Update

     I realize I once again have failed to keep up with consistent posts. This blog stuff is harder than I thought. My work load has been tremendous, and I've also suffered some very hurtful losses in previous months; including one of my very best friends. As you can imagine, having that pain to deal with has made writing about dark and creepy things a lot less appealing. I'm normally fascinated by death, and the grieving process, but when it happens to me it's not so interesting. It's more of a pain in the ass. All my previous ideas surrounding death have been challenged, and now, as someone without a religious belief system, I struggle to make sense of things. Lately I just can't, and I'm more likely to nap than attempt to analyze what's happened. Sleep has been my saviour. In my spare time, which is minimal at best, I try to keep myself occupied. I have come up with a few ideas to aid me in my struggle with my losses, and I believe they're very positive and productive ideas. I don't have much time to embark upon them yet, but I will in a few months time. For now I'm attempting to rebuild my wardrobe. I've been wanting more sort of goth clothing, so I've been planning some sewing projects. I'm not really gothic to be honest, I just like certain styles, and incorporate them into my wardrobe. When I think of my style, I don't think of an exact label, I just think of me. I think that's how everybody's wardrobe should be. It shouldn't be "Goth" or "Jock" or "Prep;" it should just be you. I hate stereotypes...what's more, I hate people who enjoy embodying stereotypes...I just feel those types of people epitomize what it is to be pathetic. So in future time I'll be creating a few random garments, and possibly posting them on here.

    In other news, I've got cable again. I normally don't watch tv, but I've taken to the show Oddities. If you haven't seen it, it's about a half hour long and about obscure antiques. I love weird antiques, but am unfortunately in an area where you don't see many. I've considered traveling to NY to visit Obscura, but now that's it has a tv spot, I'm wondering just how out of control their clientele is. I've always wondered about reality tv when it concerns a business. So much of it is staged. I had read a comment left on their blog, and someone pointed out that in every episode they're wearing the same clothing. I hadn't noticed before. Was it shot in a day? The people often come in with over the top accents, and behaviour. I've known some kooky people, but much of what I see on the show seems too over the top...like they've been paid to act that way. I seriously hate "reality" tv to the very core; the only reason I'm watching this show is to get inspired. If the antiques are legit, I know what to look for when I go shopping. If they aren't, which is sad, I at least can be inspired when creating Halloween props. I would love to get some crazy looking specimen jars. My dream is to have a house like the Addams family (the original...not the puke they made in the 90s show from Bravo). I like that eccentric museum look they had going on. If I find anything really weird, guaranteed it will be posted on here. The last thing I had found, which I'll be posting about shortly is a vintage Ouija Board. The post is long overdue. I was gonna touch base with a few beliefs surrounding the board, a history, so forth. It'll be an interesting read. So look forward to it! I will do my best to try and update, but obviously life does have to take priority, so I can't make promises.

All the best.

-Sugar Skull

ALSO: Please ignore any hidden links in my entry, this is some feature that I'm not happy to see. I don't know if this bullshit is courtesy of Blogger, or it's some kind of virus they haven't worked through, but the links are just spam. So avoid them. If I link something I will say it is a legit link.

Local Heritage Museum

   I haven't been posting as frequently as I had intended; I've been incredibly busy, and sometimes I'm not even sure why that is. During my down time I managed to visit a Heritage Museum. When I was younger I detested the thought of being dragged into a museum. There was always this stigma my peers and the media had assigned them; if it has educational value, it most certainly will be boring. Now as an adult I have a greater appreciation for things of historical significance. I admit I don't have as much of an interest in historical events as I do in artifacts. Again, I love antiques, and where else could you possibly find greater antiques than in a museum. At the museum there were many things to look at; it ranged from primitive furniture and glassware, to Native artifacts and old cars. Unfortunately much of which was donated with a lack of background information, so there was a lot of random objects with no explanation. This works well with museums that stage buildings (often referred to as "Pioneer Villages"); small cottages or workshops are uprooted and moved onsite to the museum where they are filled with artifacts related to a specific time period. With these kinds of buildings there really is no explanation required; a Victorian bed is only there because the cottage is Victorian. As I was saying, within the main building were many nameless pieces which left one to ponder; for me the most difficult one to grasp was a strange wooden cradle/catapult...I can only imagine it was created to launch unwanted to children into the next township.

   Above all the antiques I had viewed that day the one that took my breath away was an old Victorian funeral coach. Apparenlty these are highly sought after, and are therefore very expensive. Although I find it a fascinating and beautiful piece of history, I simply could not bring myself to own one even if I did have the money. It's just too much. I'm torn because I'm a huge Halloween fanatic and I think of how awesome it could look on my front lawn; I also think of all the poor souls carried to their final resting place, and that this was a symbol of great loss for so many families. To push that thought the coffin within the funeral coach, as well as the one beneath, are very small childrens' coffins. Not a happy Halloween thought. There's just a lot of respect to be had for this piece. The proof is in the ornate details; inside, although it's hard to see, the coffin has heavy black swagged curtains with silver tassles, and brass hinges and lining everywhere. In a word, it's a masterpiece. I feel it exceeds what we use today as far as taste is concerned; I can't imagine being lugged around in what I can only refer to as a black Station Wagon.

   I apologize for my crappy photographs. An Iphone is not my ideal camera. I'll probably re-visit and try to get better pictures for the future. I strongly encourage you to hit up your local museums if you haven't already. Even small towns have great history, so why not plan a day trip? I'll end with an interesting tidbit of info I picked up today; the word Hearse has multiple origins inlcuding wolf's teeth, an agricultrual tool, or the Tenebrae Hearse - a candle holder.

-Sugar Skull

Sweet dreams of tea.

___There are some treasures in this world that only a seldom few are fortunate enough to own. I am not one of those people. Today I will show pictures of some amazing teacups that I will probably never see in person, it pains me to do so...just looking at them leaves me with this ever present desire to stab myself. So let's just get this over with...

The Aynsley Nelros Cup of Fortune
___Aynsley is a reputable English manufacturer of quality bone china, the company was founded by John Aynsley in Staffordshire, 1775. This is an outstanding piece named the "Nelros Cup of Fortune." This teacup is said to be from 1904 however I'm not one hundred percent sure the one I've shown is that old; there are other Nelros cups from the 1920s and I'm uncertain if there is a difference in appearance. Like most fortune telling teacups this one comes with a fancy little instruction booklet titled "Would'st learn thy future with thy tea?... This magic cup will show it thee." this also appears on the outside of the teacup. They go up for auction starting at a about a hundred dollars or so.
___I like the simplicity of this teacup; the combination of red, black and white is very pleasing to me (if you haven't noticed already...). Perhaps the designer of the Taltos teacup was inspired by the Nelros Cup of Fortune. As you can see the interior of the cup has symbols along the rim, there's a similar star shape in the bottom surrounded by planetary emblems, and a nautical symbol in the center of the cup (this time it is an anchor instead of a ship). The saucer also depicts astrological signs much like the Taltos saucer features.

The Paragon Fortune Telling Teacup
___Paragon is another recognisable English producer of quality china, it was founded by Herbert Aynsley (the great grandson of John Aynsley) and Hugh Irving in 1897. This teacup is from the 1930s and usually is seen in either blue or pink. Along the rim of the interior it reads "Many curious things I see when telling fortunes in your tea." I'm sure there must be a book to accompany this teacup however I have yet to see a copy of one available online. A variety of symbols are scattered about the inside of the cup, these are usually coloured fuchsia but the one pictured appears to be a reddish-brown colour.

___I find the appearance of the symbols in this cup to be quite charming; it almost feels as though a Victorian artist picked up a teacup and started sketching romantic doodles inside it. The one symbol that particularly stands out in my mind is the skull, it piqued my interest. I truly desire this cup. I nearly died when I found it up for auction at ten dollars a few weeks ago, but as I suspected the price climbed to about fifty or sixty dollars which is over my current budget (I have some big financial obligations to attend to XP). From what I've seen it's not unheard of for these cups to sell anywhere from eighty to two hundred dollars (usually USD).
_
The Alfred Meakin Cup of Knowledge
___Alfred Meakin Ltd began producing china in 1875. This Cup of Knowledge dates back to 1924 and has a distinct look that separates it from the aforementioned fortune teacups, it depicts playing cards instead of symbols. Here Cartomancy has joined forces with Tasseography to provide the reader with an enlightening divinatory experience. In this instance you would use the location of the tea leaves in relation to the cards to determine what the future could hold.


___To be honest I'm not even sure I can be so bold as to use the word Tasseography when describing this teacup, it's more Cartomancy than anything else. Alfred Meakin is not the only company to produce fortune telling teacups with the use of playing card symbols, there are many other makes, however I felt this one was the most attractive. It probably comes with a booklet for interpretations but in one such example I've seen a teacup with the meanings printed on the saucer (very convenient if you buy the cup without the booklet). In auction this generally starts at seventy five dollars.

Honorable Mentions
___I have some teacups I'd like to share that either didn't make my favorite list, or I did not have a sufficient amount information to work with.


The Royal Doulton Swastika
___I'm sure you're already aware of Royal Doulton's popularity, particularly for their whimsical china figurines, but can you believe they produced a tasseography teacup with a swastika in the bottom of it? Before Hitler turned the symbol into a pile of ungodly puke it was recognized as symbol of good fortune, which gives us a decent indication of just how old this one is. I couldn't find much information on this teacup, I happened across it when I was on someone else's blog(linked in sources at the bottom of the entry). I don't know if it's the stigma attached to the swastika or the fact it looks drawn on in pencil that puts me off; I'm not a huge fan of this teacup and have no urge to run out and find one.

_
Cannonsburg Pottery Chinese Cup of Knowledge___This one also came off of the same blog as the Royal Doulton however I have seen it a few times already. I fancy it because it's Asian inspired and the symbols are colourful. It's the same basic idea as the Paragon and the Aynsley Cup of Fortune.
Cup of the Unknown
___This cup is freaking amazing! It's my love of Halloween and fortune telling together!!!! But I know shit about it! I found this while searching Google for Halloween teacups, the auction has ended and I'm pretty sure the seller knew next to nothing about it either. The saucer has North, East, South and West printed on it, inside are symbols synonymous with Halloween. It doesn't appear to be very old, I figure the oldest I'd go is the seventies. I wish I could find it for myself, only in dreams I suppose.


___There are way more teacups for Tasseography than I have featured here today, too many to list. For your curiosity I've included a picture of all different kinds, click here. I'd like to add that many of these teacups have probably been reproduced and since I'm not an antiques appraiser I probably couldn't spot a fake if it were presented to me. Please don't go off and blow your money on anything, always do your research first, use your own discretion.
-Sugar Skull


***Please understand that none of the photographs shown are that of my own, unless I state otherwise (or it's something I obviously own) I pretty much find them via google, auctions, blogs. If any of these photos belong to you I apologize, I'm using them purely for reference and take no credit for them.***

Sources: Royal Doulton Swastika, Cannonsburg Pottery; Octoberfarm.