Here’s a rather marvelous DIY lamp idea: Artist Ryan McElhinney piles writhing mounds of action figures and other toys around lamps, then lacquers them into something right out of Hieronymous Bosch. I’m not entirely sure I could sleep with one of these things next to my bed.

Basic lamp kits are cheap, and old plastic toys are easy to find at garage sales and thrift shops. Arrange them to your liking, glue them together, then paint and lacquer. Top with an appropriate shade, put the thrashing, shouty mass (there are some very angry-looking toys on the market) on your bedside table, and bingo! Instant nightmare fodder.

The artist uses the same technique to decorate mirror frames, and I’m sure you could do something similar to lots of other objects like vases or wreaths. This might be a unique way to repurpose an outgrown collection of small plastic toys that you aren’t quite ready to get rid of entirely.

(via BoingBoing)

This foam-and-latex mirror frame is currently on clearance at Terror Syndicate for $55. I think something fairly similar could be DIY’d pretty easily and inexpensively if you’ve got an existing mirror (or picture frame) that you’d like to skullify.

Foam skulls and bones are popular Halloween props, so they’re fairly easy to come by. If you don’t want to wait until Halloween decorations start showing up in local stores,* you can find them online year-round: Searching for “bag of bones” will turn up a lot of products like this, and you can also get foam skulls with flat backs here. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can also cast your own bones: this article at MAKE explains how to make foam skulls.

You’ll probably want to choose a wooden frame, since adhesives might not stick as well to slick metal or plastic (and if you use hot glue to attach the bones, it may also melt plastic). It doesn’t matter whether the frame has dents or nicks, since it’s going to be covered with bones, and you’re also going to paint it so the color isn’t important either. Nose around local thrift shops for ugly old frames that you can convert.

Lay the bones on the frame, moving them if necessary until you’re happy with their arrangement, then glue them in place; you may need to cut flat spots on the backs to seat them properly. Decorate as desired. For a rotted-corpse look similar to the example above, use pantyhose and latex to make sticky-looking “skin” (this tutorial goes into detail on that process). You can also make drippy-looking strands with hot glue similar to the method used for this frame, or use papier-mache or polymer clay to smooth off cut edges and add detail. When thoroughly dry–which may take a while if you use latex adhesive–spray-paint the desired color. You can also hand-paint additional detail such as “moss” or “ichor” if you like. (You can also go in a completely different direction and cover the whole thing in glitter and fake gemstones if you’re feeling particularly perky.)

Add a mirror or appropriate photograph and hang with pride. Cheap! Easy! Customizable! Whee!

*Incidentally, I like to wait until right after Halloween when everything goes on clearance, then stock up on craft supplies for the rest of the year. I’ve got more fake skulls in my basement than you can shake a femur at.

As much as I rip on Disney, I have no problem admitting that they know how to make a scene. There are a zillion little details throughout the parks that add enormous ambience, from “fireflies” in the trees in New Orleans Square to evil-looking skulls in the background decor at Disney Villains.

Taylor at Disney Imaginations has posted instructions for re-creating a few of these details, such as the LED fireflies, the floating candelabra in the Haunted Mansion, and the Tower of Terror elevator dial. He’s also got a nice selection of links to other sites with additional how-to guides.

If you’re looking for some fairly easy decorating tidbits, some of these projects might be fun to tackle.

(via Mr. Macabre)

Xandra of EvaDress is a professional pattern maker who has a great fondness for “retro sews.” Her blog is full of vintagey goodness, and right now she’s working on replicating a bat costume she found in an 1887 French publication.

She doesn’t have a pattern, just this picture, so she’s doing it all from scratch and occasionally posting about her progress:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

There’s not a lot of detail on her process, but I’ll definitely be interested in seeing the finished product. The dress is gorgeous, but I’d love just the bat-wing cape as a separate piece. With luck, maybe she’ll sell the pattern in her store.

I have a tendency–certain members of my family that I happen to be married to would call it “an unfortunate tendency”–when encountering any large quantity of really cheap produce, to buy it and figure out what to do with it later. Not infrequently that seems to involve a good soaking in alcohol. Thus, when I scored a giant bag of lemons a few months ago, I decided to try my hand at limoncello.

There are a number of recipes floating around, including several variations obsessively documented at Limoncello Quest. My approach to the whole undertaking was somewhat more relaxed but it turned out splendidly. It’s pretty hard to truly screw up homemade liqueur, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Ingredients:

• One 750ml bottle of high-proof grain alcohol, such as Everclear (which is 151 proof). I’ve seen recipes that call for vodka instead, but the much lower alcohol content means that it’ll be pretty low-octane once you dilute it with sugar syrup.
• A buncha lemons. You can decide how many this is; recipes vary wildly. You should probably use at least 10. In the end, I used about 30 (but not all at once).
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 2-1/2 cups water

Equipment:

• A glass jar large enough to hold about six cups of liquid (a bit larger is better), with a tight-fitting lid. I used a big canning jar.
• Something to remove the peel: A microplane grater is best; I used a regular kitchen grater. You could probably use a vegetable peeler or paring knife in a pinch.
• A strainer for removing the peel; you could use a slotted spoon in a real pinch, but strainers are cheap.
• A filter: Coffee filters will remove pretty much all particulate matter; a few layers of cheesecloth is fine.

Read the rest of this entry »

I ran across this cute tutorial over at Naughty Secretary Club and was inspired to try something similar. I made a few changes and had some additional comments, so I figured it was worth posting a modified how-to of my own.

Painted tights are quite fashionable right now, but can be outrageously expensive. Jennifer’s great DIY take on them is cheap, easy, and infinitely customizable. I tried a fairly simple calavera for my first attempt, but it’d also be fun to do trailing thorns or dripping blood down the whole leg. If you’re really feeling ambitious, you could paint the outlines of leg bones for an X-ray look.

Check out this gorgeous thing made by Craftster member BeatnikChick. The design is based on a gypsy-themed tattoo, and it’s just stunning.

She doesn’t offer a pattern, but she does have a couple of links to bigger photos on Flickr which might provide enough detail for the stitch-crafty amongst us to try something similar. And, of course, you can always ask your favorite tattoo artist for permission to copy their patterns.

Incidentally, I’m thinking that this gypsy-skull thing would also make a dynamite Halloween costume.

Shadow Jack recently read an article entitled something like, “Ten Foods That Will Totally Kill You Dead if You Don’t Use the Organic Version,” and was seized with a sudden urge to swing by Trader Joe’s and stock up on organic potatoes. I was nosing around their dried-fruit aisle and was sufficiently intrigued by their candied hibiscus flowers to pick up a package.

I’m abundantly familiar with dried hibiscus flowers, which make a lovely tart cooler and a brilliant red tea (and can also be used to infuse tequila, yum), but I’d never run into the candied version. They’re…interesting. The texture is rather like thick fruit leather, chewy and a little bit tough. The flavor is mildly sweet-tart and reminds me of dried cranberries.

However, they look really weird and alien pod-like and I can totally see Cthulhu garnishing his martini with one. I doubt you’ll want to eat them out of hand, but they’d be a fantastic decoration for cakes or beverages.

I did some looking online and Trader Joe’s appears to be the only source for the candied flowers, so readers without a local TJs may have to improvise. Flowers packed in syrup seem to be more widely available Amazon has a couple of different sources), which are probably fine to drop in a drink but might be a little limp to use as a garnish. It may be possible to drain them (save the syrup to drizzle over cakes or mix with seltzer), roll them gently in sugar, then dry them on racks to firm them up. If you’ve got a local source for fresh hibiscus, you might also try candying them yourself.

Most recipes for candied flowers involve sugaring the individual petals, but the whole hibiscus is so big and meaty that I think you’d candy them more like fruit. The eHow site has instructions for making glaced fruit, and this recipe for candied pineapple might also work (now that I think of it, you might be able to candy whole rosebuds this way too).

As is usual when preserving flowers–or anything else you’ve picked, for that matter–make sure that you’ve correctly identified the plant and aren’t about to chow down on something toxic. Also ensure that the flowers haven’t been sprayed with chemicals such as pesticides, and don’t collect them from sources near roads (automobile exhaust contains a lot of stuff you probably don’t want to eat).

Once preserved and dried, they should keep quite a while if sealed airtight and then frozen.

They really do make a striking presentation, so I hope you’ll seek out a source or try to candy them yourself. The next time you invite the Elder Gods over for dinner, they’ll be really impressed.

(Image from Cooking with Trader Joe’s)

The estimable Wondermark site has a series of posts up on the process used to make their hand-printed 2010 calendar, including some tips on screen printing: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

What I really want to highlight, though, is this statement from David Malki:

Whether you buy a calendar or not, whether this has inspired you to make anything creative of your own or not, whether you’re even the least bit interested in this process or not, I hope you take one key thing away from this entire, long-winded story. I’ll put it on its own line and bold it so you’re sure not to miss it:

You can make something from nothing.

Let me repeat that. You can make something from nothing. The Wondermark Calendar is not a model kit that we assembled from directions. It’s not a box of LEGO® brand interlocking building blocks that we dumped onto the floor and then very precisely made into a spaceship. The LEGO® brand interlocking building blocks that we used were paper and ink. Any meaning that they have been given is meaning that we have fabricated.

I think that’s an excellent sentiment which all crafters should take to heart. Don’t be afraid to branch out from premade kits and make something that’s entirely your own. It might take some work, but it will be wonderful.

MRX Designs is doing a series of prop books made out of thrift-store encyclopedias that are completely awesome.

The books are covered in fabric or vinyl and the custom fixtures are cast resin. The artist adds gilt edges, end papers, closures, and other whatnots to make the “tome” seem more realistic. His posts are a wonderful source of inspiration and include lots of pictures and design notes on the build process.

Reclaimed books so far are:

Baphomet Tome
Rites of Azathoth
The 9th Gate
The Black Book of Evil
Unholy Cross of Cthigla

Be sure to check out the rest of the site as well, since there’s all kinds of marvelous stuff to be found.

In case you’d rather buy than build, he also has an Etsy shop and does eBay auctions. Given their quality, his props are surprisingly inexpensive.

(via Propnomicon)

Update: I’m pleased to announce that we’re also going to carry a few of his books in the store as wedding guest books. I can’t wait!