A few months ago I found this very interesting, though seriously defective, art deco styled statue. Noting the beautiful design of the gilt-bronze dress, ivory hands, and heavy as Hell marble base, I had a sneaky suspicion that I possibly just discovered an affordable Demetre H. Chiaparus figure! The price was indeed right, even in this rather poor condition, and googling around for days, I sadly came up with absolutely no information on her. Now the real downside. Her original head (whatever that may have been), unfortunately appears to have been destroyed at some point (not by me), and then someone attempted a reconstructed head (and headdress) made from a ball of wax covered with some type of painted plaster. This clearly didn't hold up either, as the new face apparently crumbled apart (also not my fault), revealing the disturbing weirdness that lies beneath. But you know me, finding something like this just means that it's time for Mr. Karswell to get creative, ie: with a small plastic halloween skull prop (sliced in half) draped in a black veil to give our hideous queen an even more hideous new face-- aka a Face of Screaming Death! Try not to stare at her too long, or you may find yourself screaming as well...
Aw sweet! That is way cool. I mean, her ball-of-wax face had a certain "WWI trauma" something going for it, too, but I love the skull and veil. I really wish I could see the last guy's fix intact, too. Judging by the pieces, whoever it was managed a pretty neat job of it--just not one that would last.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Not only is she scary but she has a serious overbite!
ReplyDeleteVery neat, that's a really cool fix, and like Mr. Cavin, I'd like to have seen the original fix, too, it looks like it took some skill and was well done.
Happy Halloween!
A ghoulfriend/ghoulfiend for the Phantom of the Opera, perfect!
ReplyDeleteThe faceless lady reminded me of a scary story that went something like this-
ReplyDelete-A traveler in old Japan was following a road after dark, when he encountered a woman weeping along the side of the road.
The traveler asked what was wrong and the woman looked up at him revealing a featureless face, a face as smooth as an egg.
The traveler screamed and ran away as fast as he could. He ran for several miles until he met a man wandering the road carrying a lantern above him.
"What's wrong?" asked the man holding the lantern. The traveler told of the woman with a featureless face. "It liked as smooth as an egg!" said the traveler.
The man with the lantern lowered the lantern to his feet, then raised it against his face, then asked "Did she look like this?"-
Now his face was as smooth as an egg.
The traveler screamed as the lantern went out.
Anyway, that's the story but I can't remember the title or the author, though the lovely lady featured today made me recall that tale from long ago.