Gris Grimly signs his latest book at Dark Delicacies in Burbank.
CreepyLA decided to take a whiff of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s new Edgar Allan Poe inspired oil yesterday at Dark Delicacies, and was somewhat disappointed that it didn’t smell like a 150 years dead corpse. Heck, it didn’t even smell like an Absinthe marinated liver (perhaps Scoops can work on this for a new gelato flavor?). Described by its designers as a “melancholy, manic gentleman’s cologne,” the “Poe” oil is made of “incense and tobacco, opium tar, juniper berry, bourbon vanilla, patchouli, bergamot, and mossy leather.” All together, it smells exotic and homey, but with a slightly dark edge.
The Poe "Imp" from Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs
The oil made its debut as a premium at the book signing for Gris Grimly’s newest book, “Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia,” his second volume of illustrations based on tales by the horror master. Attendees who purchased a copy of the book, along with another item of Gris’s and an oil from Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs would receive a small vial, or “Imp,” of the “Poe” oil. Also available were four additional custom oils based on stories in the book:
A FIT OF ARTISTIC ENTHUSIASM: Electric jolts of mania: a salt-crusted coffin bobbing through tumultuous ocean waves.
DETESTABLE PUTRESCENCE: Melty vanilla ice cream!
HIDEOUS HEART: A sinister Valentine: wild black cherries, licorice root, and cinnamon.
SOOTHING SYSTEM: A lunatic’s vintage cabernet.
The ice cream scented Detestable Putresescense seemed to make the biggest buzz among the dozens of attendees waiting in line, which in spite of their embracement of death and all things horror, priortized their sweet tooths. Or sweet noses.
This, of course, seems fitting for fan of Gris Grimly’s work – colorful and playful like a children’s book, but always with macabre themes that would make the Brothers Grimm envious (exhibit a: “Sipping Spiders Through A Straw,” a book of campfire songs illustrated by Gris; exhibit b: his take on Christmas, “Santa Claws.”)
Events like these are pretty common for Grimly, who never seems to take his abundance talent for granted and seems to keep equally busy developing and launching new projects as he does interacting with fans. In addition to developing a 200 page illustrated adaptation of “Frankenstein,” and developing an animated version of “Pinnochio” with Guillermo del Toro at Henson Studios, Gris frequently interacts with the public via Twitter, Facebook, a production blog, and his monthly “Nooseletter” (which you can sign up for at his official site).
As for the olfactory potion makers of Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, their mostly online operation has a monthly open house on the evening of every full moon at their North Hollywood showroom (12120 Sherman Way), next on Friday, September 4th between 7pm and 10pm.
