The Return of Bindlegrim

Well over a month since the last post mentioning the move of Bindlegrim southward, and the long process of hauling the studio out of the cottage and in to the casita is almost complete! It's not easy moving a studio with nothing but a bindle over your shoulder... and many trips later the casita is just beginning to feel like home.

And even though the studio is still in boxes as of this writing, it was only just possible to eke out a few doodles during that time, creating new material for the next Bindlegrim limited edition vintage-style Halloween lantern. This will be style #5 (as yet untitled) in that series, with this design featuring leafy vine motifs, as if you are crawling the brambles of the pumpkin patch while spooky creatures and celestial objects peek back through the clearings.





Hope to see these pane designs incorporated into a material object casting a classical spooky glow within the next two weeks... even though this will have to happen between the unpacking of boxes, and general settling into the new digs. But there is much excitement to get old' Bindlegrim's bones rattling again, and a big thank-you to those of you who may be traveling back this way after the long break!




By the way, those of you who might have been following Bindlegrim on facebook or Bindlegrim on twitter during the break, surely noticed there was some time here and there to add around a dozen new old Halloween songs to Bindlegrim's vintage Halloween music station. Three hours now worth of haunting melodies! And while there needs to be a few separate blog entries about the music broadcasting there - you can find recent spooky additions from the era of 78 RPM records, with themes of boogie men, candy, bewitchments, bedevilment, and various other October nightmares. Tune in, and see you again here real soon!

El Bindle Nuevo

Per his namesake, every once in a while Mr. Bumble has to pack up that tatty ol' bindle and hit the road. And this month big changes are happening as Bindlegrim begins to uproot Ichabod's cottage near the Rocky Mountains for new digs further southward in what is actually a long-awaited return to Nuevo Mexico. Si, es verdad, Ichabod's cottage on the outskirts of the big city will soon be a casita cerca del pueblo. And who knows where the influence may take those brooding bindle-moods once in the land of adobe, chili verde, and kachinas? Perhaps we will see influences such as imagery from Dia de Los Muertos, or perhaps ghost tales of the magical desert?

Traveling with Mr. Bumble is his trusty sidekick, El Raton. And this particular mouse dates much much earlier than the hero of The Pumpkin Dream, to a time before ol' Bindlegrim had ever set his toeless shoes into the dusty cryptobiotic soils of the west. This little feller was a Christmas gift (an ornament) that back in the day had found his way swinging from the rearview mirror of a little blue hatchback, bravely establishing himself as the St. Christopher of safe journeys, in the miles before cell phones! El raton is still around after all those years and though often retired from life on the road, he's back on a new set of wheels, rediscovering the desert landscapes of the southwest. He's definitely a little rougher for wear, as is ol' Bindle, but both are happily basking in new explorations of the high desert sands.

Well, the gist of all this fanciful rhetoric, is that the goblins working in Bindle's shop will have much to do over the next month. While it is hoped a lantern, or other item of Halloween art might make its way here to the blog announcements, I hope you can be patient during this time of transition, as a few things are likely to slip a bit until the Bindle, and his sidekick El Raton are once more unpacked and settled in the new digs. Until then, hasta la proxima, and, of course, viva la fiesta!

Happy Easter from Bindlegrim

A short posting here wishing everyone a Happy Easter! Wanted to share just a handful of vintage images that have been found over the past year and added to this pinterest gallery. Included here are a few vintage cards found while antiquing but see the pinterest gallery for a larger selection of fun and sometimes very strange imagery that others have shared on the web... for example, who knew roosters and rabbits were into smoking...?

Source: flickr.com via Bumble on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Bumble on Pinterest

And of course, don't forget there is a Bindlegrim vintage style lantern ending tonight on eBay. Catch all the details for that in this previous posting - Cyclonic Cavalcade of Witches and Rockets.

A Cyclonic Cavalcade of Witches and Rockets

Okay, so "cyclonic cavalcade" was taken from a trailer for the old Godzilla movie full of similar styled hype... but as I was writing the copy for tonight's ebay listing - I could hear that same excited voice in my head as I was writing an over the top intro for The Space Witches lantern, and it went a little something lie this: Blast-off to a retro-kitsch sci-fi galaxy where UFO aliens collide into the earthly other-realm of Halloween witches who with their black cat familiars terrorize space in light-speed rockets!!!

Well, all that soul-groaning copy aside, style #4 in the Bindlegrim hex lantern series did make it live tonight, and here is the link by which to set your space ship's navigation controls: 12 side WITCH ROCKETS CATS retro vintage style HALLOWEEN lantern #5/5 BINDLEGRIM

Here are some new photos from the listing, or see the previous blog entry for even more:

And here is a direct excerpt of the ebay listing with general information on the listing:

Spooky Vintage Style Lantern - #4 - The Space Witches 

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

This newest offering in limited edition Bindlegrim hex lanterns merges the cartoon camp of 1950's imagery with the spooky elegance of 1920s vintage paper lanterns. 

Lantern #4 - (Edition #5/5):
This vintage style lantern comes from a series created in limited edition batches, with each different batch containing distinctive pane imagery from the others. This particular style has only 5 made with this particular imagery. And any lantern produced is identified inside the frame - this lantern reads:  "The Space Witches" (#5/5) 2012 Bindlegrim with the artist's Halloween signature.

The frame is created with acid-free museum board. The pieces were Made in the USA and hand assembled by the artist. Each work is packaged in a cellophane bag and also labeled with its number in the edition. The images are laser-prints on vellum for durability. The orange looks great with an orange battery operated candle or a 3 watt flicker bulb. Small holes in the top piece are present for hanging the lantern with soft wire or strong thread if you prefer a battery operated candle.

The Space Witches:
The imagery for this lantern was based on classic candy containers that combined the imagery of witches and rockets. Bindlegrim expanded this idea to create original pane designs, 12 different ones in all, that take the journey into outer space with these witches and their black cats, to see what happens, encountering aliens and other problems - like white mice running loose inside your space helmet - or what if your cat gets stuck on the moon?! Witches and aliens terrorize each other! Cats and mice take their earthly battle into space! Other mischievous witches speed about in helmets and goggles..., they poke the moon in the eye with their broom..., and they crash on dark planetoids!