Artist Interview August 2017: Gothbunny

To find where Katrina Sosnowski sells her wares visit her on her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Katrina Sosnowski:

Which pieces of your artwork are you most proud of, currently for sale or sold? Share an image of it if you have one.

I think the art I am most proud of right now is my plush version of a Gothbunny. They were a lot of fun to make and I look forward to doing more stuff like that.

Name an artist(s) whose work you admire and what influence have they had on your art?

I have a lot of artists whose work I admire but my top 3 would have to be my husband Mike Sosnowski, his monster paintings are the reason we are married. I started collecting his work at shows and decided I needed to collect the artist too! He is such a big help when I ask his opinion on whatever I’m working on he gives me lots of good feedback and is very encouraging. I’m also a big fan of Josephine Wall. I love her use of color and all the hidden images in her work. I am in love with the fairies of Nene Thomas her work is just so beautiful.

What would you consider the highest honor or greatest goal you would like to achieve with your art?

The highest honor for me would just to be able to quit my day job and make money off making art full time!

What Halloween costume that you got to wear in childhood was your favorite and has the fondest memory for you?

I don’t think I have a favorite costume the best part of all of them was helping my mom make them.

What is your favorite Halloween icon? Why do you identify with its imagery?

I think my favorite Halloween icon would be the Halloween bat, I love that they are cute and scary at the same time.

If money and wherewithal were not an issue, what would be your dream way to spend Halloween?

When my husband and I lived in Hollywood CA we were about 10 minutes away from Universal Studios and we got to go the Halloween Horror nights event a few times, I would love to be able to do that again it was so much fun!

Happy Frankenstein Day!

Frankenstein Day -By Katrina Sosnowski

Happy October everyone!
I know we are all excited for Halloween, but did you know there is another day to celebrate this month? The last Friday in October is Frankenstein Friday! Here are some fun facts about this special day;

The Origin of Frankenstein Day:
This special day was created by Ron MacCloskey from Westfield, New Jersey in 1997.
Frankenstein Friday celebrates he birth of Frankenstein and its creator. Frankenstein is one of the best-known horror characters, dating back to the 1800’s. I can’t imagine the Halloween season without the presence of Frankenstein, lurking somewhere in the darkness.

Frankenstein was born in 1818 when Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley, at the age of 21, wrote the story “Frankenstein”.
Frankenstein’s Mother: Mary Wollenstone Shelley
Frankenstein’s Father: Boris Karloff

To celebrate this day, you can read the novel, or see a Frankenstein movie.

Ron MacCloskey, the creator of this special day, awards “The Franky” each year to someone who has made a significant contribution to the promotion of Frankenstein. Maybe next year, you will receive the coveted “Franky” award.

I know we will be celebrating Frankenstein day at my house this year, how about you?

Katrina Sosnowski is proprietor of Gothbunny Gifts that scare and sparkle. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and her fine sculpted jewelry and gifts. Visit again next month for more from HAB members contributing to the Spooks Gazette.

Horror Movies!

Horror Movies! -By Katrina Sosnowski

Happy September everyone! Halloween is getting closer and I know we are all excited. I thought I would talk about one of my favorite parts of the Halloween season this time, Horror movies! I love horror movies, and have watched tons over the years so I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you. This could be a long list so I will stop at 10. I wanted to put a range of movies on this list so I have monsters, mad scientist, and the boogieman. I would love to know what movies you all like so please
comment and add your own titles to the list, straight horror, horror comedies, even some Sci Fi what ever you like to watch this time of year maybe we can all find something new to watch. Here is my list in no particular order enjoy!

1. Halloween- The original John Carpenter version. Fun fact the mask in the movie is a William Shatner mask painted white.
2. The Mist- This is my favorite Stephen King movie it’s just a monster lovers dream!
3. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. -This has it all, Horror, sci fi, romance, a mad scientist and his creation, aliens and one hell of a s soundtrack! Just thinking about Tim Curry makes me shiver with anticipation!
4. The Thing – John Carpenter does it again. The creatures in this one are amazing to watch!
5. All the Universal Monsters movies – Where would we be with out the original Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf man.
6. Pacific Rim- Giant robots fighting giant monsters, what else do you need?
7. Bubba Ho-Tep – Elvis and JFK fighting a Mummy in a rest home. You had me at Bruce Campbell is Elvis.
8. Cabin in the Woods- If you can name a monster its in this movie, oh ya and Thor.
9. Repo The Genetic Opera- I love everything about this one! I could go on for days, Name another movie where Paris Hilton’s face falls off.
10. In the Mouth of Madness – One last John Carpenter movie, imagine if Stephen Kings books came to life and changed reality. Don’t miss this one!

Katrina Sosnowski is proprietor of Gothbunny Gifts that scare and sparkle. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and her fine sculpted jewelry and gifts. Visit again next month for more from HAB members contributing to the Spooks Gazette.

Creative Inspiration and Dragon Making

Creative Inspiration and Dragon Making -By Katrina Sosnowski

One of the things I like about creating art is you never know when you will be inspired to try something. The other day I was at the grocery store and noticed they put some big plastic decorations for Halloween out for sale and that made me think how fun it would be to have something for the porch this year. I started thinking about it and remembered that I had a book at home with a project in it that would be perfect! Something, that would be fun to make and be better than buying something. I am going to make a Dragon! I have this wonderful book that I got for Christmas and it is time to play with it.

This is a great book. It has lots of great information and is easy to follow. The author Dan Reeder will amaze you with what you can do with newspapers and glue! You can find this book on amazon and he has a website with videos of his dragons coming to life. Even if you don’t want to make a dragon his videos are inspiring and fun to watch. The book takes you step by step to made a full size dragon from basic construction to painting and finishing touches. There is also a section on making a trophy. Don’t we all want a dragonhead mounted over the fireplace? Now we can make one!

If you want to make a paper mache monster instead Dan has you covered! His other book is

Katrina Sosnowski is proprietor of Gothbunny Gifts that scare and sparkle. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and her fine sculpted jewelry and gifts. Visit again next month for more from HAB members contributing to the Spooks Gazette.

MONSTER MUNCH: BLOOD, BONES, BRAINS, BUGS!

MONSTER MUNCH: BLOOD, BONES, BRAINS, BUGS!-By Katrina Sosnowski

Hi everyone I hope you are ready for a tasty treat! This is a fun recipe I found online for a spring Easter treat that I have changed to be a bit ghoulish for Halloween or any time you have hungry monsters you need to feed. I made the Easter version for a party and it was a huge hit so I think this version will be too. It’s easy and you only need 4 ingredients! Here we go!

1/2 cup un-popped popcorn kernels, or 2 bags tender white popcorn (Brains)
12 oz red candy melts such as Wilton, they taste like vanilla! (Blood)
1 1/3 cups pretzel sticks broken in to small pieces (Bones)
12 oz chocolate chips, you can also use mini chocolate chips or M&Ms (Bugs)

1- Pop popcorn in a popper or microwave according to manufactures directions; remove any un-poped kernels let cool. Toss in broken pretzel pieces and chocolate chips. I used a cookie sheet you can also use a mixing bowl.

2- Melt candy melts in a microwave safe bowl on high for 30 second intervals stirring after each time until melted and smooth. Drizzle half of the melted chips over the popcorn mixture then stir or toss gently a few times. Drizzle remaining candy over popcorn mixture until evenly coated.

3- Allow mixture to cool and harden then break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

4 – Enjoy!

*Original recipe from bake at 350.

Katrina Sosnowski is proprietor of Gothbunny Gifts that scare and sparkle. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and her fine sculpted jewelry and gifts. Visit again next month for more from HAB members contributing to the Spooks Gazette.

Halloween Mandala Color Activity

Halloween Mandala Color Activity-By Katrina Sosnowski

Hi everyone and Happy Spring!
Halloween is still a few months away but in the meantime we can have some fun. I’m sure everyone has seen all the amazing adult coloring books that are popular right now, I know I have a few of them in my collection. I thought it would be fun to have something with a taste of Halloween to color so I created this fun Halloween Mandala. A Mandala is a piece of artwork made up of intricately drawn patterns contained in a circle or square shape. The word Mandala is a Sanskrit term for circle or discoid object. Have fun with this and be creative! Use anything you want to add color to the Mandala, we would love to see your finished artwork!
-Katrina from Gothbunny

Instructions:
Right Click on the image below and save to download.
Print and color the Halloween Mandala in any medium you wish, either by hand or digital.
HAB would love for you to share your Halloween Mandala with us!
If coloring by hand scan or take a clear photo and send us a jpeg of your finished Halloween Mandala.
Post it to our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/HalloweenArtistBazaar/
We’ll post the finished Halloween Mandalas in a special gallery for all to see.

Katrina Sosnowski is proprietor of Gothbunny Gifts that scare and sparkle. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and her fine sculpted jewelry and gifts. Visit again next month for more from HAB members contributing to the Spooks Gazette.

Featured Artist Interview March 2016: Gothbunny

To find where Gothbunny sells her wares visit her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Katrina of Gothbunny Handmade Jewelry and Gifts:

At what age did you discover your love of Halloween?

I have loved Halloween for as long as I can remember but I think I really started to like Halloween and all the fun scary things that go with it when I was a 13 and 14.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

I think one of my fondest Halloween memories is going trick or treating with my cousins and friends when I was little. In the summer my mom and I would start on figuring out my costume and go to the fabric store to get supplies to make it. My mom always made my costumes, they did not have the costume shops like they do now and I think it was better that way. I will take a homemade costume over one from a shop any day.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

Now I celebrate Halloween with my husband, we go to haunted houses and have fun. We just moved to a new house and we have kids in the neighborhood so we will get to hand out candy for the first time this year.

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

I have worked with clay and beads on and off over the years. I love a good how to book and I have found lots of good information on the web. The best training you can get is just picking up your medium and play with it to figure out what you can do with it.

What was the inspiration to create what you create and when did you know you wanted to create Halloween?

I started creating Halloween jewelry because its something I like to wear. I wanted to create Halloween inspired designs from the first time I started working with clay.