The Shoppe of Ghastly Designs

It could be said the poor ol' Bindlegrim is burning the cucurbita candle at both ends... trying to cram a whole host of those pesky doing verbs into a few short months since the studio moved. And after a bit of an exhausted crash (this past week) fortunately found a second wind this evening to get few things done before the day starts again early tomorrow...

First and foremost, was to add some lanterns to the Bindlegrim Etsy Shop, for a total now of four Horrid Decor paper lanterns in a variety of color schemes and material types.

Shown above is The Horrid Decor #2 in colorway Pus and Bruise on Ghost Skin (uh, ehr, known to most mortals as onion skin paper). The paper mentioned has a great crepe-paper type surface (though more durable) and the lantern here was photographed during a desert sunset, hanging out with a recent-era ghost from Hobgoblin (left) and a vintage German Jack O'Lantern (right).

The Horrid Deocr #3 in colorway Hitchcock Blue on Ghost Skin (is also available now) and is show here in a similar shot with the Pus & Bruise lantern above... while tonight two more were added in the more usual autumnal color palette of orange and black.

Above is a collapse view of The Horrid Decor #4 in colorway Classic Orange on Ether (vellum, that is), and below is a same colorway, but on parchment for a more aged look - The Horrid Decor #5 in colorway Classic Orange on Tome Parchment. Five photos of each lantern can be seen in the Etsy listings...

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There were also a couple of older projects re-added to Etsy on some remaining stock, and hope you might be curious to check out the entire shop at your leisure. In the future I hope to do more stepping outside of the digital world, and do more shows, maybe even perhaps Halloween & Vine which would be absolutely awesome, but sadly that will have to wait until year 2013. 

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In a couple of side notes, Bindlegrim actually got a chance to peruse the internet for some olde tunes to add to the existing playlist on Bindlegrim's vintage Halloween radio station.

Added to the now 3+ hours of vintage Halloween jazz oldies are the following tunes: Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bogey Man by Henry Hall, as well as The Haunted House Blues by Helen Gross (which starts off comically enough but don't miss that blood-curdling scream at the end). Also added are 2 version of The Little Man Who Wasn't There. The first by Glenn Miller has some appropriately spooky-themes light-hearted banter, yet the second by Teddy Grace takes on a more sarcastic tone that sounds like she's trying to forget a bad relationship.

And finally a big thank-you to Pumpkinrot (also on etsy as Pumpkin Hollow) for their recent blog entry noticing the above image. Would you have guessed the styling for this October scene was occurring in the middle of summer? Alas and alack, it's not autumn quite yet... but Mr. Bindle sure seem to be enjoying the spirit of the season amidst all this heat!

The Horrid Lantern Labels

Just a quick note, (following up on posts The Horrid Decor (Unlimited Bindle) and Colorway: Pus and Bruise) that the label for this particular series has been altered, to differentiate it from any limited editions. This new label features a motif of appalling pumpkins faces, bats, mice, falling leaves, and draped black crepe paper, (as well as removing any edition numbering and instead stating the "The Horrid Decor lantern design is available in standard and custom colors"). The very first of these is ending today on ebay.

While this first one get's ready for it's trip across country, somewhere, there's a batch of pane ready to create more - in a variety of window colors and window materials (on vellum as well as other specialty papers). Be sure to find more of these in the coming weeks in the Bindlegrim Etsy Shop.

While I must admit I sorta miss the ol' tattie bogle with glowing bindle slung over shoulder, I'm 100% positive his ugly mug will once again hop upon some slow moving project as it crosses the desert.

Colorway: Pus and Bruise

Follow up photos for the last entry, The Horrid Decor (Unlimited Bindle), with photographs taken as both moody night shots, and as revealed by the light of day --- and with the actual lantern now constructed adding a link to availability of the first produced in this style posted on ebay.

In the first few photographs, the purple, green, & black color scheme of the lantern is lit with an LED tap-light that was purchased from the local hardware store, and this type light really matches the ectoplasmic tones of this colorway, much better than an orange-tinted flicker bulb.

And to reveal the structure of this vintage-style Halloween lantern, here are some images during daylight (with random backgrounds). I may have to spend some time arranging this lantern the way I might picture this, fabulously styled for an olde Halloween party --- hung in the center of a room, above a table, with streamers radiating in all directions into the room like a huge spider web.

And finally just a couple of image showing how this lantern compacts flatly for storage. And it's a good way to see the imagery created for this lantern (all at once) that features six vintage-styled pumpkins (based loosely on a design by Dennison) each repeated twice.

For more images of this item, be sure to peruse The Horrid Decor on flickr. And when these lanterns arrive at the Bindlegrim shop on etsy, I'll be sure to post another entry. In the meantime, are you entertaining any thoughts about your most horrid Halloween decor this year?

The Horrid Decor (Unlimited Bindle)

It's really encouraging that when a Bindlegrim vintage-style Halloween lantern has been previously posted on ebay , there is often request(s) for where these are found for sale elsewhere - to purchase one or more right away. And though in the past I could only answer that these were limited editions available through the auction process - I've been working on a better answer - to provide a new style that can be created to order - that is not limited edition!

While there will still be limited editions - today I'm introducing art for The Horrid Decor lantern (of some unknown production amount) featuring the aura perhaps of vintage-style Halloween party swag a la decoration ideas you might see in the old Bogie Books by Dennison. The new 12-sided lantern will feature 6 Jack O'Lanterns with expressions from grim to happy - decked by crepe paper streamers and bows, with a background of vines, leaves, and even a bit of flame. (The title is tongue-in-cheek in the spirit of Edward Gorey, and originated from a post conversation on Bindlegrim facebook . I had posted an early art version to which one of my favorite Halloween artists Retro Rodolph's stated was getting fancy, to which I replied that I hoped it was "horribly fancy", and the title was basically born). 

The Horrid Decor lanterns will be constructed of the same quality acid-free materials, manufactured in the USA, assembled by the artist, and in this case will be available as-is or created to order, in your color of choice. Above are some color suggestions (such as Hitchcock Blue, Pus & Bruise, or Classic Orange) - but the scheme is ultimately up to you!

It is hoped I can list the first of these on ebay tomorrow. Until the end of the auction that will be the only one available for the time being, but following that, in the next week or two, I will post them as a regular-priced item in the Bindlegrim shop on etsy. (where I've been selling bobbles, cards, and other Bindlegrim goodies, not to mention copies of The Pumpkin Dream book).... 

But trembling smirks from candle beams
Devour themselves in ash and steam
As vapor licks the ailing hearts
Of smoldered pumpkins in the dark.*

From the Halloween poetry book *The Pumpkin Dream (c) 2012 Bindlegrim aka Robert Aaron Wiley

Rumble Bones (Bagatelle)

Spooky Vintage-Style Bagatelle #2 Rumble Bones (OOAK)
In the continuation of re-claimed bagatelle pinball games, (see earlier piece #1, The Spook Hunt), Bindlegrim has again been playing the pinball wizard..., and found some time in the studio to complete this one-of-a-kind piece of Halloween art - Rumble Bones! And this particular game has been listed (as of last night) as a 7 day auction on e-bay: OOAK Bindlegrim BAGATELLE vintage-style Halloween RUMBLE BONES pinball game:

This 2nd bagatelle (10" wide by 16" tall) began with imagery based on the racket the marbles creates pinging against the multitude of plastic pins. And so, what began as a grumpy old moon (covering his ears) transformed into a bandleader with baton directing a quartet (vocalist, fiddle player, drummer, and skellie on squeeze box), as a couple dances to the right. Below their graveyard stage, near a picket fence, is an underworld of twisting vines and roots clutching point-scoring skulls. Creepy vintage-style scarecrows (a la classic Beistle) lurch outward through windows. And at the bottom of the scene rests the bone yard.

Typical game play on these games are as as follows: white marbles score points, while black marble doubles the points. In this version the Bone Yard is a gutter ball area, although I thought a fun alternate method of game play might be to earn 50 points per letter, if you can come with spooky-themed words beginning with the letter of the marble's final destination in the Bone Yard, (but that's up to you).

Here is a rough-shot video of the game under normal operation:



Please note that this is a reclaimed object, and while I have tried to select good-condition objects, there are ding, as seen in detail on the e-bay listing (and on flickr). Following is a gallery of in-progress and finished bagatelle work by Bindlegrim, and I hope you enjoy the strange diversions.