Remains : Daria “I Hate It” Bookmark

So now that the surprise is over I can finally share another art project I have been working on. This is a handmade bookmark I contributed to the group gift for my dear friends Heather’s 40th Birthday….

Heather loves to read and she was totally bummed about having to cancel her milestone Birthday party (due to COVID), so her husband Mike reached our to her friends and family asking if we would each make her a special bookmark.

Since she is the Daria Morgendorffer to my Jane Lane I knew right away where I was headed theme wise. Especially since one of the things Heather and Daria have in common is their love of books and reading. Plus who better than her Jane to paint it!

My husband Frank took me to the hobby store to find the right wood. He cut it out and sanded it. I painted, clear coated and added the tassel. Mike collected them all and presented them all to her in a book he made with special pages made for each of them. We may not have been able to physically celebrate with her this year but Mike found a fun and creative way to make it happen! Major hubby points for sure and this was so much fun to make and be a part of!

Dig this? Make sure to check out this bookmark and other misc. creations on the Remains page of my portfolio website!

Stay Spooky & Magical,
LDG Nicole

Jane Lane For Life

Yesterday I had some much-needed pain therapy. I got another tattoo added to my lower arm. It is next to my Demons of Inspiration piece, and like that piece is also inspired by my love of creativity and art.

I knew I wanted a glue gun to represent my love of all things handmade and the close relationship I have with my glue gun (even if its burned me one TOO many times ha ha). So it hit me. Get my (artsy 90’s cartoon) spirit animal‘s glue gun. For those who don’t know me personally… this is Jane Lane’s glue gun. Which she refers to as Stickmata 5000 in MTV’s Daria. The name alone is brilliant and it has a lightning bolt on it. Enough said.

After the killer design that Dave Togtman (of Black Devil Tattoo) came up with for my Captain Spaulding tattoo (not to mention how well he did at reviving my Baby Firefly tattoo), I knew he was the man to bring another one of my visions to life on skin. So after deliberation I decided that instead of just the glue gun why not incorporate Jane herself along with some fun filler pieces I can relate to about the character. I had the space to fill on my arm and knew more color would be more appealing to the eye and mesh better with my other piece. Plus she is my artistic spirit animal after all. Just ask my friend Heather (AKA my Daria).

I knew I didn’t want her floating on my arm but I also knew I didn’t want a traditional cameo style frame (as much as I love them). I wanted it to feel very 90’s. Then it hit me. Use one of the old school box TVs like the one her and Daria watch Sick Sad World on. Have her coming out of it and accent it with pizza and a very Dariaesque skull (like the ones they had as decor in their bedrooms). Then I found this picture and thought if he can make it aesthetically pleasing it was a go…

We did have to sacrifice the candle melting on the skull but it came out so good it doesn’t even matter. He took the empty space of my arm, my ideas, my various reference photos, a sketch of my vision and came up with the perfect piece. I mean I have seen a ton of Jane Lane tattoos and even if this wasn’t on me I think it’s the best thing ever. I guess when you have 2 artists working towards the same goal it works out well. Here is how it came out…

As you can see my Count Van Count tattoo on my wrist and the canvas and little paints from my Demons of Inspiration piece flow so perfectly with the stacking idea he came up with. I also won’t have any awkward gaps between pieces because of the way he designed it. Just incredible. I couldn’t be happier with it.

Stay Spooky!

LDG Nicole