Lanterns for Ghoulies and Ghosties

From Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-leggety Beasties and Things that go Bump in the Night, Good Lord deliver us! -- (The Cornish Litany).

An earlier mentioned limited edition run of vintage-style 2012 Halloween lanterns has finally reached production, with a live listing now: CORNISH LITANY vintage style LANTERN (Choose Color) & 12 POSTCARD SET Bindlegrim (ending 3/18), and with a surprising selection of colors: orange, purple, and green available.

Here are some photos of the lanterns in the studio before and after final packaging:

Why green and purple this time? The Cornish Litany originated from Cornwall, and the verse was printed or burned onto souvenirs with imagery that featured scary characters frightening people in Gothic settings; one early artist featured a palette of green and purple, and inspired the color choices used in this lantern edition. 

For more about the verse, with artist imagery past and present, I recommend the collector and book that inspired me, Debra Meister's - A Litany... Cornish and Otherwise.

 These lanterns, style #2 The Cornish Litany, were produced as a total of 9 lanterns with litany imagery, but divided into only 3 of each color.  The twelve panels  are full of ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, castles, beasts, and bugs, together with the verse of the litany reading left to right. Here is a series of photos of this hanging Halloween lantern showing each facet, in the different colors available.

I really enjoy the purple and green with a small LED light inside of them (because of the bluish tint those lights cast). The orange looks great with an orange battery operated candle or a 3 watt flicker bulb.

Included with this lantern comes a complete 12 postcard set (only 30-45 of each card printed) previously mentioned in the blog entry Cornish Litany and Postcard Set when I was working on the lantern's prototype... and the cards were recently available at the End of Winter International Show for postcard and paper ephemera collectors in New York city.

Playing off the "key hole" design of the lantern, I though it was fun to focus on this shape as a peek-a-boo motif for the imagery, and gave each card a little skull topped skeleton key to go with the verse. Now that these are posted for viewing,  I'm finishing up another postcard soon to be available for Easter... and hope to have that showing up here soon. Until then... stay spooky but enjoy the Spring!

Witches, Rockets, and Bindlegrim Radio Waves

With The Haint House Halloween Hex Lantern #3 ending today on ebay, it was maybe past time to get to work on style #4... and this time it's a countdown to outer space adventure featuring witches and rockets! Below are a couple of images from the 12 being created for this new Halloween lantern, (and, btw, for those who might be keeping track, version #1 The Pumpkin Dream & #2 The Cornish Litany will be listed for sale shortly in the coming weeks).

This upcoming version (number four) was inspired by a series of 1950's plastic candy containers with goggle-clad witches riding space-age vehicles. Here's an example of these vintage pieces from the amazing collection of flickr member ghostofhalloweenpast:

With inspiration like that, it's hard not to have fun creating this space-age imagery, while listening to some moog and theremin, with spacey retro lounge music like Space Capades: Ultra Lounge 3, or instrumental rock like Telstar by The Tornadoes, or the darker side of eerie electronic experimental music with Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet soundtrack... to name a few.

And speaking of music, that seems like a perfect segue-way to mention Bindegrim radio, which is now broadcasting on a DIY internet broadcaster station that I've enjoyed now for many years called Live365, and is featuring alot of the vintage Halloween music I've been discovering over the past many years.

Currently the Bindlegrim station is in construction-development mode, so the playlist may seem a little limited at this time, but I think audio folks will enjoy what is currently available. I have started off with a collection of Halloween-themed tunes from the 1920's to the 1950's, and, in future, plan to expand the music from those years as well as into larger time-spans reaching into the 1960's and beyond. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the humble musical beginnings, and feedback is always welcome.

Halloween Lantern for a Haunted House

12 Eerie Visions of Creeps and Chills, Glow for HALLOWE'EN Thrills!

Bindlegrim vintage-style 2012 Halloween Hex Lanterns are officially here, with one listed as of yesterday evening via ebay (ending 2/19)! So I wanted to share a spooky batch of detail photos taken of this old school lantern featuring all new Bindlegrim imagery. (Below is the lantern front and back in its packaging).

This is style #3 The Haint House - a limited edition of only 5 offering this particular Bindlegrim imagery. As mentioned in a previous entry (The Haint House Halloween Lantern) inspiration came from vintage images of haunted houses - and unlike the old lanterns usually displaying a repeat of 6 images - these new lanterns offer 12 distinct panels (also because I have so much fun creating the images). The Haint House reveals doors, windows, and cracks, oozing with skeletons, mice, ghosts, mice, ghouls, mice, witches,  mice, bugs, snakes, mice, zombies, and other Halloween oddities such a winged moon with sharp teeth.

Here is a flickr gallery of The Haint House that shows the Halloween lantern from various viewpoints - hung in pendant style, with detail shots and in its packaging.

For consideration of the materials of this paper novelty - the lantern frame is made from acid-free 2-ply matt board with a nod to archival quality. The images are printed of durable laser-prints on vellum. And just like the good old days are Made in the USA and hand assembled. Holes are in top for string or thin wire for hanging: (I didn't wire any of these as to keep them pristine - so the photos below show it hanging by the flip switch on the socket --- not recommended for long term placement).

It's hard to tell in current photos (created more for detail rather than mood) but I'm using a 3 watt flicker bulb from the local hardware store in this lantern (and suggest either this or a battery operated candle). It creates the perfect eerie ambiance since the vellum allows low light to shine brightly. Any hotter/brighter bulbs, open flames, or moisture are not advised since this is a fragile paper novelty, and those are the very same terrors that warped, burnt, and destroyed vintage lanterns from the 1920-30s.

If you have any questions on availability of any limited edition styles --- (still hoping to see earlier versions for #1 The Pumpkin Dream and #2 The Cornish Litany follow soon) --- feel free to contact me.

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In other notes - I want, in future, to get a list of additional links for great vintage holiday artists and sellers, but in the meantime wanted to mention a wonderful seller that I've had the pleasure of purchasing items from in the recent past - 55audrey.

The seller offers a long-time popular booth on Bonanza (Audrey Grace Vintage) as well as Ebay (Book Shop) --- and also provides holiday tidbits through a newsletter and twitter. Recommended!

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Happy Valentine's Day everyone and heres to more haunted fun throughout the year of 2012.

Halloween Kisses

While I would like to someday say the most popular image on the flickr account is original, it is actually this groovy little piece of vintage Halloween paper. This is the paper seal for the top of what was likely a plastic bag of candy, (and now has well over 500 views based solely on web traffic searches for terms like "original molasses Halloween kiss").

Based on the company info, (of Allan Candy Company in Aldershot), history would place this around 1943-1961. And here is some interesting information about the Canadian molasses kiss candy (which I had no idea until after I started to research the item): www.taddlecreekmag.com/molasses-the-ultimate-treat

I got this from a stack of ephemera at the Craven Farm holiday show, held in November in Snohomish, Washington (near Seattle) -- from the tables of incredible Halloween product designer Hobgoblin. (Check out this fun fall photoshoot with Hobgoblin , and this ghost created by Hobgoblin).  Personally, I was instantly charmed by the simple imagery, (that special character of the witch face), and the classic silhouette color scheme in orange and black.

In retrospect, this was a definite inspiration!

A Brief History of The Pumpkin Dream (Part 4) - Cautionary Vectors

A continuation from A Brief History of The Pumpkin Dream (Part 3)

As the idea to illustrate "October Dreams: A Cautionary Tale" became an objective, a new problem developed: I had recently switched systems and my ancient web developer's student copy of Adobe Photoshop 5 and Illustrator 8 (from 1999...!?) would no longer work on the newer system -- and I certainly couldn't afford to buy those expensive Adobe programs and still complete this project. I was very depressed about this situation, feeling once again I was trying to take on another project beyond my means...

As I tried to figure out what to do, I thought I should at least dabble with some trial dowloads to see if it was worth the loss of funds (and touch up on some old skills). My first trial was with Illustrator CS5. And I thought it would be fun to see how well I could re-create, and accurately, some old vintage Halloween Decorations.

These cats are from a Beistle Halloween decoration from the 1950's: the top is a scan of the original and the lower image is a wacom pen trace (with some obvious color tweaks). I'm not sure I had really learned how to use the pressure sensitivity at this point - but I did appreciate Illustrator's ability to selectively drag out and increase line widths in certain areas along the line.

The next images is from a frightening looking pumpkin face from 1931 by Dennison. Again, I couldn't quite figure out how to use the pressure sensitivity to achieve fatter/thinner lines. With this guy I drew the shapes and used lower layers to ink in the color areas. And I believe I was using a new ability to paint vector swaths. (The upper version is scanned - the lower version is my wacom trace vector version):

In both instances I was happy with how accurately the images could be created into vector! This wasn't very helpful though, because Illustrator CS5 was still out of reach. (I wish Adobe would let you upgrade in installments toward having the entire suite. There was no way I was going to buy Illustrator which I needed first, then later buy each program separately and spend even more money to get needful Photoshop, Premiere, etc).

As I tried to figure out what to do - the trials continued with AI CS5 on my own work...

Mentioned previously, I had a sketchbook full of work from trying to develop a three-dimensional project. As raw material, it then seemed logical to recreate these sketches. I imagined this might then be a good way of developing and creating my illustrations for the poem. My first go was with this scarecrow sketch:

See also my additional test manually/digitally recreating pencil sketches in the first blog entry (Sketchy Beginnings that shows working with the main characters of the poem).

I really enjoyed this.. and may have been getting a tad better at using looser pen strokes and wacom tablet sensitivity with Illustrator... however, my trial period was running out.. and the money was just not there for it!

A friend noted that Painter by Corel was a good program for looser pen work, and it might cost less... and that seems like a good place to start the next entry. Part 5 will cover some testing with Painter and, after that, what became my final solution for my budget - freeware!

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On a side note (6/5/11), as I was writing Part 5, it occurred to me, I had tried a test of Illustrator's automatic sketch feature. It's a pretty nifty tool. Below is my sketch followed by the Illustrator output. (Note the settings were used to recreate an image that was as simple and graphic and possible, and the output was tweaked just a bit afterward using the new vector blob brush to smooth edges, and create large areas of black).

This was an important test, because as I was also searching for the right program, I was firming up my ideas for the style of illustration - and this was starting to narrow down a goal - to create a style that was reminiscent of old 1930s cartoon animation.

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A Brief History of The Pumpkin Dream: Part 5 - Monsters from the Id

A Brief History of the Pumpkin Dream (Part 1) - Halloween Fireworks

In general, near the end of 2004, I had rediscovered how fun holiday art could be, and as a personal tonic for the troubles of the world. My 2004 series of Halloween and Christmas imagery had been great fun, and from there I turned to writing (where I could be just as imaginative without trying to fund materials).

(This particular image is a pier on Greenlake in Seattle, WA in infrared photography)
One of nine images I created for a series called Hallowe'en, used at the time for greeting cards.
Updates: See more at flickr and I just re-posted remaining cards for sell on Etsy

In the summer of 2005, as fireworks were going off just a few blocks away from me in the the party atmosphere of July 4th celebrations, I was sitting with my primitive little laptop, (that was "free" with some miserable card offer), in our teeny tiny apartment, working on the first few lines of what was to become The Pumpkin Dream... a fantastic distraction from the more serious tones of my own fine art, and web content (re: the disaster of the economic downturn that began for myself as money, time, and education thrown into what became the 2001 bursting of the Seattle web bubble...,  a personally disastrous economic turn)...I suppose the explains the somewhat arch yet escapist tone of the poem!

Seattle Jack O'Lantern circa 2005:
(Our favorite pumpkin patch was Craven Farm in Snohomish).

Anyhow, writing, as the most inexpensive art form I could enjoy, (gave my imagination full range to dream), and so that summer I started scribbling down stories and poems in fits and starts. (Hopefully a few more of those will see the light as well)! The Pumpkin Dream originally started that summer as just a few separate small poems that over the following weeks began to huddle together in a larger narrative. From the currently finished version, those lines now seem very primitive to my senses, and this is one of the least offensive passages, that even now I couldn't resist changing a word or two as I transcribed:

this most peculiar, gruesome bunch

confirm our most suspicious hunch
that monsters of the thirty-first
must absolutely be the worst...

Ugh. Well, I can't remember how long I worked on the poem immediately following that initial period, but over the following years, as the other writings I had started during that period sat ignored, I would pick this one up as the Halloween season rolled around and fiddle with the words, trying to hammer out the story, and create strong imagery without losing the narrative... (the latter being my greatest challenge for balance in creative writing, when I really do want someone to understand what I'm trying to express).

I would say that in general the poem by October 2006 had finally taken its overall final shape with a handmade book and a handful of illustrations. And I think that's going to be full of enough content for part 2 of this little history... (Part 2)