Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thornhill 2008

A cool video from the Thornhill Woods Haunted House.

1945 Parade Balloon



Image source.

Thanks, Jon, for this great link!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Mummy

Something I've always wanted to make.


A Little Christmas Spirit



Giant Props

Anxiously awaiting the 2008 photos from Haunted Overload.
They better hurry up and get them posted.


Twisted Props

Grim beat me to this blog entry, but I wanted to feature it here as well.
The 2008 photos are up at the Drop Gallow haunt.
A wicked scarecrow is among some terrific props.



DropGallow.com

[Pizza] Traditions

Years ago, when my Halloween display was a little easier to set up and take down, a bunch of us would head out for pizza at the end of the night. Very hard to imagine those days now, since I'm usually breaking down the display close to midnight and taking photos in that first hour of November 1st. We'd hit up a pretty nice pizza joint - great moody interior with dark woods, tiny green glass lamps, and a fireplace. For Halloweeen, they'd go crazy with decorations. Tons of cornstalks inside along the bar and booths, paper decorations, orange and black crepe paper across the ceiling, and all the employees would be in costume. It was a great way to unwind and enjoy the late hours of Halloween.

Saw this photo and it reminded me of those days.


Image source.

Moss


Unknown photographer.

Essentials



Eye, Scarecrow



Layers Of Fangs



Image source.

Ghost Cat



Image source.

The caption below the photo at the above link is priceless.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Door Decorating Contest

So every year there's a door decorating contest for the Christmas season at my office. The first year I worked here, my coworkers somehow convinced me to partake. They had heard from someone that I liked to make things for Halloween out of papier mache so they came up with an idea to have an angel on our department's door with some other silly non-Halloween stuff. I tried to tell them that I don't do Christmas. That I couldn't promise a good end-result since I'm sure it would have been flavored with darkness and not the happy angel that they were picturing in their heads. But I agreed to do it, probably because I didn't know them as well as I know them now and I thought it would have somehow affected my career path here. I made their stupid angel. Mache face....glue-dipped white fabric...a barely visible face beneath the angelic cloak. Feathers on two giant wings made from white tissue paper. I still remember the silence when I unveiled it. Confusion. Forced appreciation. I remember saying "I TOLD you all, dammit."

Regardless, we took first place that year, which was cool. The angel was taken home by my manager who reported that her son hung it in his room. Last year a coworker asked my manager if she could use it as a Christmas decoration on her porch. My manager stole it from her son and gave it to her. My coworker hung it on her screened-in porch with a light shining down on it. In her words "A neighbor told me it was scaring her kids."

The angel is back with my manager's son.

This year they approached me and asked me to do a Nightmare Before Christmas door for the contest.

I said no.

Sincerely,
The Office Jerk



(pretty much what every door ends up looking like.)

That's One Angry Owl



Thinking Of Thanksgiving

Did a search for a Pumpkin Apple pie and found THIS from FastFoodFever.com.

Instructions.

Pumpkin Head Ghost

I love pumpkin-headed ghosts.
Such a classic old-school design.

(latex gloves for hands!)

Image source.

[Halloween] Kokeshi Doll



Image source.

Trick Or Treat



Image source.

2008 Stolloween Display

Another wonderful Stolloween display featuring amazing works of papier mache.

Angry Witch



Dark Ladies

The art of Joshua Petker.


JoshuaPetker.com

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hairy Spiders

I love how accurate spider decorations have become.
The one on the right is particularly creepy.


Image source.

Wall Lantern

Charred's head hanging in the office.

Obsessed

Some of the pumpkins around the house. This doesn't include the ones that didn't have faces or the ones that aren't ceramic (I wasn't up for that task).

Ceramic

I noticed so many unique ceramic jack o'lanterns this year. I love the ones that are displayed in the windows of an elderly person's home (manicured lawn...simple decor....trapped-in-time feeling). The pumpkins look like they've been smiling for decades and decades.


I'll have to assemble all the ceramic pumpkins we own in one location and snap a pic. I bet I'll be horrified as to how many there are.

Image source.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Survivors



Image source.

Scarecrow Shadows

Katzper's Haunt

Been anxiously awaiting these 2008 photos from the Katzper Yard Haunt. A truly frightening haunt. When I flipped through them initially, I was struck by how unnerving the images were.
Scary. Wonderfully scary.

And such amazing photography.


Katzper's Haunt