Spiderdead themed cookies!!! Cookies by Danielle Poage. Skull art by Alex Stock.
It’s our favorite time of the year: the air is cool and crisp, leaves crunch under our feet, HQ smells like pecan pie and it’s nearly time for SPIDERDEAD, Spiderweb Salon’s final and perhaps most memorable public event of the year! It’s also a massive fundraiser for You Are Here, the mental health initiative we mentioned in our last blog post, where we’ll be raising funds to provide therapy scholarships for local artists via DMAC Denton. You can read more about this project in this article released this week by Simone Carter, which originally appeared in the Denton Wretched Chronicle: Local Nonprofit, Creative Collective Team Up to Give Local Artists Mental Health Care
What can you expect at SPIDERDEAD? For starters, more than 40 of our artists have come together to create a gorgeous performance showcase full of music, poetry, theatre, and art that refuses to shy away from the most difficult aspect of life: death. We ask that you wear black and participate in the activities and interactive art as you are comfortable, for instance, you may leave a photo or token at the ofrenda, grab a copy of our newest zine, snap a pic in our coffin photobooth, find a host with a black balloon should you need a tissue, a hug, or someone to share your thoughts with. Perhaps Nina put it best, “It will be a dark, emotional show, but there’s something about collectively grieving that leads to collectively healing...” We sincerely hope you will bask in the love as we celebrate the beauty of life through the veil of death.
The amazing Megan Storie came by the kitchen to help out! She’ll be debuting a brand new song this weekend at SPIDERDEAD and we can’t wait!
And what would a Spiderweb fundraiser be without the delicious aroma of baked goods wafting through the air and a community bake sale full of tantalizing delicacies? Haven’t you wanted to sample some of the incredible treats we’ve been making over the past two years? Say hello to the marvelous babes themselves? Of course! Get ready to take home cookies, breads, muffins, candies, and the like, made by us and our wonderful friends. If you’re in a baking mood and want to share, we encourage you to participate as well! Event starts at 7pm on Novemeber 2 (Saturday) at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.
We love Danielle! Give Endora’s Bakehouse a follow to see all her gorgeous edible creations.
To prepare for such earthly delights we rallied the help of our longtime friend and icing queen, Danielle Poage of Endora’s Bakehouse! She’s a cookie monster in the best way, rolling in to HQ totally prepared to wow us with her smooth icing skills and incredible patience at our surely charming yet messy mishaps (Which reminds me: be careful with the food coloring! I tried to make a bright red that turned very, very brown!). If you’ve ever wanted to try making those beautifully elaborate sugar cookies decorated with a bit of personal flair, THIS IS IT! Try Danielle’s recipe here (take note of those hot tips!), give it a whirl, and don’t forget to send us pics! And of course, if you don’t have time for all that you can come get a taste at SPIDERDEAD (Saturday, Nov 2! Rubber Gloves!)
The most beautiful mess.
QUEEN DANIELLE’S ROYAL ICING
ARTIST AT WORK!!!!
1/3 c Meringue Powder*
2/3 c water**
(you can use a 2 to 1 ratio for any amount of icing you may need)
2 lbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ lemon worth of lemon juice
Food color
Combine meringue powder and water in mixer and gradually add the powdered sugar while blending on high. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Blend to a super thick consistency** (I believe the phase “super stiff, like a corpse,” was uttered), separate and color with food coloring as needed. You can use piping bags but in a pinch a ziplock with the tip snipped off will work just fine! Don’t squeeze too hard, or you’ll find yourself covered in a delicious mess.
*If you don’t have meringue powder, you can substitute 1 egg white = 1Tbsp, so about 5 egg whites will = 1/3 c
**You can add water to thin to desired consistency when you are adding the food coloring. Thicker icing is better for doing outlines, thinner is better for covering the whole cookie.
These cookies GIVE US LIFE! Enjoy, and see you at SPIDERDEAD!
What’s a cookie party without some spooky jams? Corbin serenaded us while we worked, finessing his funeral synth set that he’ll be sharing with the spiderfam at SPIDERDEAD! Don’t miss it!