Dracula Blogged

Dracula and the candlemaker

Candles for Dracula: Steven Marc Harris creates candles for stories.  These include multiple layers of scent, each cued to aspects or scenes of a narrative.  Items may be embedded within, signifying other details.

Librarian, scholar, and Draculablog contributor Steven Kaye caused a Dracula candle to be made, pictured in this post.  The jar bears a label containing text drawn from the novel, Jonathan Harker's 1 October journal entry:

We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odor as we encountered...
There was an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler air. But as to the odor itself, how shall I describe it?

The label goes on to describe the candle's contents:

A Candle of Darkness and Blood scented with the masculine.  Transylvanian scent of black musk, tobacco, fir, balsam or peru, cumin, bitter close, crushed mint, and orange blossom.

I have not yet burned it, but can see two things from opening the container: a layer of red, and fangs embedded within.

What a novel idea for a storytelling device!  I've written some notes about an earlier narrative candle here.

Black and white taken to the edge

A digital art contest draws our attention to the subtle effects of black and white on early Gothic film.  The trick is to carefully add color to classic images from the world of grey.  Consider the Draculas.

(I blogged this at Infocult, too)