The Art of Darkness

Skull Flowers

May 31st, 2010 by Cobwebs

Skull FlowersHere’s a cute idea from the Cut Out and Keep forum: Flowers with skull centers.

The instructions are a bit on the minimal side (for instance, the crafter mentions glazing the petals but doesn’t specify with what), but they’re a great jumping-off point for something similar. The little clay skulls look like they’d be pretty easy to model, but if you’re completely hopeless with sculpting you could use novelty buttons or some other lightweight plastic skull. You’d probably want to choose a skull shape that’s reasonably flat and roundish rather than oval, to better mimic the central disk of the flower.

Paint, seal, glue a circle of petals to the back, and you’ve got a flower with a cute little skull peering out at you. These would be great on a barrette or worn as a brooch. If you’re so inclined, you could also make little teensy ones and affix them to the heads of thumbtacks to make some extremely arresting pushpins.

Posted in Doom It Yourself | 1 Comment »

A Little Song, a Little Dance, a Little Link Dump Down Your Pants

May 28th, 2010 by Cobwebs

Cthulhu as Drawn by H.P. Lovecraft – He’s sort of adorable.

Better Bitters – Recipe for making homemade bitters. Good for a lot of vintage cocktail recipes.

Must Have T-shirts – Kitten Herder, who sends me links to quirky T-shirts all the time, has started a blog to share them with everybody.

The Hair Archives – Handy resource for vintage hairstyles.

Wem Ghost Mystery Resolved – One of the more famous ghost photographs appears to have been a hoax after all. (Update: Here’s a better photo.)

ChumBuddy – Best. Sleeping bag. Ever.

Unicorn Meat – An excellent way to get your RDA of sparkles.

Confessions of a Crafter – A blog devoted to rude, crude, and tattooed cross-stitch. (Hat tip to Empress Pam)

Posted in Link Dump | 3 Comments »

Voodoo Doll Pen

May 27th, 2010 by Cobwebs

Voodoo Doll PenHere’s a silly little project from CraftBits: A pen with a voodoo doll topper.

It’s really nothing more than a pen with a twig crosspiece wrapped in twine. The tutorial calls for minimal decorations such as bits of cloth and beads, but there’s no reason you couldn’t get much more elaborate with your embellishments (keeping in mind that you don’t want the top of the pen to be so heavy that it’s impossible to write with). This Squiddoo lens has a nice overview of making and decorating a similar twig-and-twine doll, and this site goes into a little more detail about the symbolism of various pin colors.

These would be fun party favors or other giveaways, since they’re fast and cheap to assemble and are certainly unique.

Posted in Doom It Yourself | 1 Comment »

Red Poppy Dress

May 26th, 2010 by Cobwebs

The Bloggess in RedThe Bloggess, who routinely makes me laugh until I snort in a highly unladylike manner, recently talked about a red dress that she coveted.

I want, just once, to wear a bright red, strapless ball gown with no apologies. I want to be shocking, and vivid and wear a dress as intensely amazing as the person I so want to be. And the more I thought about it the more I realized how often we deny ourselves that red dress and all the other capricious, ridiculous, overindulgent and silly things that we desperately want but never let ourselves have because they are simply “not sensible”. Things like flying lessons, and ballet shoes, and breaking into spontaneous song, and building a train set, and crawling onto the roof just to see the stars better. Things like cartwheels and learning how to box and painting encouraging words on your body to remind yourself that you’re worth it.

And I am worth it.

And last week…?

…I got my red dress.

The whole post is worth a read, not only for the sentiment but also for more shots of the dress (modeled in a graveyard, which is a nice touch). It’s a custom-made job by Etsy seller rubypearl, and although it’s expensive (as custom ballgowns sort of tend to be), it’s certainly striking. It’d be a fantastic gown for an alternative wedding, or just a very special party.

The seller also has a blog, I Will Stab You in the Face, which includes a few photos of her past work. She seems to specialize in hand-embroidered detailing, and she turns out some lovely stuff.

Posted in Needful Things | 4 Comments »

“Illusion” Lampshades

May 25th, 2010 by Cobwebs

Fish Lamp

Matt Mets used paper cutouts on both the inside and outside of a lampshade to create a cute “monster after dark” effect.

This kind of fun with silhouettes is ripe for all kinds of customization: A crescent moon with bats that appear at night, a castle haunted by a nocturnal ghost, and lots of other now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t options. A reverse effect might also be possible, where an innocuous-looking doorway could have spooky eyes glowing from within. (The only caveat might be that the cutouts for the eyes may still be visible when the light is off.)

You could do something a little more permanent using stickers or even paint, but I kind of like the idea of temporary paper cutouts that can be changed as the whim suits you.

Posted in Whatever | No Comments »

Ghostbusters (1954)

May 24th, 2010 by Cobwebs

YouTube user whoiseyevan specializes in “premakes:” Trailers for modern movies the way they might have been made 50 years ago.

There are lots more on his YouTube Channel. I like that the comments for each trailer include the “recipe” of clips used in its production.

(via Wil Wheaton)

Posted in Funny Peculiar | 1 Comment »

The Link Dump of Dr. Moreau

May 21st, 2010 by Cobwebs

Lillian Crowe – Etsy seller who sells cast-metal jewelry shaped like ribcages and human hearts.

Vampire Chair – This is adorable, and probably wouldn’t be too hard to DIY with some wooden cutouts.

Win Free Fangs – Nightmare Factory has a contest to win a pair of their fangs.

Zombie Attack Survivor Hotline – I’m kind of curious whether they get phone calls, too. (Hat tip to pdq)

They’re Made Out of Meat! – Fun “butcher’s cuts” T-shirt.

Scary Shadow Shower Curtain – Shower curtains with trompe l’oeil images are old hat, but this one is nicely unsettling.

Foot Tattoos – A roundup from Oddee. I love the one with the amputated toe.

Octopus Chandeliers – Gorgeous tentacly things by Adam Wallacavage. The “Medusa” (#5 in the photoset) is extremely cool. Pity there aren’t any spider-themed ones.

Posted in Link Dump | 2 Comments »

Carnival Mask Tutorial

May 20th, 2010 by Cobwebs

MaskNancy Minsky, the author of Denim Revolution, did a tutorial for making a Venetian carnival mask out of a scrap of denim.

I’m not entirely sold on using denim as the base material (nor of using the suggested faux-fur mask lining; I think the fur would get in your eyes), but the general method is a great jumping-off point for creating a mask of your own design. The pattern is easy, and the tutorial gives some good tips for planning the arrangement of decorations. I also like the ribbon-encased back band, which looks much nicer than naked elastic.

Two or three of these done in different styles would be a pretty wall decoration. If you aren’t planning to wear them, you could also use stiff cardboard instead of fabric and simply glue the embellishments in place.

Posted in Doom It Yourself | 1 Comment »

Well, Who Are You Gonna Call?

May 19th, 2010 by Cobwebs

Improv Everywhere was recently invited to cause a scene at the New York Public Library, and since the NYPL figures heavily in the opening of Ghostbusters, they decided to do an homage.

More photos and “mission” description on the IE site.

Posted in Funny Peculiar | No Comments »

Book Ring Holder

May 18th, 2010 by Cobwebs

Ring HolderBrittni of paper n stitch used a vintage book to hold the rings at her wedding, and has posted a tutorial for creating a similar book. I like her suggestion of choosing a book that’s meaningful to the couple (I think goth couples would get extra points for using a copy of Dracula), although I quail at the idea of using a true vintage book.*

Fortunately, thrift stores usually have loads of cheap hardback books that aren’t quite as painful to deface. Depending upon the amount of effort you want to invest (one advantage of this project is that it’s quick), you could paint the exterior of the book to match your wedding colors or even cover it with matching fabric.

You could also decorate the page that’s revealed when the book is open to the little “ring box:” Decoupage pictures of the couple or other relevant photos, glue a printout of a medieval manuscript page over the text, or simply paint the page a solid color. There are lots of ways to personalize this kind of project, and the book could even be displayed as a memento after the ceremony is over.

It’s an interesting change from the traditional pillow, and it’s nice that the basic project is so simple whilst still leaving lots of room for embellishment.

(via CRAFT)


*I have a fairly reverential attitude toward books, and the idea of defacing one makes me quiver a little. Shadaughter can tell you about the high school English teacher she had who thought marginalia was just wonderful and encouraged the students to write in their books…and who granted her special dispensation to use sticky notes instead because I was threatening to drop by the school and chat about the subject. Don’t f$#&k with my books, is what I’m saying.

Posted in Terror in the Aisle | 3 Comments »

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