glamourbombing

Glamourbombing, in a nutshell, is faery poetic terrorism. It is acts of enchanted art or performance intended to raise ambient magic levels and crack people's heads open a little to admit the idea that Faerie exists and might even be interacting with them. It isn't random acts of kindness (but do those anyway!), making people feel warm and fuzzy or cheering them up, or just "inspirational" platitudes with glitter added. While those things can have a subtle glamour to them, glamourbombing should above all be magical, and as intense as you can make it -- and magical and intense doesn't necessarily mean happy or comforting!

Remember that faery folk are not the cute, sweet, giggly things the Victorian or modern popular imagination portrays. A glamourbomb is meant to make someone wonder, to feel the magic in the world, to raise the world's ambient glamour levels. Don't just make a pretty piece of craft; invest some actual enchantment into it. Program it to implant the suggestion that magic/majik is real or that we faery and mythfolk truly exist into the mind of whoever happens to touch it or get in the "blast radius".

Be daring. Try to attract attention and be willing to be stared at. The exchange of energy that occurs between a performer and their audience (even if the performer happens to be unknown or absent) will greatly feed your purpose. Try not to stray into empty acts which are just a few words and a sticker, or meaninglessly surreal things which are only amusing to you. To be properly surreal you have to be just at the edge of what the "norms" can grasp. If you're too far afield, your message will fizzle out utterly un-received. The same if you're just too cute and silly - that may be fun for you, but it's unlikely to affect adults, who tend to need it most.

When making physical glamourbombs, preferably avoid things like loose glitter or confetti. It tends to massively annoy anyone who has to clean it up (which is not the kind of "noticing" that will help) and most glitters are tiny bits of plastic and not biodegradable. If you must, look for glitter made from plants or natural pigments, such as Dazzle , Ecoglitter , EnviroGlitter , or JustPigments . Have a care for the environment and use natural materials whenever possible. When in doubt, try to devise something that's performed or displayed rather than a small object that's left behind. Better to act outrageous, get noticed and leave no chocolate mess (so to speak) than to make a mess that no one might pay any attention to anyway.

History

Background from ambianya wolfkitten about how glamourbombing came to be. See also the Wikipedia entry for glamourbomb .

Glamour Bombing Intro & FAQ at Wild Muse

Jarandhel on the death and rebirth of glamourbombing (2013). This got a fair amount of discussion when he posted it in the Livejournal glamourbombing community . (nalidoll is Nalissi, one of the inventors of glamourbombing on Darkfae-L.)

vagabondsun also has some criticism about how much it is or is not like poetic terrorism (2020)

"Wear" are Your Wings? was an informational site on "Wingsday", a kind of glamourbombing "holiday" (May 15th).

Ideas and Words

A list of possible glamourbombs and suggested text to put on or in glamourbombs that involve writing. Communique from the Faerie Resistance Troupe is mainly inspirational, but you might find the text itself usable too.

The glamourbombs and glamourbombing communities on LiveJournal have been dead since around 2011, but can serve as an archive of ideas.

A self-scoring system for glamourbombs: four factors to consider to help you evaluate how "WOOO YESSS THAT'S AWESOME" -- or not -- your idea might be.

My email glamourbomb - use it as you would any chain letter (remember those?). Here's another text on a similar, albeit more directly parodic, idea.

Supplies and Miscellaneous

Rainworks makes a non-toxic and biodegradable hydrophobic (water-repelling) liquid you can spray on surfaces to make temporary "rainwork" designs appear when the surface is wetted.

For your (and your wallet's) amusement: Be a card-carrying glamour technician!

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last updated: 10/01/2020