Gothtober 2022! Anthony Leyva Day 1

Welcome to GOTHTOBER 2022, marking both the start of spooky season (jk, it’s always spooky season) and 20 years of Gothtober!

Gothtober now opens each year with a piece from an artist who has never before been featured. It’s a new month, a new beginning, so it makes sense to open with a new person! Continuing the tradition for 2022, Anthony Leyva is getting us started with his piece.

What do you need to know about Anthony? If he were a color he would be silver. He works at an escape room, which lets him escape into his creative endeavors. He reads tarot. He can spin the heck out of a sign.

“I picked Anthony because he seemed up for the adventure,” Head Candy Corn Julianna (JP) Parr says. “He reads tarot, is interested in meeting different kinds of people and having excellent conversations. Generally he has a brightness and sense of fun that compelled me to ask him, ‘Hey wanna be part of this crazy thing?’”

Check out The Gothtober Countdown Calendar and select Day 1 to see Anthony’s (warning: puns) short film. Then when you’re done with that, check out his instagram. and then when you’re done with that come back here tomorrow for day two!

Billy Kheel’s Blood Moon Craft for Gothtober DAY 8

For Gothtober DAY 8 (the book titled Oliver Twisted) you can download a .PDF for a pattern to make your very own Blood Moon Pillow by Billy Kheel!

Billy makes stuff out of felt, thread, stuffing and whatever else feels appropriate for subjects like giant swordfish, stripmall pillows, football trading cards, and even stuffed hunting rifles for babies (yes,  you read that correctly.) Anything you ever heard about felt appliques and what’s supposed to happen with them is pretty much blown out of the water by Mr. Kheel. The things he makes are full of contradictions, from the fact that he’s a bearded dude, not your great great Aunt, and he’s sewing precious collectible items out of everyday things, or making extraordinary versions of items we take for granted or tend to not see. His sport-oriented works are especially unique, an unexplored way to show love for franchised pro performance competition.

The felt works of Mr. Kheel are irresistible. When you come upon one of his pieces, you want to stare at it, touch it to make sure it’s really fabric, take it home, and then cuddle with it… even if it’s a giant foot from the Silverlake Foot Clinic sign on Sunset Blvd.

If you want to own an original Kheel, it’s not hard, just visit Billy’s Etsy Page, he’s got many items for sale at reasonable prices in many ranges and subjects: something for everyone! And check his site to see when he’s exhibiting and teaching workshops on how to sew your own fabric creations.

Now, get your pattern and materials, follow the pattern and make your blood moon so you can howl like the rest of us!