Monster-Size Lanterns (Catching Up, Part 2)

This follows a previous post (same day) as a bit of catching-up to various lantern work from Halloween artist Bindlegrim occurring since many moons past. And while the previous entry covered the March 2026 release of a 12-side lantern #14 Spook Show (Instagram) here now is discussed the first two of a new made-to-order monster-size series. The first is an immense ballroom lantern based on 1930's-1940's framework, and second is a humungous centerpiece based on the memories of childhood drawings and, by scale, 1960's-1970's Hallmark. Both are available on Bindlegrim's Etsy Shoppe.

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween ballroom lantern.

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween centerpiece lantern.

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size lanterns compared to others.

To back-up a bit, The Halloween Retrospect has in it's archive (which it uses to write fact-based Halloween guides about vintage collectibles) a certain mid-century ballroom lantern by Beistle. You can view images of that vintage lantern on THR's Instagram account (sampled below). The lantern appears in Halloween Artifacts, Volume 1: Lighting which gives catalog source data for date verifications - including Beistle's own supply catalog. 

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Anyway, the ballroom lantern by Bindlegrim references just the form as a starting point, then moves further... which is part of the artist's aesthetic as respect for the originals. It is not in the artist's way to just simply copy old imagery but rather to be inspired by it, to create something new.  Here are few images of the lantern from afar, and with close-up details...

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween ballroom lantern.

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween ballroom lantern.

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween ballroom lantern.

The second monster-size piece, a haunted house centerpiece lantern was the artist having fun dreaming up a haunt much like one might have done with construction paper in elementary school. This became quite a bit more complicated than those however, and over many weeks the project went from cardboard concept.... to newsprint drawing... to various test cuts... all toward the final shown below in various shots in-the-round...  

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween centerpiece lantern.

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size Halloween centerpiece lantern.

To follow, both lanterns are created from scratch from stock material of sturdy 4-ply museum board and artisan crinkle-crepe paper. It took quite a bit of time to create such designs at the beginning, but can now be re-created as made-to-order items for interested parties. Once again, they are available on Bindlegrim's Etsy Shoppe. Once ordered, the artist will be happy to get back into the studio and create:

Bindlegrim 2026 monster-size lantern in production.

By the way, have you been keeping up with Bindlegrim these past couple of year? Bindlegrim created for THR some industrial style vintage products (below) based on 1940's faux stained glass window products based on works by Milton Bradley. 

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

The new items are true to the general feel of vintage pieces, but cannot be mistaken as such (as with other Bindlegrim productions) due to a deliberate difference in size, imagery, color, and production.  Much like the lantern (above) the windows are made of 2-ply museum board but with in this case use colored tissue paper.

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

 For more images see THR's website or THR's online book shop (or even via Instagram @halloweenretrospecs), but note Bindledgrim is not selling these - they are free with a copy of THR's newest edition of research from its archive library publications on Etsy. 

Spook Show Lantern (Catching Up, Part 1)

This and the post following are a bit of catching-up to all the lantern work released by Bindlegrim since the last entry, oh so long ago...  and so, to begin, there is a March 2026 release #14 Spook Show (Instagram). This lantern continues the newer pane designs for 12-side collapsible lanterns of 2-ply museum board and laser-print vellum panes. This one has an edition of five - and fret not - there are a couple remaining that have yet to be listed on Bindlegrim's Etsy Shoppe.

The Spook Show lantern continues the Bindlegrim limited-edition series of Bindlegrim olde-style Halloween art that spans new and old aesthetics. This time the artist has fun creating a total of twelve different spooks for each pane. You can see them develop on Bindelgrim's IG account - for example, the first witch design is heavily based on the previous #13 - The Fates... however as time went by she gets more spookily hagged-out as the style for all characters was honed. 

All the variou characters are shown above, but here are some various shots of the completed lantern as it appeared in various photographs for the Bindlegrim's Etsy Shoppe. First, here are a couple of pics of the lantern immersed in fall color... 

Bindlegrim 2026 vintage-style Halloween - Spook Show (top).

Bindlegrim 2026 vintage-style Halloween - Spook Show (bottom).

Second, here a few photographs of the lantern panes all lit up in the dark, to show you how the lighting will look on a spooky night...

Bindlegrim 2026 vintage-style Halloween - Spook Show (slide 1).

Bindlegrim 2026 vintage-style Halloween - Spook Show (slide 2)

Bindlegrim 2026 vintage-style Halloween - Spook Show (slide 3)

Bindlegrim 2026 vintage-style Halloween - Spook Show (slide 4)

Bindlegrim has stock of just a couple more - and does expect to list the last two available sometime this autumn 2026.  These have been appearing along some older Bindlegrim pieces of the Spooklight series and Roly-Poly honeycombs. But, not only that, Bindlegrim has released some new made-to-order monster-size pieces... which will be news enough for the following post... 

 Bindlegrim comparison chart of past work and new!

By the way, have you been keeping up with Bindlegrim these past couple of year? Bindlegrim created for THR some industrial style vintage products (below) based on 1940's faux stained glass window products based on works by Milton Bradley. 

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

The new items are true to the general feel of vintage pieces, but cannot be mistaken as such (as with other Bindlegrim productions) due to a deliberate difference in size, imagery, color, and production.  Much like the lantern (above) the windows are made of 2-ply museum board but with in this case use colored tissue paper.

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

 For more images see THR's website or THR's online book shop (or even via Instagram @halloweenretrospecs), but note Bindledgrim is not selling these - they are free with a copy of THR's newest edition of research from its archive library publications on Etsy. 

#13: The Fates for Summer 2025

Arriving for Summer 2025 there is a new Bindlegrim Halloween 12-side collapsible  German-style lantern (#13 - The Fates) seen most recently on @Bindlegrim (IG). This one will have an edition of seven - and unusually combines both lighting with a fortune game.

The lantern continues the Bindlegrim limited-edition series of industrial-method panels made of sturdy 2-ply museum board that reveals laser-print vellum panes - made in mind of no-heat LED lights or small battery candles.As for the fortunes there are six pre-told visions that slip into the bottom panes. These fortunes were penned by Bindlegrim under divine inspiration from The Fates - so he takes no responsibility for their snarky witchery!

Bindlegrim 2025 vintage-style Halloween - The Fates (top).

Bindlegrim 2025 vintage-style Halloween - The Fates (bottom).

By the way, about the imagery... while two of the faces were directly inspired by Gibson Art Co. (and givewn some artistic embellishments by Bindlegrim) Halloween collectors will notice six different expressions. Bindlegrim expanded upon her apparent acting repertoire to include the basic human expressions which some theorize to include anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. (The original Gibson witch seems to have felt happiness and disgust).

Lantern detail: witch expressions of disgust and fear.

Lantern detail: witch expressions of happiness and surprise.

Lantern detail: witch expressions of sadness and anger.

Bindlegrim lantern 2025 - #13 The Fates w/fortunes.

Bindlegrim is producing these right now - clearing up a few snags along the way - but expects these arriving soon for sale on the Bindlegrim etsy shop, likely along with some older Bindlegrim from the past which may be in stock still. Some of the older designs are seen on this blog and @bindlegrim on Instagram.

Working on label design for The Fates by Bindlegrim.

By the way, have you been keeping up with Bindlegrim these past couple of year? Bindlegrim recently created for THR some industrial style vintage products (below) based on 1940's faux stained glass window products. The new items are true to the general feel of vintage pieces, but cannot be mistaken as such (as with other Bindlegrim productions) due to a deliberate difference in size, imagery, color, and production.  Much like the lantern (above) the windows are made of 2-ply museum board but with in this case use colored tissue paper. For more images see THR's website or THR's online book shop (or even via Instagram @halloweenretrospecs), but note Bindledgrim is not selling these - they are free with a copy of THR's newest edition of research from its archive library publications on Etsy. 

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

THR, V4 featuring an homage window by Bindlegrim

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

Well, to close this blog entry, Bindlegrim notes this vintage-style artist has had the pleasure of being involved with Volume 1 and Volume 4 digests above, but is happy to return once again creating vintage-style decorations that bring olde Halloween to modern times. 

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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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