Halloween Stained Glass Window

 

Bindlegrim is very excited to be back exploring the warm glow of autumn light... with a special Halloween Window created as a one-time insert included only as a freebie with each copy of the new vintage Halloween collectibles guide The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4. To start then, let's just begin this blog entry with various arty views of the windows, at times together with the book set as described via THR's etsy bookstore or recent blog entry "Vol 4 Halloween Retrospect."

Dual-side faux stained glass paper window (2 shown) for THR.

Not to scale: window shown (right) with book trio inset (left).

Faux stained glass windows assembled by hand are limited.

Detail of matte color tissue paper that creates a warm glow.

Following is a description for these windows --- importantly noting once again that they are not-for-sale on their own, but only included as a free insert with copies of the March 2025 vintage Halloween collectibles guidebook series The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4. (Etsy link here).

To begin, Bindlegrim designs are inspired by research pursued by THR that proves the originals to be vintage 1940's products created by Milton Bradley. Those originals hail from a time that included well-known art contributors (such as Louise D. Tessin) when the company is regularly involved in education (not only entertainment) and regularly publishing a magazine for educators called American Childhood. (Internet Archive link here). And while the new items are true to the general feel of vintage pieces, the modern Halloween Window cannot be mistaken as such, because Bindlegrim's version is deliberately different in size, imagery, color, and production method (and collages the four characters into one space). 

As for construction, the Bindlegrim versions are made of a thick 2-ply museum board frame which has been laser cut by the artist yet hand-assembled in the final steps. Still, the result is a doubled-sided decoration with colored tissue paper inside (very old school) which by result means either side is equally presentable as front or perhaps simultaneously from both sides at once. The tissue paper glows with a brilliant color while the framework remains strong and steady.

But again, this is part of a set (shown below) and Bindledgrim is not selling these - they are free with a copy of THR's newest edition of research from its archive library publications.

THR, V4 is shown here with book, crossword, and decoration.

A little bit about vintage Halloween collectibles guides are in order here, particularly the newest book that releases March 2025 by THR. If you are not familiar with THR publications - basically the archive library publishes research that utilizes many hundreds of primary sources from its collection - to better understand the history of ye olde holiday market. So far there have been four research digests and one art survey book (with more planned in future). The newest of these digests is The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 with book cover shown below (see THR's website or THR's online book shop).   

Cover art for The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 by THR publications.

While many preview images of the book are available THR's website or THR's online book shop (or even via Instagram @halloweenretrospecs) here are a few to make sure this blog entry is complete...  

Page preview of The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4.

The Halloween Retrospect, V4 book, puzzle & decor.

THR, V4 featuring an homage window by Bindlegrim

Well, to close this blog entry, Bindlegrim might advise that while this vintage-style artist has had the pleasure of being involved with Volume 1 and Volume 4 digests... THR since it's first release in June 2023 has five books now full of data or images about vintage Halloween collectibles of the past. They are great references for seasoned or new collectors of the hobby.... and here is an up-to-date image of those that the bookstore currently offers:

The Halloween Retrospect Vol 1,2,3,4 & Halloween Artifacxts.

Hope you enjoy and if you do, perhaps Bindlegrim will continue to explore such Halloween lighting projects in future!?!?

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Project for THR Volume 1

Okay, okay, so brushing past the fact that Bindlegrim made the mistake of waking up in the real world  (with things like stale coffee, office banter, and dangerous commutes) seems it all just put hin back to sleep, dreaming about the garden at Ichabod's Cottage to see if there's a pumpkin vine or two still crawling along the ground. And so this little project came to be...

First of all, for sure, Bindlegrim loves vintage Halloween! With so many direct influences from vintage objects on Bindlegrim's artwork for lanterns, postcards,  etc., there was destined to be some kind of project that involved that olde stuff more directly. Looks like this is it. An archive library, The Halloween Retrospect, houses a whole bunch of vintage information objects (including content from nearly 500 vintage catalogs) and decided to put together a small digest of research from those sources. Of course, that's going to need some work on the book (particularly the cover), and then there's the website, creating a logo, and on and on. But, well, it's all ready now, and here to share. 

So, Bindlegrim had fun at first revisiting some old ghouls from an early lantern, and found this witch face from the very first lantern prototype in 2011.

4 sides of Bindlegrim prototype lantern from 2011

Once in a layout, she took over and let the scene coalesce around her..., and here is the cover for the book which should be available around end of July and/or beginning of August. (It's ready but has a layout bug that needs fixing). 

Cover art for The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 by Bindlegrim

That offered a chance to do something more with the art, to offer the books a little extra something to go with them. From out of the cover art, four bookmark-tallies were created to accompany the mailer. Here they are below:

Set of 4 bookmark-tallies, an extra with official copies of the book.

The book also comes with an 11"x17" fold out poster featuring a 1926 Halloween ad of products for schools (very fun stuff), and has some nice color and black and white illustrations across 32 pages. It's a 9"x6" publication, much like those old novelty catalogs, and is sure to have some good info for those into vintage Halloween collectibles. Here are some sneak peek images:

The Halloween Retrospect Vol 1, with poster and 4 tally cards.

The Halloween Retrospect Vol 1, with poster and 4 tally cards.

Oh, and last but not least, Bindlegrim put together a little website for the project: https://halloweenretrospect.com, and the logo below is a link there. Hope you enjoy the return of Bindlegrim, and the book...! 

Bindlegrim's 5th Hallowe'en Anniversay Box Set

The 2016 Bindlegrim Summer Sale is still active into early Autumn with 25% off items on Bindlegoods, and a big thank-you to those cool ghouls following on facebook and/or twitter who participated in the two auctions that closed tonight (shown below).

Bats & Mice (left) with Spooksville Road (right) - auctions complete.

The final 2015 auction offers a pandora's box of past Bindlegrim work. It's a 5th Hallowe'en Anniversary (one-of-a-kind) Box Set with transparency logo, and filled with a selection of items from the past 5+ years (some pre-Bindlegrim) with at least one Artist Proof lantern never previously available.

Update Sept 5, 2016 (tentative content list at bottom of this post):

Tentative content list as of Sept 5, 2016:

Spook Box (2016) Content List Envelope (with card and Boo! transparency print)

The Pumpkin Dream, signed copy (orig. 2011) 

Untitled artist proof #2/3 box lantern, signed - (2011)

The Cornish Litany, carnivorous tree, signed postcard #14/25 (2011)

The Cornish Litany, chamber spooks, signed postcard #14/25 (2011)

The Cornish Litany, keyhole set of 12 postcards (2012)

Spooklights, Pendant Lamp Shade #1 (2014)

Spooklights, Candlestick Lamp Base, #1 (2014)

Spooklights, Candlestick Lamp Base, #2 (2014)

Spooklights Creature Votive (2014)

Beasties, candy basket version (2015)

Beasties, set  of 4 postcards (2015)

Dodeca lantern #10  Bats & Mice , signed limited edition (2015)

Dodeca lantern #11 Spooksville Road, signed limited edition (2015)

Additional Oddities:

Halloween Trunk Show 8, 9, & 10 postcards (2013-15)

Hallowe’en set of 9 greeting cards with 1 place holder, 1 place holder alternate (2004)

Seven Nights

Added some last-minute vintage-style honeycomb decorations, full-base Beasties, to the Bindlegoods shoppe (which closes for the holiday this Friday night October 23rd). Below are photos of this just-added variation, smaller-run of twenty sets. Note also that a couple of last year'sSpooklights shades (mostly sold out as of this writing) will likely be the last with that particular imagery. Happy Hallowe'en!

Blood Moon Assembly

The assembly - a gathering of like minds under the harvest blood moon...

Another reason why I enjoy making Bindlegrim's Bindlegoods... Sometimes I imagine this must be what the shelves of the old, early-century warehouses must have looked like as they prepared paper goods (in rows upon rows) to ship out for the season...

The Beastly Bookshelf

Can you name at least 13 book titles (and their respective authors) off this shelf? If so, you might want to visit the Bindlegrim facebook page --- find where this photo is posted and comment your guesses...  (Update - this picture puzzle was solved on the Bindlegrim facebook page... and the key has also been posted here, below the photo). 

Left to right (clockwise):

• Sucker Bait - Al Feldstein
• Ghosts and Ruins - Ben Catmull
• Perfect Nonsense - George Carlson
• Hamlet - William Shakespeare
• Tall Tales for Shorter Days - Robert Aaron Wiley (aka Bindlegrim)
• Pim & Francie - Al Columbia
• Halloween: Magic, Mystery and the Macabre - Paula Guran
• Waiting for the Great Pumpkin - Charles M. Schultz
• Gashleycrumb Tinies - Edward Gorey
• Haunted Houseful - Alfred Hitchcock
• Beasts! and Beasts! Book 2 - Jacob Covey
• The Sketchbook - Washington Irving
• Tales - H. P. Lovecraft

Beasties

Having a fun photoshoot (of aritst proofs) with sticky claws, the smell of sugar, as the tissue and crepe paper whispers in the  ever so slight chill of the September morning air. With photos now done for the store... later today will be the official arrival of the Bindlegrim's 2015 Beasties on the Bindlegoods Shoppe: http://bindlegoods.bindlegrim.com 

What makes a Beastie? These roly-polys use a orange tissue-paper honeycomb re-created to have the smaller spacing and layer count of vintage items circa 1920-1930. The characters have a slot within the basket that allows for Halloween treats or placement of a small battery operated tealight.  Authentically diecut characters are dual-side printed (in a limited-edition run) in rich color of blacks, oranges, and yellows on a thick 34pt matte stock. (with an almost waxy surface) They can be placed in upright positions (with minimal support), tilted (at their randomly natural angle), or as I discovered when a wind came thru the window - in spinning motion across the table.

As night falls, I do hope to get some better photos of their lighting potential. Here are couple of earlier photos using battery-operated tealights...

Final Farewells - 3rd Annual Studio Purge

Bindlegrim has purged a few remaining Halloween items from the studio - some vintage-style candy containers and Hallowe'en lanterns from the 2013 and 2014 seasons. A recent tradition during these last two summers, this would be the third albeit mini Summer Sale - via jumpkinpunkins on ebay. And here's a small review of the items listed:

The following three listings from this sale, are all the last of their limited-edition series. Auction bidding ends August 9th, 2015. (Note - all sets include the addition of four Hallowe'en postcards released in 2014). 

1. Vintage-Style Halloween CREEPS #4/5 Set 6 Artist Signed Candy-Container Lanterns (click here to visit ebay listing).

This listing is for the last packaged set of six vintage-style candy-container-lanterns from  #4/5 Creeps (Shadow Edition) mechanically diecut, signed and sealed during the production. The candy-container design features classic slot-and-tabs to create an open-top box that holds treats, and doubles in function as a lantern with translucent eyes, nose, and mouths.

Each character is also signed and hand-numbered on inside base - for example: "Creeps (Shadow Edition)" #1 (1-6 for the characters), #4/5 (edition with the artist's Halloween signature), 2013 Bindlegrim.  More photos (the artist's creation process and final production shots) as well as various video is available on flickr: the Creeps album.

2. Vintage-style Halloween lantern Traditional Grim 6/6 last signed limited-edition (click here to visit ebay listing).

#10 Traditional Grim #6/6 (last one) comes from a series of 12-sided lanterns - this one was created especially for sale to attendees at the Halloween Trunk Show #9 (2014).  The imagery was a return to traditional orange and black and is a hybrid of two previous lanterns. (The pumpkin vines from "The Pumpkin Patch" and shrunken-head style pumpkin faces from "The Horrid Decor"). It was briefly displayed during the show (with a postcard stating it's history before being sealed in its package). 

Because I missed getting any studio shots during the craziness of preparing for the show, I wanted to share this awesome photo by Johanna Parker who to my wonderful surprise, included one from this edition in her home decor for the season! (PS - the bat hook is also by Bindlegrim available on the Bindlegoods store). 

Some item details --- when flat the lantern measures about 12" by 12" side to side. The frame is made from 2-ply acid-free museum board. The vellum imagery is laser-printed for durability. Advised best lighting with an LED or low 3 watt white light for best color range (anything hotter is not advised, nor is exposure to the elements). Every process was Made in the USA and hand-assembled by the artist. The main packages is hand-numbered. The lantern inside is signed and numbered "Traditional Grim" #6/6 (edition with the artist's Halloween signature), 2014 Bindlegrim.

3. Vintage-style Halloween lantern Harvest Moon 4/6 last signed limited-edition (click here to visit ebay listing).

#9 Harvest Moon #4/6 was also created especially for sale to attendees at the Halloween Trunk Show #9 (2014).  The imagery was inspired by early century pumpkin faces, and is heavily detailed compared to early 2012 silhouette lanterns when the 12-sided series first began.

In the same madness, I didn't get any studio shots, but collectors were very kind to send in images of their acquired lanterns - and this colorful photo is a definite favorite with the beautiful autumn colors contrasting the lantern panes!

Similar construction information applies to this lantern. Note that this lantern was produced and sealed at the time it was created. The last one for this listing was never displayed.

Thank you again for ogling the goods - and in the next month hoping to have some new standard products available on the Bindlegoods store. Please remember that the artist does take a break from this one-spook operation near the end of October (pre-Halloween) so early ordering is recommended.