Inseparable – Interesting “circle of death” artwork by Jennybird Alcantara. There are lots of other surreal works at her site as well.

The Dictionary of Victorian London – This is a phenomenal resource for anyone interested in Victorian London. See also The Cat’s Meat Shop, a sort of blog/appendix.

Mad Tea Party – Wonderful invitations and design ideas for an Alice-themed party.

HILDOOM – Etsy seller specializing in polymer clay cake toppers. The Jack and Sally is gorgeous. (It might be possible to DIY something similar to the ghosts.)

H.R. Giger Webstore – Giger’s official store, featuring jewelry and other cast items based on his artwork.

Octophrost – Pattern for a cute little stuffed octopus which could easily be made green and significantly more Cthulhu-esque. This pattern also inspired one of the most awesome Christmas trees evar. (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)

Island of the Dolls – This is a tourist destination in Mexico. :::shudder:::

Edgar Allen Poe Library – A home fragrance collection that purports to smell like Edgar Allen Poe’s library.

Skeleton Wreath – Tutorial for making a decorative wreath from prop bones.

9baby.ca – Small collection of punk-ish shirts and onesies for children. I particularly like the skeleton onesies in the boys section, which I can’t link to directly because Flash is evil.

Custom Spell – Oh, look. You can arrange to have a custom spell cast by a witch selling her services on eBay. I would totes expect that to work. Two comments: 1) What happened to that whole “whatever you cast comes back to you threefold” schtick? 2) I love the disclaimer at the very bottom of the listing, absolving them of all liability for paranormal activity. (Hat tip to Seigmar S.)

Leigh Elise paints the things that go bump in the night, and they are kind of awesome.

Ever since I was little, I’ve adored ghost stories. My favorites have always been of the “true” variety — those based on historical accounts of tragedies, where either the violence or emotion was so great, it left a physical — sometimes even a recordable — memory behind. As I grew up, I began to notice certain similarities among the real ghosts I loved — Alice in the South Carolina marshes; Emily in a Vermont covered bridge; the Green Lady of Fyvie Castle; Anne Boleyn at the Tower of London. Each woman is beautiful, each woman is tragic — and, of course, each woman is terrifying.

She uses vintage photographs, found objects, and a variety of other media to capture the spooky essence of the stories to great effect. I like the surreal nature of the art, which certainly highlights the eeriness of the subject matter.

In addition to the ghost stories covered in her Apparitions series the site also features several other collections, including The Lovely Eccentrics, which feature oddball characters in a variety of peculiar situations (and where I just found my patron saint), and Antique LOLs, which are wonderfully silly.

There are apparently plans to eventually open an Etsy shop as well, which may mean that prints and other items will be available. I’m a fan of massing several pieces of related art, and a framed series of haunted prints would be lovely as the focal point of a room.

I’m always thrilled when one of my posts inspires someone to try something similar. Naamah used my mummified fairy tutorial as a jumping-off point to create an absolute work of art.

Her build notes are here, and I just love some of the detail work she did (like modeling little innards). In particular, I like the way that she did the disintegrating wings so much that I’m tempted to make another one just so I can try that method.

She also wrote a backstory which not only describes how she came into possession of this “artifact,” but also details the origins of this type of fairy. I thought that was a nice touch.

If you’ve been thinking about building a wunderkammer piece of your own, this should provide some fantastic inspiration. Go take a look!

The Last Lovecraft is a direct-to-DVD movie coming out this week which sort of sounds like Shaun of the Dead with fishmen.

Jeff is a down-on-his-luck office worker who discovers that he is the last living relative of H.P. Lovecraft. It turns out that Lovecraft’s monsters are real, and he must keep an ancient relic from falling into the hands of cultists who plan to use it to give Cthulhu a call.

Here’s the official trailer. It looks like it could be fun.

(via Topless Robot)

The Friendly Atheist blog recently showcased the secular wedding of a couple of science geeks.

The script for the ceremony began with a poem which would also be perfect as a sweetly gothic touch on a wedding invitation or save-the-date card:

The Spider’s Web (A Natural History)

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.

And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.

Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider’s web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.

— E.B. White

You’ve got to love poetry that manages to combine romance and spiders. I may wind up writing this in my anniversary card to Shadow Jack this year.

A Tribute to Iron Maiden’s Eddie – A somewhat obsessive roundup.

Plush Manananggal – That Filipino monster that separates in half and flies around dragging entrails? Somebody made a toy one.

Steampunkr – “Daily steampunk inspiration.” (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)

Sock Skeleton – Like a sock monkey, only skeletal. Tutorial at Instructables.

Nightmare Before Christmas Bento Box – Jack might be a cute hors d’oeuvre, too. (Another box is here.)

Coffee Mug Cozy – I’ve never quite grokked the need for a mug cozy, but I like the “Accio Brain” message on this one. Caffeinnnnne….

How to Make Inexpensive Photo Invitations – I’m annoyed at myself for never having thought of this.

Vertebrae Cups – Mugs shaped like oversized vertebrae. The same company also sells Thighbone Pen Holders. (Hat tip to Seigmar S.)

Etsy Dark Team – A group of Etsy sellers whose goal is, “to help promote the darker side of Etsy by shining a bit of light on some amazing dark shops.” Some neat alternate stuff.

Crochet Skull Skirt – This is cute, and should be reasonably easy to DIY. If you don’t have the patience or skills for a crocheted version, fabric cutouts appliqued to a sheer fabric under-layer should produce a similar effect.

Anti-Valentine Voodoo Doll – Cute little felt pincushion dolly, just in time to stick it to Cupid.

Shadowboy just turned 7 (sob!) and since treat bags have somehow become obligatory at children’s birthday parties, I decided that instead of buying prefilled bags of random tchotchkes I’d rather do something a little more inventive.* With the help of Oriental Trading (whose order form should simply consist of the instructions, “1) How much is in your bank account? 2) Send it in”) and some random stuff I had in my sewing room, attendees will be receiving Monster Hunter Kits.

These consist of a fanny pack** filled with the items below, along with a note printed on official-looking letterhead:

Greetings, Monster Hunter!

We at the World Center for Monster Research welcome you to our ranks and present you with this kit which contains everything you need to observe monsters in their natural habitat.

Your travel pack contains:

• Binoculars – Useful for viewing monsters from a safe distance.
• Field Notebook and Pen – Record your observations about each monster’s appearance and behavior.
• Human Scent Coverup – Blow bubbles of this special potion around the area to mask your scent and keep monsters from smelling you.
• Transformation Treat – One bite of this lollipop will turn you into a monster for one hour. Very useful for up-close observation.
• Tracking Tattoos – Wearing one of these tattoos will help you find a monster’s hidden lair.
• Monster Decoy (Land) – This decoy will encourage land-going monsters to come out in the open for easy observation.
• Monster Decoy (Water) – Use this decoy to attract sea monsters to the area.
• Capture Training Device – Practice catching this monster when it jumps to help you learn to capture fast-moving monsters.
• Monster Study Aid – Use this kit to build a monster of your own and learn to recognize the wiggly eyes, stripy tentacles, and unidentifiable fuzzy bits of common everyday monsters.
• Scientific Research Tags – After capturing a monster, tag it with the date and location to help other researchers track its movements.
• Official Monster Hunter Certificate – Identifies you as a member of our prestigious organization. Display it proudly.

We hope that you enjoy your kit and use it to increase humanity’s knowledge of the behavior and appearance of monsters.

Please Note: The World Center for Monster Research is dedicated to environmentally-sustainable monster investigation. After tagging your monster for future observation, please be sure to release it back into its natural habitat. Remember that preserving the world’s population of monsters depends on you. What would Oregon be without its native Bigfoot population, or Loch Ness without its sea serpents? With your help, children will be able to enjoy these and other monsters for generations to come.

Sincerely,

J. Percy Vermithrax
Director
World Center for Monster Research

And thus do I amuse myself.

I’m hoping that the kids enjoy receiving something a bit more engaging than a bag of unrelated toys (although the downside is that if they enjoy it too much I’ll have to find a way to top myself next year). I’m definitely looking forward to their reaction.

*This will either impress the other parents with my amazing creativity or cause them to give me a wide berth because I’m clearly nuts. Either result is acceptable.

**A note to UK readers: I realize that “fanny” means something entirely different over there, and I apologize for any cognitive dissonance you may be experiencing.

Bazaar Bizarre is an annual craft fair that emphasizes indie, punk, and goth aesthetics. Its organizer, Greg Der Ananian, wrote a book by the same name, and I recently picked up a copy under the assumption that it would be simply chock-full of subversive craft projects.

My final opinion: Meh.

I really wanted to love this book, but it’s short on crafts and long on…stuff that is not crafts. The format involves chapters which consist of profiles of various Bazaar Bizarre vendors, some musings by Der Ananian about each vendor’s representative craft project, and then–almost as an afterthought–instructions for the actual project. These are interspersed with “interludes” that have nothing to do with crafting projects and instead might involve anything from a “craft item word search” to an article about where the word “distaff” comes from. Interesting, but not exactly what I’m looking for in a craft book.

I’m afraid that the projects themselves aren’t terribly subversive either. A couple, such as soap shaped like the Anarchy “A,” are cute, but others are for things like making sock monkeys, and you can find that on the Internet for free. Additionally, although the project instructions are reasonably detailed, there are relatively few photos and illustrations. It’s certainly possible to follow the written instructions, but it would be a lot easier with pictures.

I also found Der Ananian’s remarks throughout the book somewhat jarring, as he appears to have made it his life’s work to let everyone know that he is a flaming homosexual. Hardly a page goes by where he doesn’t specifically call attention to it, until eventually you’re going, “Dude, we get it. You’re a big ol’ queen. Let’s concentrate on the crafts.” It’s disruptingly irrelevant, rather akin to Julia Child pausing between each step of a recipe to remind you how much she loves cock.

Where the book does do a fairly good job is discussing the equipment and skillset one might require for a particular craft, plus some notes about the terminology that might be encountered. There is some good advice for building a “crafting tackle box,” and many of the artists’ profiles include suggestions for suppliers and other resources.

Overall, I would say that this book might be useful for beginners because it’s reasonably good at covering some crafting basics, and more experienced crafters might find a project or two of interest, but it’s nothing particularly earth-shattering. A pity; it had a lot of potential.

Comedian Jack Vale specializes in confusion and paranoia. Here he is driving around asking people if they’ve seen themselves.

(I’m sort of surprised that his YouTube profile lists his location as California. I’d figure he’d get shot if he tried this prank out there.)

(via Blame it On the Voices)

These are hilarious. Artist Josh Cooley has done a series of scenes from famous movies, all in the style of illustrations from Little Golden Books. Cute-as-a-button scenes from The Shining, Alien, Silence of the Lambs, A Clockwork Orange, and many others are available as 8.5″x11″ prints or in a 13″x19″ limited-edition signed version. There’s also a book available which showcases the whole collection.

These would be sort of awesome as decorations in a nursery. (What? Babies can’t read.)

(via BoingBoing)