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...

Short, Sharp, Stocked (no longer)

As announced earlier today on the Bindlegrim facebook page it was cleaning day in the studio (beneath monsoon skies) and a few items (the last of their kind) were gathered up for an official 3rd annual summer sale - see preview image below. Note this will be a very quick and small sale starting tomorrow (8-2-2015) finishing at the end of this one week of listings. End results of this sale will be used to fuel the 2015 releases which should be out the beginning of September!

The sale will at least include the last available of some items shown above: 1 package of 6 silhouette Creeps (2013), a 12-sided lantern "#9 - Harvest Moon" (2014), and a 12-sided lantern "#10 - Traditional Grim" (2014). More details will post very soon! 

Grim Bindles (Past and Present)

Week three (of four) for the Bindlegrim sale - and this week really dug deep into the bindle for something old (cards from 2004), to something new (two one-off hybrid lanterns) all ending this coming Sunday August 3rd, 2014.

1) Vintage-Style HALLOWEEN 9 Card Series: ghosts, pumpkins, bats, haunted houses

Bindle' really scoured the crypt for this set created in 2004. The photo-collages feature original photography and digitally created elements. The background scenery followed a personal journey across the U.S. from the swamps and abandoned house of the Southeast, to the mysterious ghost towns and lonely deserts of the Southwest, to the spooky drizzle and moss-covered roofs of the Northwest. The ghost character was shot in studio, as were some of the props like German-esqe Jack O'Lanterns and bats, and later all was brought in the computer for an artistic integration. You can see more images in this earlier blog entry, or in this flickr set: Hallowe'en.

2) Vintage-Style Christmas WINTER LIGHTS 6 greeting cards, old electric decor

The imagery here of vintage Christmas lights dating from 1920's to the 1960's, and were photographed by the artist in the studio, with graphic design added later in graphic programs. Cards are approximately 4.25" wide by 5 1/2" tall. More images can be seen in this flickr set: Winter Lights.

3) Vintage-Style HALLOWEEN 8-Sided Lantern HORRID DECOR jol pumpkins orange/black

This listing is for vintage-style 8-sided lantern hybrid created to test Spooklights for Halloween 2014. The lantern panes are like those for the 12-sided lanterns (and therefore feature the pumpkin-and-leaf motif in the corners). The imagery was for the only non-limited run of lanterns from 2012 known as "The Horrid Decor" and this one features orange and black prints on vellum.

4) Vintage-Style HALLOWEEN 8-Sided Lantern HORRID DECOR jol pumpkins blue/black

This listing is for the 2nd of two vintage-style 8-sided lantern hybrids created to test Spooklights. The lantern feature the pumpkin-and-leaf motif in the corners. The imagery derived from the only non-limited run of lanterns from 2012 known as "The Horrid Decor" and this one features blue and black prints on textured paper.

Thank you again, and stick around for next week - the very end of the sale...

2014 Summer Lantern Sale

Wow, yet another thunderous monsoon with lightening turning the day into night here, sweeping over Ichabod's casita huddled here in the high desert foothills... It's put me once again in the mood to get this announcement out here on the blog!

The Bindlegrim Summer Lantern Sale officially began Sunday 13th, 2014... and unlike the Spooklights (on Bindlegoods) which are currently available as a small run of undetermined number..., these summer sale items were produced as signed limited editions of five or less, and have been listed as ebay auctions to give more people a chance at grabbing the grim goods.

The first week includes:

1) Vintage-Style Halloween CREEPS 3/3 Artist Proof Set Candy-Box Vellum-Eye Lantern

This listing is for vintage-style candy-container lanterns from the Creeps (Color Run) which was a 5/5 limited edition set designed, printed, and diecut* in the artist's studio. This auction is for the third and final set of artist proofs (that determined all was okay for print quality and die alignment) for the 5/5 run.

For this set the package insert is singed as "AP" (artist proof) - not all AP sets were packaged. Each character is signed and numbered on the inside (and does not appear when assembled - see images). Note that this set was used in photos to represent the sealed 5/5 run, and therefore may have some slight wear and tear.

 

2) Vintage-Style Halloween CREEPS #3/5 Packaged Set Candy-Box Vellum-Eye Lantern

This listing is for vintage-style candy-container lanterns from the Creeps (Color Run) which was a 5/5 limited edition set designed, printed, and diecut* in the artist's studio. This auction is for #3/5 from the limited run of five signed and sealed during the production. (Any photos of opened, assembled items were done with the artist proofs - not this sealed package).

 

 

3) Vintage-Style Halloween CREEPS #3/5 Silhouette Set Candy-Box Vellum-Eye Lantern

This listing is for vintage-style candy-container lanterns from the Creeps (Silhouette Version) which was a 5/5 limited edition set designed and diecut* in the artist's studio. This auction is for #3/5 from the limited run of five signed and sealed during the production.

 

4) Vintage-Style Halloween CREEPS 3/5 Artist Signed 12-Pane Lantern Limited-Edition

This listing is for one vintage-style 12-sided lantern Creeps from a 5/5 limited edition. A bit of rarity in 2013, this was perhaps the only 12-sided lantern produced by Bindlegrim in 2013. This auction is for #3/5. If you've been keeping track of the 12-sided editions, this was #8 in the Bindlegrim series of lanterns (and was a special edition only for the 2013 year), with the panes inspired by the Creeps (Candy Container/Lanterns).

 

 

 

 

 Thank you all for considering this for your Halloween bindle. 

* What is a diecut? While this terminology seems to be used incorrectly by writers in the Halloween collector community to coin a certain range of 2-D hanging decorations, die-cutting is actually a process that created a huge number of Halloween products - boxes, crepe paper 3D items, cardboard displays, and on and on.  As someone who has been exploring the process (in my own work that drifts between industrial process and DIY art), I think it interesting to see how few people, especially old-timers, mis-understand what diecut really means. (See this wikipedia article).

Disintered Creeps

Disintered Creeps 

or 

More Peeks of Bindlegrim Summer Sale 2014

As Bindlegrim continues to dig-up old Creeps from the dark places of the studio... it appears the first week's listings have been cued for the front of this years's 2nd annual summer sale, which by following tradition of the first, lists a few items every week for about a month... and then, they are gone!

Please post a comment if you have input on separating or keeping packages intact for the sale. And, I thought it might be worth looking back into the processes of these items - with most printed and cut by dies in the studio.

Item 1 (or six???): opened pack of Creeps (artist proofs 3/3) which could be sold as a set or separately considering any input from the Bindlegrim faithful?

Production notes: The 2013 Creeps were printed and diecut in the artist's studio. There were 3/3 artist proofs with those shown here as the last of them. (Some earlier artist proofs were sold last year on etsy). This was the final print of the artist proofs that determined print & cut of the 5/5 limited edition run, and these were used in the various photographs for the set during 2013. Each item is signed as 3/3 A.P.

Item 2: unopened pack of the 2013 Creeps. These, like all 2013 sets were produced in a limited run of 5 (not including the artist proofs). Printed and cut with dies in the artists studio.

Production notes: The Creeps candy-box lanterns were Bindlegrim's first foray into a printed item, and the entire process was done in-house from the printing to the die-cutting. (Note the process is cut with a metal die to be most like a vintage-item - and not hand cut which would have created jagged inconsistent qualities). There were 3/3 artist proofs to get the expected print and alignment quality, and the final sets were a limited run of only five. Shown is #3/5 from the final run.

Item 3: one unopened pack of silhouette museum-board Creeps, a six pack of vintage-style candy-container lanterns.

Production notes: The 2013 Creeps were first conceived as a printed item, but sometime during the production I decided to test museum board, and thus this "soot face" set was born. There were 2/2 artist proof runs to make sure they would work (some sold on etsy), and then a final 5/5 limited edition run. Each character has been signed by the artist identifying the set and shown here #3/5.

Item 4: the only 12-sided lantern produced for the 2013 season. Creeps #3/5 special edition to go with the six-pack candy-container-lanterns of the same year.

Production notes:  To my recollection this was the only 12-sided lantern created in 2013 as a special edition to accompany the Creeps candy-box sets. There were only 5/5 created, with each signed and numbered. Shown is #3/5.

Sleepy Summer Daze

Ah, drifting again through the heat of the sun and the waves of sound emitting from the summer cicadas... although here in the high desert they sound a little bit more like frantic shop equipment when compared to the lazy lull of their southeastern cousins... (I seriously thought I was hearing someone run a table saw the first time I heard one)...

Anyway, it's that time again for a summer sale isn't it? Did you catch lasts years wipeout of 2012 12-sided lanterns!?!? Well, time for me to stop daydreaming and clean out the studio. I'm quite sure I have some neglected pieces of vintage-style goodies from the 2013 Creeps and Spirits series (both in the form of candy-container lanterns and 12-sided lanterns done in limited editions). More news to come as I start to wake up... In the meantime, you can see some of these in the Bindlegoods gallery.

In the meantime, a big thank-you again for those who shopped the Bindlegoods webstore this past month. As they are made to order I haven't been very good about photographing them, but did just get a pre-assembly order this past holiday weekend... and well, took advantage of the opportunity. Loved seeing these in multiples while I had the chance... (also see the Bindlegoods store blog for more Bindlgrim shop news).

P.S. This year's Halloween Trunk Show in Denver is slated for October 11th...!!!

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!

Springtime for Bogles and Halloween

Alas, still no cute bunnies with chickens, nor any sign of colorful Easter eggs... well, maybe this Bogle is scaring them away... or ate them... ;-) In a follow up companion piece to the previous Spooklights promo (of one sad pumpkin with a black cat), this happy JOL is now held by a mouse-tached scarecrow as it shambles through the whispering corn shucks beneath a full moon...

Bindlegrim is also on flickr and pinterest...

Christmas Spirits

While snow fell here in the high desert, the Bindlegrim elves finally finished up the last bit of work on a 5/5 limited edition set of candy container gift-box lanterns! These are already making their appearance for Karmpusnacht and on various online venues over the next week for a timely arrival to their new homes well before Christmas. And the listings this time will include full and broken sets for those just trying to get their favorite character.

More news to follow and please check the Bindlegrim facebook and twitter pages for timely updates... and hopefully to include news of better availability of the retro-kitsch tomte book "Grim Happy Christmas". In the meantime - a few wintery candy-filled photos of Krampus, St. Nick, and Jack Frost. Happy Holidays!