Here’s another item that’s capitalizing on the current pirate craze, but also feeds right into the goth lifestyle. These cute ice cube trays (which are even black; a nice touch) will let you add a little veracity to “name your poison.”

Link (via We Covet)

(Check out the Skeleton Keys and Poison Flask on the same site. Cute!)

I initially ran across Dave Lowe’s blog via Pumpkinrot, who linked to this gorgeous creepy book tutorial.

Then I started looking around, and have fallen in love. Check out his preserved hand of Captain Hook and his cute little Altoid tin coffin.

My only complaint is that he doesn’t seem to use tags, so you have to read all of his posts to find the Halloween stuff. This is hardly a hardship, since his other posts include cartoons, design anecdotes, and all kinds of other entertainment. There are all kinds of ideas for small projects lurking in the archives.

Great. I didn’t have enough projects waiting for my attention. Now I find a blog that makes me want to start a dozen more.

Jessica Mills, touring punk musician and columnist for MAXIMUMROCKNROLL, has written a book based on her experiences as a punk parent.

Amid stories of bringing kids (and grandparents) to women’s rights demonstrations, taking baby on tour with her band, and organizing cooperative childcare, Jessica gives detailed nuts-and-bolts information about weaning, cloth vs. disposable diapers, the psychological effects of co-sleeping, and even how to get free infant gear. This book provides a clever, hip, and entertaining mix of advice, anecdotes, political analysis, and factual sidebars that will help parents as they navigate the first years of their child’s life.

Some of her advice wouldn’t work for everyone–her goals included raising her child without “gender-coding,” punishment, or authoritarianism, and at least two of those goals made me roll my eyes–but her experiences as an alternative-lifestyle parent might be comforting to punk or goth parents who meet with disapproval of our lifestyle choices.

(The trick is to embrace the opprobrium. I used to love dressing Shadowboy in a onesie that said “Spawn of Freaks” and taking him to the grocery store. Little old ladies would come up to coo at him, read his shirt, give me a horrified look, and take off like a shot. Good times.)

Link (via BoingBoing)

I heart Savage Chickens.

(See also here, here, here, and oh the hell with it, just go visit the site and browse their archives.)

I gathered up a bunch of public domain eTexts a couple of years ago for the Other*Worlds*Cafe, and ran across this in my wanderings. I found it again yesterday when I was digging through some archives, and wanted to share.

This was excised from Dracula by Bram Stoker’s publisher due to the length of the original manuscript. It was published as a short story in 1914, two years after Stoker’s death. Enjoy!

DRACULA’S GUEST
1914
by
Bram Stoker

When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly on Munich, and the air was full of the joyousness of early summer. Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbruck (the maitre d’hotel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying) came down bareheaded to the carriage and, after wishing me a pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his hand on the handle of the carriage door, “Remember you are back by nightfall. The sky looks bright but there is a shiver in the north wind that says there may be a sudden storm. But I am sure you will not be late.” Here he smiled and added, “for you know what night it is.”

Johann answered with an emphatic, “Ja, mein Herr,” and, touching his hat, drove off quickly. When we had cleared the town, I said, after signalling to him to stop:

“Tell me, Johann, what is tonight?”

Read the rest of this entry »

Anton Szandor LaVey. High Priest of the Church of Satan. Playin’ calliope music.

There’s…nothing else to say.

(via Cynical-C)

Here’s a quick project to get you in the Halloween mood:* Erin of Schlosser Design has a tutorial and downloadable pattern for making these cute fabric pumpkins.

It’d be fun to do a whole pile of these in different sizes and fabrics and use them as throw pillows or decorative accents. You could also fill them with plastic pellets instead of batting for a floppy beanbag pumpkin.

There’s lots of room for decorative excesses, too: Sew on buttons or charms, embroider pretty designs, use fabric paint or markers to give them jack-o’-lantern faces. Little personalized ones would make a cute hostess gift or wedding favor too.

Sigh. Is it Halloween yet? How about now?

Now?

Damn.

Link (via CRAFT)

*I’ve been in the Halloween mood since last January, but that may just be me.

I’ve mentioned haunted dollhouses previously, but Etsy seller Lil’ Witchy has taken it to a whole ‘nother level. She specializes in 1:12 Miniatures for “Witch’s Haunted DollHouses or Wizard’s scenes.”

I love her little absinthe set and spell cupboard.

The items aren’t cheap, but you can be certain of getting a one-of-a-kind item. For the enthusiastic spooky miniaturist, this would definitely be worth it.

Heck, I want some full-size versions of this stuff for my own house.

Link

Shadaughter headed for college last week (sob!), so I made a fuzzy laptop sleeve to keep her company. This is a fun project that looks harder than it actually is; I’ve put together a tutorial so you can have a monster of your own to cuddle.

Shadaughter’s tastes run more toward pink fluffy bunnies than black fluffy bats (she’s the white sheep of the family), so this particular design has a certain muppety quality. A few minor changes in color choice and decoration would make this much spookier.

One of Craftster’s recent contests involved a Yin/Yang pillowcase theme: Day/Night, Good/Evil, Summer/Winter, etc. (I particularly love the “Dark Side” entry.)

I’m always looking for ways to insinuate dark things into more mainstream decorating schemes, and this type of project allows you to proudly display your bats by balancing them with songbirds. Extra points because the project is fairly small and doesn’t have to be complicated; it’s easy to be intimidated by something that requires a large investment of time or resources, but embroidery can be put down and picked up again whenever you have a few minutes to spare.

In addition to shams for bed pillows, this would be a fun motif for throw pillows or wall hangings. Do knights and dragons, vampires and victims, daydreams and nightmares…you get the idea.