The shop specializes in vintage and horror creations with the goal of embracing all sides of yourself.
Stephanie Almaraz had never liked wearing jewelry. Once she grew out of the age where her parents could force her to wear Mexican-style gold bracelets and necklaces, she swore them off altogether.
So it was strange in 2020, when she came across a video of a woman making her own clay earrings and she found herself enamored by the process. Without overthinking her sudden interest, she bought all the supplies and tools necessary to create jewelry, and Bubble Ghoul was born.
Almaraz is now in her third year of crafting her spooky, cutesy bold earrings, and she said she feels more confident in her skills and style than ever before.
It doesn’t take long to guess Almaraz’s favorite holiday. Even if you don’t see her Shopify full of spider-web heart, Jason mask, skeleton hands and witch hat earrings, you might be able to tell by her goth girl charm.
On the morning of Oct. 8, Almaraz is excited and nervous, as she greets us in the driveway donning a purple Halloween sweater, spider web-decorated nails, a dark lipstick and of course, a neon-green pair of her signature vampire teeth earrings.
As we sit in her Halloween-decorated studio sipping coffee from Halloween-themed mugs, Almaraz reflects on how much she’s grown in the past three years since starting Bubble Ghoul. Her white, gray and talkative cat Bubbles, whom the business is named after, peaks in and out of the room, accustomed to the sounds of the drill on earrings and clinking metal hooks.
“I feel like this is the year where I’m more comfortable and I know what I’m doing, I’m confident in what I’m doing,” Almaraz said.
She said the first two years of her business, she would spend hours on a couple pairs of earrings and still be unhappy with the finished product. Now, she feels as though she’s found her niche in the spooky-love community she’s become a part of.
Seeing the growth of the year-round Halloween lovers, especially those who end up owning a brick-and-mortar store specifically for spooky items, has inspired Almaraz to embrace that side of herself.
“Back then it was like, ‘Oh those people are weird’ and it wasn’t the trend, but now people are getting a lot more comfortable with it which is cool,” Almaraz said.
Though Almaraz says she often struggles with imposter syndrome and a never-ending to-do list, her confidence tends to overshadow these facts. Just weeks into learning how to create her polymer earrings, she opened up an online Etsy account and started to promote her business through social media.
The mission of Bubble Ghoul is to spread this confidence. “Unstoppable behavior is the goal,” Almaraz’s website states. “I want people who wear my pieces to feel nostalgic but empowered in this new era.”
She said she was shocked to see the positive reactions from long lost friends and people she had never met before. In the midst of a global pandemic, rolling out the polymer clay, cutting custom shapes, baking then painting her creations brought a sense of peace.
Now, Bubble Ghoul can be found at pop-ups around Los Angeles and Orange counties, and her earrings have a permanent residence inside the North Long Beach shop Dainty Disco. The shop also sells her retro collections, which she started off the business with and still makes plenty of colorful, distinctly-shaped earrings.
Along with her Halloween-themed creations, Almaraz also makes cowboy boot, tie-dye mushroom and gingerbread earrings, as well as necklaces made with pearls and various stones and a handful of metal and jeweled rings.
While she’s still focused on her career in teaching children (who love when she wears her spooky earrings to school), Almaraz said she would love to grow Bubble Ghoul and be able to work from home if she has young children one day.
To shop from Bubble Ghoul’s vintage and horror collections, visit https://bubbleghoul.com/.
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