Paint It Black: A Guide To Gothic Homemaking [Hardcover]

Voltaire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

Home decorating will never be the same. Close your curtains! Throw away your summery linens! Forget about those white eyelet pillow covers! And for Goth's sake, buy some black lights! Voltaire is here to help you with your home decorating dilemmas, guide you through the hardware stores and decorating centers (which are so difficult for Goths to navigate), and lay it all out on the line about which shade of black goes with which shade of black. Who knows?! One day soon he might have his own decorating line at a discount store. In this world of pastels and plaids, it's so hard for Goths to find anything aesthetically appealing. You go in search of Edward Gorey and wind up with an eyeful of Eddie Bauer. With Voltaire's Paint It Black you can turn the unbearably mundane into the delightfully macabre with little more than a touch of creativity and a can of black spray paint.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Voltaire is a prominent and prolific author, artist, and merchandising powerhouse in the alternative culture market. Following the success of What is Goth?, he jumped at the chance to follow it up with Paint It Black (hey, Goths don't need much sleep). He lives in the ever-dismal New York City and has an extensive touring schedule.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Weiser Books (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578633613
• ISBN-13: 978-1578633616
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #771,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More ooky-spooky from the ever kooky mind of Voltaire !, September 12, 2005

By 

M. Gheesling - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Paint It Black: A Guide To Gothic Homemaking (Hardcover)

In his follow-up to his book "What Is Goth ?" musician, artist, and all-around dark jester Voltaire aims his style and sense-of-humor at crafts and interior decorating with "Paint It Black: A Guide To Gothic Homemaking."

I bought this book for two reasons: As a Goth wanna-be (I follow the scene but don't usually dress the part), I wanted to see what spooky insights Voltaire brought to the usually saccharin and kitchsy design world dominated by Martha Stewart. As an educated artist (BFA Graphic Design) who was fortunate to have had classes from an award-winning and accomplished artist and faux-finisher (Diane Thomas Lincoln), I wanted to see if there was anything new I could learn in regards to technique and artistic process.

To be sure, this book covers only a few basic techniques. You won't learn advanced stencil-masking or how to use Venetian marble with this book. But since this book was written with your average Baby Bat or Elder Goth in mind, advanced techniques would serve only to confuse rather than enlighten. In short, this is a good book for beginners who wish to put a bit of spooky into their surroundings.

To its credit, "Paint It Black" is mostly project-based and therefore you can actually end up with your own finished works if you follow the instructions. A few projects are either too tacky ("Graveyard Cake") or too sparse on details ("Gothic Weddings") to be worthwhile. However, most of them,like "The Grimoire" and "Pimp My Ride, Dracula-style," are really useful and successful.

Overeall, this book is a starting point for the beginner and a creative springboard for the experienced. The only thing truly disappointing about it is that, according to Voltaire's own web site (www.voltaire.net), 66 pages were cut by the publisher. And with Voltaire's sense of humor firmly ensconced throughout, "Paint It Black" is an entertaining read as well. Your money isn't wasted if you buy it.

--Sir Rastus

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morbid Curiosity, June 15, 2006

By 

Mike Hunter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paint It Black: A Guide To Gothic Homemaking (Hardcover)

Another autobiographic introduction by Voltaire leads this volume. It explains from whence came his urge for "turning drab living spaces into fantastic locales": "I survey the world around me and wonder how we came to live in such a boring and mundane culture...What happened to the romance and pageantry of the past? How did we come to live in a world inundated by blue jeans and khakis and baseball caps, where the average person dresses like a mechanic or farmer or baseball player?

Paint it Black shows countless ways "how to take the horribly mundane and turn it into the wonderfully macabre." A splendid sibling to "What is Goth?", this "Guide to Gothic Homemaking" is loaded with nicely photographed, inexpensive, step-by-step projects via which one can "Transform a plain sketchbook into your very own skull-covered Book of the Dead," "Pimp Your Ride, Dracula-style," bake (recipe included) and decorate a "Graveyard Cake," and many more craft tactics enabling one to "Turn your room into a lair."

"Deconstructing Goth from the Catacombs Up" covers the basics of the look and different cultural variations to take for inspiration. As explained in his intro, Voltaire's work as a stop-motion animator taught him "model-making, building sets and props, [and] painting faux finishes," techniques which he passes on to us.

One lengthy chapter is loaded with suggestions for staging "Gothic Weddings," followed by final tips on "Pulling It All Together into a Gothic Love Nest." As with "What is Goth?", Voltaire's satiric asides and scattered philosophic comments spice the book. Another winner from Weiser Books, famed for publishing "books across the entire spectrum of occult and esoteric subjects."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Voltaire Makes Me Happy!, September 8, 2005

By 

K. Scarritt "Cenobitetx" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paint It Black: A Guide To Gothic Homemaking (Hardcover)

Voltaire's ready wit and sharp eye are the perfect blend on how to Goth out your home, your ride or your wedding! He has a clear understanding of the Goth setting, knows how to acheive it on the large or small scale, and has no hesitation about doing it on the cheap. His crafts, unlike Martha Stewart nightmare-esque books that make you feel inadequate for not taking college level Home Ec, are approachable and done in easy steps. He is able to streamline a lot of design ideas that can work for most decor and room layout.

Great little book!