Q&A with Holly, creator of OrdoAtraSerpentis

Holly is one of the newer members of Etsy’s Dark Side. I got to know her a little better by doing this interview and I hope you’ll do the same by reading it!

CZ: Tell us a little about yourself!
OAS: During the daytime I work in I.T.  I fell into I.T. while working part time to support my diploma study in Fine Arts and Fashion Design and Construction.
I have been making arts and crafts my whole life. I never feel complete or relaxed unless I am making something or thinking about making something.  I LOVE knitting and am obsessed with Werewolves, cuttlefish and eels.  I love black metal, industrial and classical music.  I must marry The Doctor.
I started my Etsy shop as an excuse to get money back for the craft I make and was surprised (pleasantly) when people actually wanted to by my creations.

CZ: What type of items do you sell?
OAS: I sell Clothing and Accessories featuring Hand Screenprinted art by myself and two others.  These designs are inspired by the occult, gnostic, luciferian and sometimes just evil-ish things.  Shirts, Skirts, Bags, Gauntlets and papergoods are all featured in the shop.

CZ: What is the inspiration behind your shop and what keeps you motivated?
OAS: My main inspiration is the Occult - luciferian and chaos gnosticism as well as plain old devil-y and demon-ish stuff. I don't need too much motivation as I constantly feel compelled to create and find it difficult to relax and stop. I like to think that I can have an influence on someone’s life, aesthetically and spiritually as most designs have a spiritual idea behind them.

CZ: What is the greatest compliment you have received about your work?
OAS: The fact that anyone would buy and wear an item that I have created is flattering.
I often look at the favourites of customers and am excited to see my items alongside other amazing creations. One of my shirts was in the film clip for the industrial band Shiv-r which was exciting.

CZ: When did you first realize that you weren’t “like the other kids”?
OAS: I grew up in a small town on the south east coast of Australia. I was different from the second I was born; I had a blood clot on my spinal cord which means I had to (and have to now) use a wheelchair.
I was the only person within a 3 hours drive that was in a wheelchair. So from the start there was no point trying to be like everyone else. So I was just me. When I was a teenager my family moved to Sydney (capital of my state) and this was the first time I met other weird kids. Sydney had so much to offer and lots of cool shops and places it really opened up life to me and I realised I wanted to be an artist/designer.

CZ: What’s a typical day in the life of this Dark Sider like?
OAS: I wake up early and go to work. I work at work, check etsy emails at work and pack up items if I need to. My boss is really great about it, she understands that I work really hard to fit everything in.
I go home around 4. Get home and do some sewing or screen printing. Eat some dinner then mess around with photos and listing while listening to music. Do some knitting in bed, read some books (currently Elric of Melniboné).

CZ: Do you prefer zombies or vampires?
OAS: Werewolves would destroy both in my mind. I think a Zombie Velociraptor would be cool though.  I wouldn't mind going a few rounds with Erik Northman. Overall can I vote werewolf?

CZ: Which horror character do you identify with most and why?
OAS: Hmm I would have to say werewolf, part nice normal girl, part blood thirsty crazed and obsessed with total annihilation.

CZ: Which elusive creature do you believe is more likely to be real: El Chupacabra or Sasquatch?
OAS: I actually don’t know anything about either of those as they are American and I live in Australia.  We have things here called Bunyips which I suppose are like Sasquatch but are more evil spirits than dumb monster things. I think they are real, growing up in the bush I was pretty afraid of them.

CZ: Who is more likely to enslave the human race - aliens or robots?
OAS: Robots! Germs kill Aliens!! Hopefully some hot ones.

CZ: What scares you?
OAS: Hmmm.... not achieving anything in life is terrifying, people with no will to do anything with their life. I also really hate caterpillars.

CZ: When my undead masses take over will you be with us or against us?
OAS: Hmm… I would like to think I would be against to begin with then get turned in some glorious rampage of zombie slaughter culminating in being munched on and then becoming a zombie. That way I can try out both sides of the zombie apocalypse coin.

You can follow Holly and her art at these places:
http://www.ordoatraserpentis.etsy.com/
http://lycanthropica.blogspot.com/
http://lycanthropica.deviantart.com/
http://ordoatraserpentis.blogspot.com/