Etsy seller piddies specializes in hand-made slippers shaped like various animals, and for Halloween she introduced Vampire Bats and Spiders. Even the soles are decorated–a crescent moon for the bats and spiderwebs for the spiders.

These are just adorable. If I could induce Shadowboy to keep something on his feet for more than thirty seconds, he would totally be wearing vampire bats.

(The seller also offers adult sizes, just in case you’re tired of wearing bunny slippers.)

(via Out of Character)

The Ariadne Knits shop is selling a pattern for Vincent, a little knit vampire with removable shirt, pants and cape (he has underpants for modesty).* He also appears to be wearing sneakers, which one might not expect.

Since his clothes are removable, this would be a great dress-up doll: Make him two or three outfits in different colors and change them as the mood strikes. A sequined cape would be particularly entertaining.

Link

*Do vampires wear boxers or briefs? Now we know!

I’ve previously mentioned my predilection for steampunk, both in design and fashion.

Divine Caroline recently featured a roundup of steampunk clothing (thanks, Shadaughter!), which prompted me to dig around for related links.

There are at least two LiveJournal communities devoted to steampunk clothing, Steamfashion and Steamy Stitches. There’s also a Flickr group.

Aether Emporium offers a very large list of steampunk fashion resources.

AskMen has an article about modern men’s clothing that work for this style. They also offer a few tips for wearing these pieces as part of one’s everyday wardrobe without looking…eccentric.

Threadbanger did a Week of Steampunk feature, providing directions for making several accessories.

The Steampunk Workshop site offers all kinds of resources, including a number of project tutorials.

Brass Goggles is a blog devoted to the subject, and Steampunk Magazine is a rather nice Webzine.

For those in California, there’s even a Steampunk Convention.

Hm. I think I feel a series of costumes coming on.

Fred Einaudi specializes in “apocalyptic art,” presenting horrific images of death and destruction in iconic styles such as WWII propaganda posters and elegant Victorian portraits. The result is haunting, depicting little girls playing “nurse” with their deformed pet cats and corpses floating serenely in clear blue lakes.

These paintings are disproportionately creepy, and I think it’s the calmness of their subjects. A girl in a pinafore and gas mask lolling lazily in an arm chair is somehow much more unsettling than if she seemed distressed to be wearing the gas mask. I’m enormously taken with the style and execution of these portraits; the discomfiture they cause is somehow attractive rather than offputting.

The artist is talking about offering limited-edition prints, so if you’re interested you can request more information at his site.

Link (via io9)

“Frightenin’ away demons is the reason for the season!”

I love The Onion.

(hat tip to Mike)

I came across a post about adding “ghosts” to images at Creepy Cupcakes, and it looked like such fun I decided to try it myself.

I threw this one together just as a test, using a photo of Shadowboy superimposed on a picture of a cemetery I took in England (click the photo for a larger version). I blurred his body more than his face–I think his solemn little eyes are creepy–and used an angled gradient to make parts of him less visible than others. Then the whole layer was made slightly transparent. The whole photo was converted to grayscale, then the flowers from the original color image were layered on top.

This took me about 20 minutes of just fooling around. With a bit more time and effort you could create some really spooky, ethereal images. If you aren’t sure how to get started with Photoshop or a similar tool, let me point you to webdesign.org, which has tons of wonderful tutorials for doing all sorts of cool effects.

It’s fun! Go turn something into a ghost today!

Here’s a lovely, simple idea for turning inexpensive statuary into something spooky. The Gerbera Designs blog offers instructions for converting ceramic cherubs into little demons.

Their method involves adding horns and other excrescences with Sculpey and then baking the whole thing. You could probably also mold the horns on the statue, carefully remove them, bake them separately, then glue them back in place.

I like the drippy, stained painting effect on these, but there are loads of other ways you could spook them up a bit. Most craft stores sell faux finish kits that mimic verdigris and rust, if you’d prefer a metallic look. A spattering of dull green paint can replicate moss or mold.

If the statues you get are weatherproof, you can grow real moss on them: Stick a handful of moss and a cup of plain yogurt in a blender, whirl into a slurry, then paint the results thickly on the statue and put in a damp place outside. (Also a great way to quickly make terra-cotta flowerpots look old and weathered.) Obviously, you’d want to keep these outside instead of welcoming them back into your boudoir.

This would be a good way to make over all kinds of cutesy statuary. A massed group of these would look great on a mantel or bookshelf.

Link (via CRAFT)

I don’t generally do memes, but this one speaks to the foodie in me. It’s popped up on several blogs, but it’s originally from Very Good Taste.

Here’s what to do:

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: Post a comment here or at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Shadow Manor’s Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison (I love venison. It’s particularly amusing to serve it at Christmas.)
2. Nettle tea (I grow a lot of herbs for both culinary and medicinal purposes.)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (I love this. I’ve even made my own. It’s…messy.)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (I’ve made my own apricot wine)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (I grow my own. I’m very big into saving heirloom varieties of plants)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (Someday Shadow Jack will relent and let me raise poultry.)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (Meh. Too much aspic for my taste.)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (Not a whole one. I’m not that stupid.)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (I did a speech in college on insects in human nutrition, complete with visual aids. Dry-roasted mealworms taste uncannily like Doritos. If that doesn’t worry you, it should.)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

As you can see, there’s virtually nothing on the list that I wouldn’t be willing to try–the only thing I’d be even vaguely reluctant about would be fugu; I’d want some guarantees that I wasn’t about to go meet that Big Maitre’d in the Sky–but I’d try it if it were offered. I think 80 items out of 100 is a fairly decent percentage.

How about you?

Dia de los Muertos is today (or tomorrow, depending upon who’s doing the counting). If you don’t want the Halloween atmosphere to end just yet, throw an impromptu Day of the Dead dinner!

The Day of the Dead is a festive holiday, so you want a festive atmosphere. Pile gourds and chiles on the table, and sprinkle marigolds (which are reputed to attract the souls of the dead) around. Use tall votive candles to add some height to the display. String colorful paper garlands around the room; if you live near a Mexican market, look for papel picadillo (paper cutouts) for a little authenticity.

Set out bowls of different kinds of salsa and tortilla chips, preferably homemade. (Cut corn tortillas into wedges, fry in hot oil for a few seconds, sprinkle with salt. Easy!)

As a party favor, give your guests a Mexican Hot Chocolate kit: A disk of Mexican chocolate (which includes cinnamon and almonds), a cone of Mexican brown sugar, and a generous mug. Attach a recipe instructing your guests to break off a small chunk of the sugar (a tablespoon or so, or to taste), add it to 2 cups of milk, and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the chocolate and stir until it begins to melt, then remove from the heat and whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is frothy. Pour into mugs and serve immediately. (Spike with a little Kahlua if the spirit moves you.)

For dinner, serve traditional Mexican dishes. These soups make nice starters. Serve them individually, or do a two-tone thing: Simultaneously ladle generous 1/2 cup of each soup into shallow bowls, allowing them to meet in the center. Top with cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, and/or sour cream. Each soup serves 4 individually, so they’ll serve 8 if ladled together.

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There are many reasons I wouldn’t really want to live in Victorian times–child labor and tuberculosis spring to mind–but it was certainly a golden age for Halloween celebrations. In addition to the zillion games aimed at foretelling the future, there were things like the Dumb Supper: Some time before midnight on Halloween, set a table for you, your guests, and a spirit. You must not speak during the entire process. Cook a meal and set it on plates. Serve each plate walking backwards, then sit down and eat, all without talking. A spirit should appear at midnight and take a place at the table. (If you try this and it works, drop me a line.)

There aren’t many celebrations like that any more, but personal traditions still abound. A friend of mine lights a candle each Halloween for any friends and relatives who have died since last Halloween. It’s an old Celtic belief that those who leave after sunrise on November 1 remain on Earth until sundown on October 31; she sort of sends them on. I think that’s a lovely sentiment, and nicely in keeping with the mood of the day.

It’s not exactly a tradition, per se, but every year I keep watch for the big Virginia barn spiders to show up on our front porch. They appear out of nowhere every autumn, perfectly outfitted for the season in orange and black, and it doesn’t really feel like fall around here until two or three have set up shop outside the front door.

Today is also my wedding anniversary–which is a whole set of traditions all by itself–but Shadow Jack and I always nod to the holiday by exchanging Halloween-themed cards.

What special things do you do on Halloween? Share your traditions in the comments!

Note: I’m participating in the unfortunately-acronymed NaBloPoMo again this year, so there will be a post every day of November, including weekends. Can you hardly wait? I thought so.