kebechet

Moddiewenches, please move this if I've posted it in the wrong place! Me dUm! Some people have been asking, so here's the scoop... Bean, the Demon Queen (the Lab Cat), is the model on the Bakeneko label. You can't see it well on the label, but Teddy managed to catch her sitting on a huge stuffed bat that's hanging on the loft in the warehouse during one of the recent will calls. BeanPic BeanPic Links fixed~Morrighana

The Forum-Only BPTP / BiggerKrissy Critter sign up starts at 6pm PST tonight. =)

When the fizzies went live, we neglected to update the shipping grid. Its been a little out of whack for a while, as we never updated the shipping cost after the USPS prices went up, and as a result, we lost a bit of money on the first boom orders, especially the internationals. My bad. =( Totally my fault. We have updated the shipping grid on CcNow to reflect the updated costs: DOMESTIC SHIPPING FOR BPTP: Up to 1lb: 5.00 1lb – 3lbs: 10.00 3lbs – 5lbs: 14.00 5lbs – 7lbs: 16.00 7lbs – 10lbs: 21.00 10lbs +: 30.00 Free shipping for orders over $300.00 still applies, and will as long as the shipping cost doesn't kill us. Heh. Sincerest apologies. You know we never want prices to go up, but the hits we're taking are too hard. Thank you for understanding!

BPAL & BPTP will be at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA on Saturday, February 10th for a mutual Valentine’s Day event! We’ll be there from 3-5pm, and will have the whole of the Lupercalia, Carnaval Diabolique, and the Eight Heroines in tow, as well as an exclusive scent that we created for Dark Delicacies. Much of our general catalogue will be available, as well as a few surprises. Black Phoenix’s Dark Delicacies blend is the embodiment of sinister sensuality. It is a heady and darkly romantic blend of devil’s trumpet accord, black orchid, tonka, coconut meat, fruit gums, osmanthus, smoky resin, myrtle, and Indonesian patchouli. Dark Delicacies is the best damn horror-focused bookstore on the planet. They have a phenomenal selection of ghoulish books, many signed by the authors, as well as a great selection of cd’s, dvd’s, and a stupefyingly cool collection of spooky tchotch. There really is nothing like DD in all of earth and hell, and even if you cannot join us on the 10th, please visit the shop or poke around their site! Dark Delicacies is located at: 4213 W. Burbank Boulevard Burbank, CA 91505 (818)556-6660 http://www.darkdel.com/ Also on February 10th… Dark Delicacies is having a signing, starting at 2pm, for the Hellboy Animated dvd. Composer Chris Drake, Doug Jones and creator Mike Mignola (schedule permitting) will be there, so you really don’t want to miss out! Please join us on February 10th, and support both your neighborhood diabolical bookshop and Alchemist’s Local 93!

I just have three things to say… Hunger Moon fizzyBOOM Inquisition

Holy Mother of Disco Balls, is it really already 2007?! I know what you’re all here for, and so as not to be a pain, I’ll get on with the good stuff, and leave the gushing for last: Carnaval Diabolique’s Act III is live. Black Phoenix is proud to present the Magnificent Miracles of our Unhallowed Midway: the Parliament of Monsters! For your pleasure, ALIVE on the INSIDE: THE 13-IN-1! Images captured by the Devil’s own portrait artist: the inimitable, infernal, mystifying Mistress of the Brush and Palette, Gennivre. Hunger Moon is high in the sky, and Bakeneko, this month’s shapeshifter, is prowling the halls. They will both be available until January 5th, 2007. Also new this month: our canticle to the complexities of love and lust – the Lupercalia series. We also present a Valentine’s Day subseries: an olfactory dissertation on the mysteries of spiritual and earthly love – Ashtanyika: the Faces of the Heroine. Both of these collections can be found on our Limited Edition page. Since the winter season can be so brutal, we have also added three therapeutic blends to the Panaceas, our aromatherapy collection. Because the holidays are boiling bundles of chaos, the Black Phoenix Trading Post Update will not be live until January 2, 2007. Tees, fizzies, a new Inquisition… I’m so stupefyingly thrilled about what Teddy has to offer this month… I hope that you all end up as jazzed as I am! There are many perfumes that we had tagged for 2006 -- and years prior to it! -- that we hope we’ll be able to go forward with in 2007. There are a myriad of new scents in the works, plus four more acts in Carnaval Diabolique. At least one new category will be introduced to the general catalogue, and things will be popping, fizzing, glooping, and schmearing all over Black Phoenix Trading Post. All in all, I think aught seven will be a fine year. Happy New Year’s, one and all! Though many, many wonderful things happened during 2006, I’m really looking forward to a new year devoid of nutty landlords, broiler-hot temporary warehouses, and imploding imp vials. The cliché says that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right? Welp, we’ve gone through quite a few years of emotional buffing up – I’ll be grateful for a little more rest and a lot more fun! May 2007 bring us all, the entirety of the BPAL family -- both Lab Rat and our beloved clients, a reprieve from stress and grief. May the year bless us with prosperity and peace, and shower every single one of us with just enough excitement to keep our hearts racing while leaving our sanity intact!

The long-awaited Carnaval Diabolique update (on BPAL) and fizzyBOOM update (on BPTP) will be going live some time on New Year's Day, barring holiday-related incident. As I'm sure you guys know, things get weird when the holiday season rolls around, and many unforeseen hiccups occur. As long as sailing remains smooth, we'll be ready to rock on January 1st, 2007. Keep all yer available digits crossed! In the meantime, we demand that you all have a wonderful, safe, and glorious new year's eve!

Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule, Happy Kwanzaa, belated Happy Hanukkah, and early Happy New Year to everyone! Thank you for making every difficult day worthwhile, and for making every beautiful day that much brighter! We truly hope that the holiday season is peaceful and that Krampus, Saint Rupert, and Pere Fouettard go easy on you.

BLACK PHOENIX TRADING POST NEWS http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/ Happy holidays, everyone! Two new metal imp cases have been added to the catalogue: Bosch’s Seven Deadly Sins (hand-poured resin) and Witches Dancing on the Sabbath (distressed leather). We are also proud to present the first in a series of Black Phoenix wrist bands, and by popular demand, we are now offering perfume pouches and magnets. Very soon, the fizzing and bubbling will commence. More kritters will be live near the first full moon of the Julian calendar, and many new scent locket designs will be ready to bling up a storm by Valentine’s Day. If you have reserved a Kritter and have received your confirmation email, and you are making your purchase through the web site (as opposed to PayPal) please go to http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com/kritter.html A purchase link is beneath each kritter that will enable you to add it to your cart. Please add only the one(s) that you have reserved. If you are paying by PayPal, please go ahead and remit payment. Please make sure you note in the comments field your name, your forum name, and the name of the kritter that you have purchased. Thank you all! TWILIGHT ALCHEMY LAB UPDATE http://www.twilightalchemylab.com Conjure bags are now available at Twilight Alchemy Lab! Conjure bags can be used in a variety of ways: as a point of focus, worn on your person, hung in your personal space, stored with material objects that reflect the mojo bag’s purpose. Each bag is created and tailored to the individual. Planetary oils have also gone live at TAL. Please note: the formula for TAL’s planetary blends are not the same as the BPAL perfume oils that represent those celestial bodies. These are oils that are specifically calibrated for ritual work.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present auctions to benefit the Humane Society. All profits will go to the Humane Society. Please bid and help a good cause. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZblackphoe...chemylabQQhtZ-1

Was that crass? Anyway... Wolf Moon is live at Black Phoenix Trading Post! Artwork by our beloved Jennifer Williamson! 3X is now available in both the long-sleeved Alchemists Local 93 tee and the long-sleeved Demon of Vanity tee. In my totally unbiased opinion... these are the BEST FREAKIN' TEES EVER. I've worn my Local 93 shirt so often since we received them that its almost gross, and people are wondering if maybe the rest of my wardrobe caught on fire, as I haven't really been wearing anything else. I'm getting too personal, right? Hee.

Sorry if this shiny and new plug is a little disjointed. The holiday season is a crazymaker, and I am ass-dragging tired! Wolf Moon is live at BPAL. The Black Phoenix Trading Post Wolf Moon update will go live tomorrow night. Starting this Lunacy, we will be celebrating the full moon twice-over by offering a therianthropic blend in tandem with the Lunacy perfume. This month’s A Lot of Lunacy blend is dedicated to our Hellenic representative from the werewolf caucus: Lycaon. WOLF MOON This pale and glittering moon hangs high over the deep snows and freezing winds of midwinter. January’s full moon has been named the Wolf Moon by many cultures, as the nights are filled with the howls of ravenous wolf packs, and the danger of falling prey to the animal’s desperate hunger is at its peak. This scent is that of unending, unquenchable hunger and feral madness. This is the dead of winter: a frozen night, chill wind, and the sharp, warm perfume of blood, fur, fang, and claw. Winter air, Terebinth pine, juniper berry, dusty orris, deep amber, white sandalwood, black musk, blue cedar, and tonka. LYCAON Lycaon was the first king of Arcadia, and though his country prospered under his rule, he possessed a streak of viciousness that earned him the great god Zeus’ ire. Zeus had heard tales of Lycaon’s impiety and cruelty, and in order to find out the truth about the King of Arcadia, he disguised himself as a beggar and sought hospitality in the king’s court. Lycaon and his fifty equally sadistic sons discovered the identity of their guest, and foolishly served Zeus a meal of soup that contained sheep and goat entrails, and the flesh of Lycaon’s fifty-first son, Nictimos. Zeus, consumed with rage and disgust, struck the king’s home with a lightning bolt, and transformed Lycaon and his sons into creatures more suited to their savage natures: werewolves. A monstrous, brutal, and bloodthirsty blend: blackened myrrh, crushed olive leaf, black musk, spikenard, frankincense, cypress wood, opoponax, white ginger, and patchouli. The Halloweenies, Order of the Dragon, and Anniversary scents have been given a brief reprieve. They will remain live until Wolf Moon comes down on December 7, 2006. Also new this update… a new exhibit in the Salon! 16 new artistic interpretations are available for your perusal. A new imp set is also available there, and covers all sixteen of the new perfumes. The next Carnaval Diabolique act will be live in December, along with a few other surprises that will span BPAL, BPTP, and TAL. Whoops! Almost forgot... Shub-Niggurath is back. We sincerely hope that everyone’s winter is glittering, and is as painless and drama-free as possible!

Hi all! Sorry I’ve been a little out of communication. As much as we love winter, this time of year is always a little nutty for retailers. We’ve been busting our butts to make sure order-to-ship time narrows, and we’ve been hard at work on the new scents for the Dead of Winter: the new Carnaval installment, new imp cases and lockets for Trading Post, ouanga bags for Twilight, fizzy and bubbly this and that, and the Lunacies for the first half of 2007. In addition, Lupercalia is just around the corner, and if there’s one thing we go apeshit over here at the Lab… its love and sex. The Carnaval update is going to go live a week or so later than projected. It is a very intense series to work on, and between the scents themselves, the artwork, and the tchotch… it is taking a little longer than projected to get it perfected. Thank you all for your patience. The freak show segment of this series is very complex, and means a great deal to us. We just want to make it as stupendous as inhumanly possible. Some labors of love are simply very laborious! For 2007’s Lunacy series, we’ve decided to go back to basics. We’ll be jumping around like mad like we did for the first several years, instead of going with a specific theme like 2006’s Chinese Moons. My Piscean brain just can’t stick with a specific theme for another twelve months! We’re going to do what we do best, and that’s go with what inspires us, regardless of convention. January 3: Wolf Moon February 2: Hunger Moon March 3: Crow Moon April 2: Pink Moon May 2: Milk Moon June 1 & 30: Rose Moon and… What ho?! Two moons in June? Well, you know what that means…

Our mailing list is kaput, and I had to finally admit defeat... so we're now using a mailing list service. We searched high and low, and the one we're working with is an opt-in, spam-free, privacy-loving extravaganza. So, if you'd like to be kept abreast of BPAL-related news, updates, gossip, and the occasional rant, please hit up: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/mailinglist.html ... and give us your info. If you signed up on the old mailing list, you're going to have to sign up again. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience! Thank you for your interest in BPAL. =D

Thanks to the Great Hard Drive Crash of '06, we lost the media kit and all the related files. We have to redo it, and we are being asked to put together a compilation of our customer's BPAL-related stories, commentaries, anecdotes, etc for the media kit again. So, if you have anything you'd like to say about BPAL that you don't mind us placing in our media kit, please shoot your thoughts to: bpalbackup [at] gmail [dot] com Thanks to the Great Hard Drive Crash of '06, we lost the media kit and all the related files. Apologies for doing this all over again; it has been a chaotic year technologically. Thanks for your time, guys! We appreciate the assistance. =)

Thank you. =)

Sorry, guys!

BPTP is down for a moment. We're working on getting it fixed, and I'll post as soon as repairs are completed. Thanks!

http://www.blackphoenixtradingpost.com Bitter Moon is live! The Doodle Goddess has outdone herself. Bitter Moon KICKS ASS! Bitter Moon will be rockin' the house until November 7, 2006. Also new this month, our Mad Tea Party tee: Black ink on white crew! ... and, also new, the first of our long-sleeved tees: Coming soon: more imp cases, more bling, stuff that pops, fizzes, and suds, and some wacky fuzzy things!

Happy anniversary to us! Four years, baby, and we’re still chugging along! A sincere, heartfelt, and loving thanks to all of our clients for being so supportive through all our trials, for giving us the opportunity to pursue our heart’s desire, and for gifting us with an unrivaled extended family of the most phenomenal, fascinating, and multi-faceted people on this planet. Now, before I get all sappy – as I am wont to do – let’s get on with the show! Bitter Moon is live! BITTER MOON Kokoro no oni ga mi wo semeru. The body is tortured only by the demon of the heart. Nepal poppy, lotus root, wild rose, and blue hibiscus with blackberry, tonka, sage, lavender, peony and vetiver. Our Doodle Goddess, Jennifer Williamson, has provided some incredibly sexy artwork for the Bitter Moon tee – artwork that is amazingly appropriate for the BPALiversary, too. It will be live, along with a few more new items, on the Black Phoenix Trading Post site tomorrow. With this, we close the Year of Asian Moons. Bitter Moon will be live at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab until November 7, 2006. To commemorate our anniversary, we’re bringing back some discontinued scents. Live until December 1, 2006… ++ RESURRECTION BAT'S BLOOD Vengeance can be yours. FEU FOLLET Deceptively gentle and lethally alluring. Jasmine and rose, touched with sparkling heliotrope. GLASYA Created in honor of the fiery, vicious Princess of Hell and bloodthirsty general who governs thirty-six legions of infernal warriors. Her lust for bloodshed and manslaughter is matched only by her love of the classical arts and sciences - definitely a woman that we respect. A seething, fiery blend of dragon's blood, deep myrrh, red and black musks, civet and thick red patchouli, glistening with drops of rose and ylang ylang. GLITTER All flash and glam: white wine, heliotrope, d'Anjou pear, and lotus. SILENTIUM AMORIS As oftentimes the too resplendent sun Hurries the pallid and reluctant moon Back to her sombre cave, ere she hath won A single ballad from the nightingale, So doth thy Beauty make my lips to fail, And all my sweetest singing out of tune. And as at dawn across the level mead On wings impetuous some wind will come, And with its too harsh kisses break the reed Which was its only instrument of song, So my too stormy passions work me wrong, And for excess of Love my Love is dumb. But surely unto Thee mine eyes did show Why I am silent, and my lute unstrung; Else it were better we should part, and go, Thou to some lips of sweeter melody, And I to nurse the barren memory Of unkissed kisses, and songs never sung. Unspoken love. Inspired by Oscar Wilde's poem. A scent brimming with pathos and memories of longing and loss. Rose touched with ylang ylang. TYPHON A fearsome creature from Greek lore. Typhon was born from the marriage of Earth and Hell, and is said to be so terrible in aspect that even the gods themselves flee from his venomous gaze. Our own blend of Earth and Hell: red patchouli, sandalwood, black musk and vetiver. YUKI-ONNA The Lady of the Snow, Winter Ghost, Snow Queen. A chilling, haunted blend of bergamot, lemon verbena, sandalwood and jasmine. And finally… this year’s commemorative Phoenix: PURPLE PHOENIX Porphyrogenitus, indeed; we worked for it! Not simply the color of royalty, purple is also the color of sorrow and mourning, reconciliation and forgiveness. A regal, majestic, and somber blend of myrrh, plum blossom, African violet, cognac, fig, orris, lilac, wisteria, black plum, and Burgundy wine grapes. Many things are still on the calendar for this year at BPAL, BPTP, and TAL, so keep poking around! Carnaval Diabolique moves into its next chapter, some long-awaited scents from the 2006 preview are making their debut, spooky new designs and some shiny bling is arriving at the Trading Post, and TAL will have some new tricks up its proverbial sleeve. This year ain’t over yet, friends and neighbors! Thank you again for four amazing fucking years. Our lives are truly enriched by every single one of you, and we hope that we can continue to share our dreams, nightmares, and perversities for many, many years to come!

After will call, come hang out at Malediction. =) DJ Xian has generously offered a discount to everyone who shows up at the door with a BPAL flyer. Miss Forest will be doing tarot readings in the Red Room while the rest of us get our booze on. Hee! The scoop: Club: MALEDICTION SOCIETY Night: Every Sunday DJs: Amanda Jones and Xian Genre: Darkwave Industrial EBM / Steampunk NeoVictorian Decadence Time: 10PM - 2AM Policy: 21+, $7 (varying discount passes) Address: 3100 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010 (Wilshire & Vermont, entrance on S. Westmoureland.) Website: http://www.maledictionsociety.com

Plugging a friend's tv show. From the release: - - - Hello All - Just wanted to let everyone know that the trailer for Reality Inc is now available for viewing! Everyone involved put in a ton of hard work, and we're very proud of the results - hopefully you'll enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. For those who don't know about the show, the official description is below - in a nutshell, it's an indie sit-com we've created and are now putting on the market. And since we're keeping to the indie ethos (and budget) we're counting on viral marketing to spread the word about the show - and that means you! If you like the show, please leave a positive comment on youtube, and send the link on to a friend. Better yet, send it to all your friends! We would very much appreciate it, and we'll be sure to buy you all a drink when we're big scripted TV moguls. Cheers, The Reality Inc. Team View the show at: Official description: Shot on nights and weekends, "Reality Inc." was created by reality TV veterans who realized their lives and jobs were far too ridiculous to pass without parody. The result? "Reality Inc." - a sitcom about a struggling production company searching for the next big hit. With shades of the Office and a touch of Arrested Development, it's a fictional look at a world that's all too real. Remember, it's not real...It's Reality Now on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/povproductions

As you know, F_S, this isn't directed at you. =P I felt I needed to clarify.

DING! My turn. I can’t fucking believe this. Now I’m getting emails from people ASKING me to step in on the Heaven & Earth debacle. Do these people really want me to come into the thread and rant? You want to know why I haven’t spoken up? Two things: first, I was trying very hard to show someone more respect than they have shown me or our company, and second… the great, all-powerful, and almighty entity that is my attorney. He has a fantastic way of shutting me up. I can’t add anything to what Filigree has already stated in her blog, suffice to say that I think it is very telling that the Heaven and Earth thread is perpetually rife with drama. I’m sure Michelle is a delightful person, but I do not agree with her business practices. I think that her attempts to circumvent the forum’s regulations are shady, and I think her explanations for the origins of her products are tall-tales. This is my opinion. I have seen bottles on her site that cost less than a dollar to purchase from a local company that are being sold for $10+ dollars, and are being touted as imported goods. This isn’t the way we do things at BPAL, but who am I to judge another’s company? I kept quiet for many reasons, and it is PREPOSTEROUS that people should email me and ask me to defend my silence. As if being quiet or respectful or attempting to shut up and allow people to work things out on their own is some sign of weakness. Give me a fucking break, please. We’re in the middle of the busiest time of our year, and the last thing I have time to do is blather about my issues with another person’s company. It is just such a pitiful cop-out when people blame the moderators for a kerfuffle that erupts. Can’t take responsibility for your actions? Blame it on the mods! While I think that loyalty is commendable, it is ridiculous that one would ignore that she has repeatedly violated the terms of service on this forum, and I think it is preposterous that Shriekingviolet’s motives or the legitimacy of the forum suspension are in question at all. If you are of the mind that this forum is run in that fashion, you don’t need to be here. The truth is: that is BULLSHIT. The administrators and moderators here are nothing BUT fair, and they jump through HOOPS to make sure that people are given a million fucking chances before any measures are taken. On just about any other retail forum, official or unofficial, posting with the sole intent of shilling is frowned upon, dupe accounts and sock puppets are a no-go, and let me tell you… it boggles the mind that anyone would think that the deliberate violation of the rules here would go unnoticed. Personally, I think the issues that were brought up in the H&E thread have been extremely HELPFUL to the company’s owner, and, as an example, if I were in a position where my right to muscle in on someone else’s intellectual property was in question, and if I had no knowledge of how trademark law, IP law, or copyright law worked, I would truly appreciate being notified before someone was forced to hammer me with a cease & desist.

All Pumpkin Queen and Castle backorders are shipping now, and have been for about four business days. =)