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...! 

The Cottage Industry of One Spook

Getting ready here at Bindlegrim's studio for Halloween Trunk Show 10 in Denver!

Although Bindlegrim's art/design objects utilize many processes reminiscent of larger scale production (printing, die-cutting, etc)... there is still the manual assembly (and signing) of these limited-edition Beastie (final product shown here). Somehow after all the time spent creating the art... I conveniently forget about the impending assembly. None of this is made in China. This is, as mentioned perhaps previously, a one-spook operation. Many hours yet to go!

Here are some quick photos of the process of multiples... 

Orange-Black-Yellow

Getting back to the imagery for that first set of vintage-style roly-polys... (see Halloween Hibernation) and considering doing these in traditional orange/black/yellow colors...

Grim Goods for a Halloween Trunk Show

A bit of last minute art from the Bindlegrim lab is making its way to the Halloween Trunk Show #9, in addition to all the original Spooklight characters (witch, devil, black cat and bogle) that will be available at the Bindlegrim booth. This time the German-style Jack O'Lanterns have taken center stage, attired in some early century garb.... for Harvest Moon (with versions of the artwork available on 4-sided pendant shades as well as a special limited-edition of 6 artist-signed 12-sided lanterns), pics below...

Bindlegrim's October Schedule:

• October 11 - Halloween Trunk Show #9
• October 17 - Deadline to order Bindlegoods for Halloween 2014.
  (Shop closes for the autumn season)
• October 31- Happy Hallowe'en!

 

October

Just a little autumnal whimsy (vintage-style) on the eve of October... (as Bindlegrim tinkers with some additional imagery perhaps for some lanterns going to The Halloween Trunk Show #9). Lots of activity here in the studio preparing for that show and the Bindlegoods seasonal hiatus (taking final orders for Halloween 2014 no later than October 17th)

A very happy 31 days of Hallowe'en everyone!

PS If you dig the font, it's by Sinister Visions...

Updates on Bindlegood's Spooklights

A quick update on what's happening on Bindlegoods:

The newest addition to the Spooklights line, this "haunted tree" lamp base (candlestick) is now available (picture below). Just like the previous base (featuring a trick-or-treat scene) this will also pair perfectly with the lamp shade (pendant lamp cover).

The second item (not quite ready) is this monster candle-votive that is a hybrid of German-style Halloween lanterns that has morphed at bottom into a creature that now stands on eight legs. The images here show the first test offering a giant eyeball... although I'm not sure I'm quite pleased with this as a pane option. News to follow - on facebook, twitter, and on the online store Bindlegoods.

Bindlegrim's Bindlegoods

So these last couple of months, there has been much talk about the opening day of Bindlegoods. Wasn't that set for February..? Was it going to creep up during March..? Hey, hasn't April blustered by already without a sign..? Well those days have passed (hopefully with most of the southwestern dust-storm season) and looks like opening day is going to fall sometime during this first week of May! I know this to be true because two orders (from fans who snuck into the crypt) are going out the door this week. The web shoppe address, btw, which I forgot to mention, is bindlegoods.bindlegrim.com

Here's a couple of photos of some Spooklights contents (lamp base and lamp shade) ready for packaging... which will soon be a small non-limited run (vs. limited edition) from Bindlegoods. 

As well the Spooklights postcard set just arrived in the studio and is set to ship out free with the first orders (while supplies last). These are colorful Halloween illustrations on a 4x6 matte postcard.

I do believe the next post will be an announcement for the opening of the shop! Thank you for your patience with the ol bones of Bindlegrim! Keep up to date with latest Bindlegrim news via facebook, twitter, and check out some additional imagery via flickr.

By the way, if you've read this far, you just might be a true Bindlegrim fan --- so don't forget last summer started a Bindlegrim tradition for selling the previous year's designs... and there a few limited-edition Creeps (lanterns and candy containers) and Spirits who might be in need of a good haunted home. 

Springtime Devils (Bindlegoods Update)

A fourth and final image has been created for proposed pane content of the upcoming vintage-style Spooklight lanterns, and its a devil of a thing... that has me wondering, is there a pumpkin heaven (?) because the afterlife looks rather grim for this classic 1920s/30s German-esque Jack O'Lantern.

I regret the new artwork (inspired by last year's Creeps candy containers) helped delay the Spooklights release but I just couldn't bring myself to revisit previous 12-sided lantern imagery which feels special to those releases. However, I am still toying with an idea that a few select images (not all) could by popular demand be re-released in a Spooklights version? Any requests? The Haint House? or maybe The Space Witches? or perhaps Gruss von Krampus? There were 8 limited-editions released previously - so there's quite a bit of content to choose! (Below is last year's unexpected release of a Creeps 12-sided lantern - see all the Creeps on flickr).

Anyhow, I am making some small tweaks to the newest as-yet un-named series, and will of course remove the annoying text from the final lantern panes... or on whatever format these images are lent - because I'm now thinking these might be fun as cards or on other products? What do you think?

Finally, some store updates (aka Bindlegoods) progress is still occurring there if a bit slowly.Test products seem to be processing fine, and I'm trying my best to get this one-man show up to speed. I need to 1) finish the pane content, 2) get that content printed onto pane material, 3) put a few sets together for sale, 4) verify the content will process on the live site, and 5+) let you know it's all good to go while writing up some sale notices and getting photographs, etc... etc.

Thank you all for your interest in the meantime, on facebook, flickr, twitter., and I do hope the wait is not too long! Best to all this Spring season!

Fangs for Spring

Bindlegrim appears to be having a hard time working in the spring pastel palette this season. No bunnies populating this blog. Instead this classic-style German Jack O'Lantern has been snagged by some not so welcome company --- when a black cat joins the latest promo art for the upcoming Spooklight series.

Bindlegrim is also on flickr and pinterest...