylic interference paint, which I started using in 1990, here.

3D printer pen cicada by Suzanne Forbes Mar 21 2020 rt wing detailThe last batch of art supplies I ordered from the UK, back in the other world that was February, was glitter, holographic, iridescent and metallic vinyls and pvcs.

I’ve been feeling a thirst to work with transparent and tinted clear materials the past month.My assortment of sparkly sheets arrived the second week of March. I cut small triangles of the holo pvc, applied glue to the edges, then attached them to the back of the filament “struts”. I filled in other spaces with scraps of textured lavender iridescent vinyl, some dark blue glitter vinyl I had left from my mermaid corset project in 2012, metallic blue pvc, and transparent blue glitter “jelly” vinyl.

Glitter vinyl cicada by Suzanne Forbes March 20 2020“Jelly” vinyl is a thick, tinted vinyl, often full of glitter, foil stars, etc.

I covered most of the back with some actual trash – scraps of clear plastic cut from packaging, metallic blue plastic foil from the cat food packets. The glue I’m using is UHU Alleskleber in the Flinke Flasche (“nimble bottle”), which has solvents; in the US I’d use Gem-Tac. I left some areas open, and drizzled glue across others, then added decorations.

3D printer pen cicada by Suzanne Forbes Mar 21 2020 front windowI used microbeads, Swarovski crystals, opalescent rhinestones, iridescent rhinestones, glass pearls, clear rainbow micropearls, and glitter to decorate it.

3D printer pen cicada by Suzanne Forbes Mar 21 2020 libraryIt took about a week to finish all the decorating.

I find working with sparkly materials like this to be a kind of ASMR, deeply soothing and meditative.

During this really unprecedented time, when my husband and I are safe but I am so acutely aware of the danger to so many others, I don’t know what to do but make pretty.

I hope you enjoy the sparkle!

The first Torture Garden Berlin, at the Metropol!

4 Replies

Puck dancing at the first Torture Garden Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Feb 29 through March 20 2020Here is Puck, dancing by the stage very early in the night.

I arrived and grabbed my Press Pass (thanks Mark!) quite early – it wasn’t even ten pm. I wanted to be sure I could settle myself in a comfy seat by the stage, as I can no longer stand for events. I was thrilled to see Puck The Hare, a friend and muse, hit the dance floor shortly afterwards. Puck wants to be very clear: the outfit, which they put together themselves, is Cute Kawaii Fetish Jackalope, not Wolpertinger! I encourage you to take a closer look 😉

Eldergoth couple at Torture Garden Berlin by Suzanne Forbes June 25 2020Updated June 25 with the very first drawing of the night.

This very handsome ElderGoth couple were kind enough to pose for me.

Since Torture Garden Berlin was the last event I hit before I went to self-quarantine (I’m asthmatic and immunocompromised), I’ll be posting the drawings very slowly, putting an absolute ton of work into each. If I drew you, keep an eye here or subscribe, and eventually you’ll turn up!

Torture Garden Dancers by Suzanne Forbes July 23 2020Updated July 24 with the hottest couple of the night!

These incredibly gorgeous young people were dancing by me for a nice while. Then they got into some serious flirting with my very gorgeous companion, Sadie Lune, so I didn’t get their names!

Torture Garden Dancers greyscale by Suzanne Forbes July 21 2020And a selection of dancers in different fetish looks!

So, so, so much love to my Patrons.

I am so grateful to my Patrons on Patreon, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me work safely at home.

As usual the drawings of TGBerlin are licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for all to share and enjoy!

In addition, I release the copyright on each drawing to the performer shown and they may use the drawings for their own profit and pleeeasssure in any way they choose.