While we prepare for the Goblin Ball Voyage of 2017 we thought it would be fun to have a play around with Snap Chat.

​If you would like to join us on our next Boat Party you can book your tickets here

Everything is possible and nothing is as it seems with these Snap Chat Filters!
If you would like to send your submissions to askus@TheGoblinBall.com we would love to do a follow up post!

Hello Dear Guests,

So by now you are probably wondering what is happening with The Goblin Ball 2016? I know we have been pretty quiet as of late however there is good reason for it.

The Goblin Ball takes a lot of resources, time and money to produce and things can get a little hectic with our private schedules and our personal lives. A lot of The Goblin Ball is funded by the savings of the production crew and unfortunately after three years of operation this is no longer a financial model we are able to continue at this time.

The good news? 

We have decided to seek funding through a crowd sourcing campaign and have been working with the good folk at Pozible to bring it to life with some pretty exciting rewards. In order to best give our guests a night they wish to experience as well as the opportunity to parade in their glory (and also take home some exclusive rewards) we will hope to be launching the campaign next month.

Nothing is confirmed - so the next Goblin Ball depends on the success of the campaign.

Starlantis is a world of Spirits and Psychics. Pintina will hopefully be resurrected through one of Melbourne's Largest Seances of the year. We need you to help make this dream a reality.

Keep an ear to the ground. The Goblin Ball will be returning…

When, is up to you.

Daniel “Darko” Knaggs
Writer and Producer

Since we explored The Ice Kingdom Liz Sharpe from LVS Make Up has designed and dazzled with the creatures creations. The Goblin Ball characters come alive and truly amaze with the hard work of Liz's team! We caught up with her and asked her a few questions on how she gets her inspiration for her work and what guests can expect on the night.

Tell us of your favorite inspiration!
From travelling to USA to film music videos and working on film Liz has a life filled with experiences to draw on. "Life's journey as a visual creative is enough to inspire me, it's loaded with everything I need."

If you could sum up your life in one word what would it be?
Liz keeps everything straight to the point. "Makeup" and to be honest with such an amazing back story, it's the perfect word.

Check out more of Liz and her teams work at the following sites and be sure to check out her work on the Goblin Ball for 2015!

Facebook: Click for link


Total thanks goes to Liz and her team for their hard work on the ball. We can't wait to see what amazing creatures we encounter this year!

An amazing sponsor of the Goblin Ball, Marquis de Sade makes extraordinary Apparel for extraordinary people. Browse and shop through their unique collection of quality German steel bone, waist cinch corsets and an amazing collection of Cosplay outfits. Catering for all sizes and fantasies. Specialising in leather, PVC and other exotic fabrics.
Company Web Page
http://www.marquisdesade.com.au
Email
info@marquisdesade.com.au

Have you heard of the Goblin Ball? If so tell us what you know or your experiences
I first found out about the Goblin Ball through my customers who love the event and encouraged me to be a part of it.  Its fantastic that you have such an event allowing people the opportunity to wear all their beautiful Marquis de Sade costumes.  

So what is it that you do so well that makes people want to come back?
Marquis de Sade supports fun and fantasy and will love dressing ball goers in unique stylish costumes for your event. 

What would be your inspiration?
"Fantasy is my reality" Marie Delon. 
What drives me is giving people the opportunity to express their own individual identity and desires. Through my creations I am able to fulfill my customers fantasies which gives me immense pleasure. 

Your male costumes are also amazing? Any last words?
Nothing is out of bounds. Freedom of expression bringing out the sensitive, the sensual and the seductive. 

We venture into Scandalous territory with our next sponsor


Scandalous Gems
Company Web Page
http://www.scandalousgemsbdsmjewellery.com
Email
scandalousgems@gmail.com

Scandalous Gems is an adventure into the realm of custom made jewellery, designs that are a little naughty but oh so nice.

Their Mission is to: “Create, Educate and Fight. Create beautifully honest pieces that reflect the wearers kinky side; Educate as to what safe sane and consensual kinky play really is; and Fight against any form of domestic violence in any culture.”

The vision of Scandalous Gems is to see a world at peace with itself, where all are safe, well, accepted and happy.

The Goblin Ball is a little removed from your daily reality! Where did you hear about The Goblin Ball?
Miss Honey was introduced to the Goblin Ball by some amazing Cosplay friends. She loves the idea of everyone dressing up and becoming their alter egos. 

So you have decided to travel to the world of Terra Bayou! What can guests expect from you on the night, and should they be scared?
Miss Honey, Scandalous Gem's Head Designer and Owner will be there to partake in the hedonistic pleasures of Terra Bayou. You will find her willing to assist with the festivities and she will also have some extra little gifts to hand out at random ball guests.

Tell us of your favorite inspiration and what drives you to create amazing art!

What a loaded question? Inspiration is everywhere and in everything. The passion can be quite overwhelming. With notepad and pencil as constant companion those special moments where an idea leaps into your mind are never lost. 
"As an Artist, it is our job to bring dreams to reality, make fiction into fact" Miss Honey
The current range of Scandalous Gems designed is due to the recent popularity of books/movies like "50 Shades of Grey". 
It has become more acceptable within conventional society to dabble with the fetish lifestyle. 
These luxurious little secret gems are for those in the know, those that wish to embrace their darker kinkier side. 

If you had the chance to tell everyone about your company what would be your most alluring tidbit?
Alluring titbit... I put my finger to my lips. "Sssshhh Scandalous Gems is just that, "Scandalous" deliberately encouraging people to wear in public, what they only show in private. Basically what the movie "Kinky Boots" did for sexy foot wear; "Scandalous Gems" does for Jewellery.

In it’s third year The Goblin Ball presents storytelling mixed with phenomenal music acts, magic and merriment. This year on the 20th of June at 7pm we explore the world of Terra Bayou, a Voodoo realm mixed with New Orleans style celebrations... and Goblins.

Make sure you book your tickets early as previous years have sold out!

The Goblin Ball calls to those who seek to escape for the night into a world of magic and fantasy. Come in character and bring trinkets to trade with our Goblins or each other. Come as an observer and celebrate an evening of outlandish costumery. The level of involvement is up to you.

The Ringmasters Astralie and Octavia greet you as you check into Melbourne's most magical evening. Do you dare enter? For a little dutch courage grab a drink at the bar in the foyer before you venture inside.

On arrival be sure to explore the Goblin Marketplace. This year we have some of our familiar faces. Ringmaster Amatrine presents Nightshade FX with a unique brand of Horror goods and Roseberry Bay soaps has many delights made specifically for Terra Bayou. Jaque Black returns with her fortune telling (be sure to queue up early as spots sell out quick). 

This year we are also adding vendors that will allow you to grab a trinket or two. We also see the return of Ellen Duffy’s Photo Shoot area to ensure you capture all your hard work in a Photo shoot. Additionally the Quests are reborn and Zadinie the Ringmaster will be handing out tickets for those who wish to help Poison or Potion Pintina. Rumor has it that for a fee Hasina the fire Priestess (MadDame) is also welcoming those to be glitter bombed for the evening.

Ringmaster O and Ringmaster Darko welcome you to the Grand Ballroom with great warning. Drinks flow and the fairytale unravels as Pintina arrives to the displeasure of the Great Barons. A war is waged as Shirazz (the New Orleans style band) ramps up the entertainment for the evening. Miss Marilyn Mocktail performs Burlesque Voodoo routines to dazzle and distress as Jas Avalon the Swamp Siren creates Havoc with the curse of a wandering siren songstress. Make a deal with the siren if you dare to swap your mortality for a song.

Taking requests and spinning classics, the DJ led dance returns again for the Goblin Ball 2015. The DJ will be ensuring those who wish to dance to the classic tunes of the 80s and 90s are well catered for. The Thralls haunt the dark disco dance and bestow trinkets that glitter and shine. Want a free treasure? Spend a moment or two dancing with our Thralls and walk away with enough shiny treasures to light a small goblin army. A surprise burlesque Sharman performance may surprise if you are lucky enough to be bewitched.

Returning this year we have many amazing photographers who will capture the action and your grand garb. PMD Studios, Ellen Duffy Photography, Kalpana Photography and Fotogenique will return and we welcome Slippery Photography to the fold. Grab a photographer and do your worst!

All photos are shared on the web site however If you are interested in a souvenir shot you can also pose for a photo in The Goblin Marketplace to purchase afterward!

Every story has an end and we must say goodnight to The Goblin Ball for another year. Will Pintina the Demigoddess Princess Prevail or Perish? The end of the story is yet to be decided until the clock strikes 12 and we wrap up the story for another mortal year.

In the end, will you follow us to the next realm for The Goblin Ball 2016?

Our Tarot Card Printers were unable to provide us with the special Tarot Cards this coming year, but not to discourage us from celebrating local talent we have decided to continue with our exciting competition and create a Book of Shadows for sale at the next Goblin Ball!

All previous entries are already included!!

The term Book of Shadows is more often used to describe a personal journal. This journal records rituals, spells, and their results, as well as other magical information. Additionally you could use it to record your adventures at The Goblin Ball or print out photos to record your journeys, and keep all those trinkets you collect on your journeys within the pages of this magical tome.

Would you like to win a double pass to The Goblin Ball 2015 and two copies of the Book of Shadows featuring your own design, presented in a beautiful magical book bag? 

Total Prize value $300

Dark Realm Events is looking for the next Goblin Artist to help design the front art of the official Goblin Ball Book Of Shadows. These magical journals will be pre-ordered at events hosted by Dark Realm. Dark realm is a company that prides itself on creating evenings of mythological and mystical immersion and this is your chance to become part of the magic.

The Goblin Ball Book of Shadows Competition is open to all fantasy artists and enthusiasts alike. See the below guidelines to enter.

Submit your designs after reading the details below to AskUs@TheGoblinBall.com

Carisa Bianca Mellado. Mysterious musician and sometimes terrifying vocally, Carisa spans the styles akin to 80s goth rock to the melodic stylings of black opera. Exploring stories that call to the unexpressed desires of fantasy creatures and sometimes the desires of our own that we dare not utter out loud, the Journey of each album is not without reward.

Carisa is offering fans of The Goblin Ball her pre release album at an advance price of $7 USD! Proceeds from the prerelease sale go toward funding her UK performance and the album is available for download NOW!

Interview after the jump and Video for Human Things at the bottom

I first met Carisa in St Kilda back in 2005 At the Blue Angel Centre for well being where I was soon to commence a year long stint as the resident Tarot reader. Little did I know we would soon embark on an otherworldly journey of artistic expression and tormented buildings. Through our years of Friendship Carissa and I spent our time exploring Melbourne’s haunted houses and numerous live performances of her then band The Time of The Assassins. After Carisa relocated to Los Angeles (and I to Vancouver) our friendship continues over brief coffees between connecting flights at LAX and lunch on Hollywood Boulevard.

From authoring Ask An Angel Oracle cards by Toni Carmine Salerno to her two solo albums that explore extremely different subject matters, Carisa creates a conduit for her characters to explore and engage with the listener. I took some time to catch up with Carisa and explore where her life journey was taking her.

Let’s start with your album The New Queen. I am in love with this album and it’s intensity. I played it every Halloween in Vancouver. The first track War lulls you into a false sense of fairytale and then you are stabbed in the head with the following track The New Queen. What inspired you to compose such an epic tale of violence and betrayal?

I became really fascinated with pre-rennaisance sound. As a singer it was amazing to me that instruments other than the voice were considered evil by the church and the styles of songwriting were so bizarre and dissonant. It was fascinating to me to have to go to a primal listening space within to uncover what was there in the beginning. It was really fascinating to me that when the black death plague came and wiped out so much of Europe, people began to question the nature of life, death and science more and as this awakening happened our ears changed. Before that awakening there was just a strange, mystery, darkness. 

The world, life and death was all faith and mystery. I was really inspired by a film called Queen Margot and the film became a source of inspiration. Both the characters of Catherine De Medici and Margot were fascinating. Catherine as a woman who had become insane out of fear of losing power and safety and guided her son to instigate one of the worst massacres of all time; the massacre of St Bartholomew's Day. 

Margot, who was sexually shared by her brothers and a victim and developed sexual cravings as a result, going down into the streets and sleeping with strangers. The theme was madness that came in searching for meaning, that desperation. 

Over the span of the album it all breaks down and what is left is to give up the fight and surrender to a higher source. I was extremely interested in understanding the shadow aspects of sexuality. I think in a fundamental way the album is also the expression of rage at the feelings of rejection. There is a pleasurable side of female sexuality that involves becoming objectified and becoming the prey. 

There is shame in talking about that and it is a definite shadow aspect but it's there. I think when this aspect is out of balance in either direction it can turn into a form of madness, deprivation, rejection and desperation. She's searching for meaning, connection and ultimately love.

Your new album Kore is similar in tone to begin with however we are taken in another direction. The track Human Things reminds me of when I used to stay up late as a child of the 80s and listen to the goth playing radio stations without my parents knowing. How did you manage to capture that etherial feeling?


Kore was a really different project for me. The word means 'maiden' and that's basically what it is about. I was a kid in the 80's and the 80's influenced me a lot. I love pop music. Pop influenced me and I wanted an album that was closer to the albums I grew up listening to. I love jazz and eastern music and I think there's an influence of that style in there that might add to it's ethereal nature. 


I was really in the space of a pretty honest and open energy when I wrote these songs. It starts with Birth, a heartbeat and goes on the journey of awakening, falling in love, the nature of desire, losing the self, going into the underworld, finding the self again, rebirth, ascension to a higher state of consciousness and love. Into The Barbwire Dream Again, The Twice Born and Dawn were actually written when I was a teenager. It was really special for me to do versions of them now.

The New Queen explores a Royal line of a family in the year 1608. Kore explores the story of a Sirian Dolphin Princess who goes through the underworld transition to a human girl. How do you find inspiration for such multidimensional characters and mythos?


The truth is, I kind of do believe I am an incarnated Sirian Dolphin Princess (laughs). I have had this story in my mind since I was a teenager and I had been trying to understand my weird crippling phobia of dolphins and whales. There are stories out there about how dolphins and whales come from Sirius and how people incarnated from the higher dimensional fields of Sirius into Earth. It always felt like a very accurate story for me and in my mind I always got a clear picture and understanding of everything to do with Sirius. 


Whether it's literally true or mythically true doesn't matter to me because the result is the same. I have the sense that me and every other human has incarnated from a higher space where we were full shining embodiments of ourselves and we are born here to learn and ultimately share that light with others. I think a lot of wisdom can be found in mythology. Joseph Campbell is my biggest hero and I recommend his work on mythology to everyone. My personal mythology is informed a lot by paying attention to colours and styles that are standing out to me at a certain time. It always starts with a mood and is fleshed out from there.

Your next journey is to the UK to perform your new album live. This is such an amazing opportunity. From Pony in Melbourne, to LA and now to the UK your life seems to be a forever path forward. What do you hope to experience in the UK? 


I'm excited to play and record with some incredible musicians over there, most notably Nick Hudson, who I've been a fan of for many years. I'm looking forward to working with really incredible classical musicians and collaborating and recording with Nick Hudson.

Kore is available at the advance price of $7 USD! Proceeds from the prerelease sale go toward funding the UK performance Kore is available for download NOW! Tracks from Kore may be played in The Goblin Marketplace and we can't wait for you to experience the magic on the night!

The evening is dark and mysterious, through dangers untold you have made your way to The Goblin Ball. You push your way into the Grand Ballroom, the energy is hectic and the New Orleans Jazz is flowing like sweet bourbon. Once by your side, you turn around to find your love has vanished. Where could they be? Male or female the song spell is strong and hard to resist.

Seriphone the siren has called from the swamplands to draw your one true love to their fate. Do you dare follow and risk being lost in the sirens spell or do you count your losses and find another?

Jas Tavares journeys from Dallas, Texas to bring the bewitching voice of Seriphone the Swamp Siren to life. Oozing a bluesy acapella to entice strangers to the lair of the underworld, Seriphone wanders the world of The Goblin Ball performing for those who dare risk their life. Darko The Ringmaster asks this wandering songstress what guests can expect from this talented creature.

Jas, you are not a stranger to performing and also have had your regular brushes with fame. Share with us some of the most notable moments of your singing career.
Oh I have so many it's hard to chose one, but I do have to say my first real performance is my most memorable. I was still in high school and I had been given a solo performance and hadn't even auditioned. The whole school was there. The moment I walked out and onto that stage, an eruption of cheers rang through the entire performance hall, I had to wait a few minutes to actually begin. I sang at last and, it was dead silent. The moment the song was over, I had my first standing ovation. I was elated. And from then on, I sang at every single event; from foot ball games, baseball games, I played rolls in musicals I hadn't even auditioned for and at the end of the year I was awarded the golden voice award at our prom and it was the most amazing feeling.

I've auditioned for American idol which was the 2nd season, I was given an amazing opportunity to audition for the glee project and sing for some of our radio stations out door concerts, I've even been in documentaries. It's truly been a wonder experience for me. I'm very lucky

As a Ringmaster wandering the worlds of The Goblin Ball, I’m not completely familiar with Swamp Sirens. Tell me about what Seriphone plans on doing for the evening of The Goblin Ball?
Seriphone is after one this and one thing only, the beating heart of love, she needs it to live and to make her grotto the way it truly is. She will do anything to get a heart beating passion. Anything. I will sing to those who seek true love, only to snatch the life force when they are most vulnerable. I will swap a song for a trinket or two, however those without an acceptable offering should beware, a beating heart is the best price. Those without an offering better block their ears.

So Seriphone is not all that friendly?
Seriphone isn't so much evil. her intentions are good, BUT she is tainted, she gets what she wants by ANY means, so yes with that lust for a heart is manipulative and conniving. She's luring people and convincing them she is just wanting what is best, in reality, she has a few tricks up her sleeve and maybe has ulterior motives, but I don't want to give too much away.

Do you have any advice for strangers who seek to explore your territory?
For those who follow her and do her bidding, she has an interesting reward that may just make you want to jump to her aid. You're in for quite a treat. But be warned. Seriphone is a sneaky siren.

Jas Tavares will be appearing at The Goblin Ball as wandering songstress in the Grand Ballroom from 7pm - 12am performing on the spot songs of the swamp. Providing entertainment and enchantment this Siren is not to be missed. Trade a trinket or two for a song on the night and leave with your life in tact.