Tag Archives: venus flytrap

The Alien Carnivorous Venus Flytrap Finale!

Alien Venus Flytrap Headpiece by Suzanne Forbes March 2020Used the last of the Audreii Two’s to make a terrifying headpiece and hair clip.

I had a lot of silk leaves and plastic plants left over from the potted Alien Venus Flytraps and fascinators, so I used ’em up! This moment in time is all about using all my hoarded materials.

Alien Maneating Venus Flytrap Headpiece by Suzanne Forbes March 2020I had planned to make the headpiece and donate it to a fundraiser or raffle for Berlin queer performers.

Now, of course, I can’t imagine when in-person raffles or fundraising auctions will happen again. But I am filling a box with things that can be donated to raise money for the incredibly hard-hit performers of our city, who have lost all their income in a swift stroke.

And when it’s time, these wonderful things can be sold, donated or raffled to help my beloved Berlin nightlife folx, whose inspiration has made the last years the most fulfilling of my life.

Alien Venus Flytrap Hairclip by Suzanne Forbes March 2020The Carnivorous Venus Flytrap hairclip uses a very special piece of recycled material.

Suzanne Forbes making Bettie Page at Chicken Johns for Balsa Man 2009In the second half of the Oughts in San Francisco I wore my hair and eyebrows bright red.

It was part of my brand, how everyone knew me and spotted me drawing at an event. I’m only five four, but the hair and flowers piled on top of my head helped me stand out!

For special events I added feathers and tulle and tiny tophats, but for everyday (or I should say, everynight) going out I wore two double-flower red dahlia hairclips.

I have no idea where I got them, probably Target or Claire’s, but I wore them whenever I went anywhere for five years.

You can see me wearing them in the photo above, taken at Chicken John’s warehouse in the Mission in 2010. I was working on a balsa wood Bettie Page for Balsa Man.

Suzanne Forbes photographed by Libby Bulloff 2009Here I am wearing them when photographed by Libby Bulloff in Seattle in 2009!

Alien Venus Flytrap Hairclip by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 2

Then somehow I lost one in 2010, while having sex in my car outside a SOMA goth club with a bouncer half my age.

I wore the other til I went blue-haired again in 2013 or so, and I kept it, afterwards, because I had this idea I’d use it for something. It went in the shipping container with all the craft materials, and arrived in Berlin, and has been sitting in a craft drawer.

Alien Venus Flytrap Hair clip by Suzanne Forbes March 2020 3I found the thing to use it for!

It came out so well! This is a pretty special item, and if the virus doesn’t get me I’ll offer it up for sale worldwide whenever it’s safe to ship things again.

Carnivorous Plant Month teaser! With air-dry clay tips.

Carnivorous alien plants by Suzanne Forbes Oct 28 2019

Little Workshop of Horrors!

Carnivorous alien plants made of air dry clay WIP by Suzanne Forbes Oct 28 2019I‘m having a rest day so I‘m doing art that feels like play and gives me energy. I made a bunch of leaves using my fondant decoration orchid veiner and air drying DAS modelling clay, then painted them and glossed them with gel medium.

You can see me handling the teeny teeth with a wax rhinestone pick-up pencil in the video below. This is a craft/costumier tip I learned about from incredible head-dress maker @bubblesandfrown and damn it changed my decor game!!!

I‘m using a glue gun to apply this batch of teeth, stick in the tongues and clamshell the leaves together.

The gluegun glue is great because its fast setup lets me position the tongues and angle the openness of the mouths on the fly.

Carnivorous alien plants in process by Suzanne Forbes Oct 28 2019Fast-worker tip I learned: you can speed-dry air-dry clays and paperclays in the oven!

That is a GAME CHANGER if you are a fucking impatient person like me. However, that is not what I did here. Once I learned heat would speed up the drying without releasing any fumes, I just put ’em on the radiator. There are two modern radiators in our kitchen/my workroom, and they can be adjusted, so I put the leaves on there! Apparently these clays scorch easily so care is required when putting them in the oven, while the radiator top is visible from my worktable.

Air-drying clay is super-absorbent, so it sucks the paint right in.

I was able to coat and recoat these in a very short time. Then I coated everything with gel medium, for a creepy gloss. (I talk about sculpting materials and glossing substances here!) I’m not totally confident in the gel medium’s tack-free curing, so I may spray them all over with spray acrylic varnish later. But first the thick medium is getting another day to cure.

This is only the first iteration for what is gonna be Carnivorous Plant November around here!!!