This music video, done by Oh Yeah Wow, was painted on glass and animated frame by frame. A witch burning doesn’t turn out exactly as planned.

(via BoingBoing)

Halloween Skull Socks – The motifs in this knitting pattern could be re-purposed for a lot of different projects.

Curious Cryptid Curios – “Miss Mantis” gives twee porcelain figurines insectoid makeovers, resulting in oddly winsome, elegantly-dressed bugs.

Krampus Time is Here Again – This amigurumi Krampus, complete with screaming kidnapped children, is adorably menacing.

Supernatural Horror in Literature – Interesting discussion thread about Lovecraft’s essay (linked at the top). (Hat tip to Bruno)

The Terror of Yurei – A look at Japanese haunted-house attractions, and how they differ from their Western counterparts. The article is actually an excerpt from a book, Scream, which sounds interesting.

Monsters’ Holiday – I had no idea that Bobby “Boris” Pickett followed up “Monster Mash” with a Christmas-themed tune. After listening to it, I can see why I had no idea. (Hat tip to Pixel Pixie)

Surviving the World – An amusing perspective on “the war on Christmas.”

3D Printed Cat Armor – For the feline gladiatorial games you’ve always dreamt of.

Wonderland – This is kind of an interesting game idea. It’s an audio murder mystery set in 1914 Toronto. There’s a puzzle at the end of each chapter, and you have to solve it to unlock the next one. If you get stuck, you can go for a walk (assuming you’re playing it on a device which can recognize when you’re walking) and every 100 steps unlocks one letter.

Countessa Ephemera’s Evergreen Gown – Amazing Christmas decoration made of evergreen branches. There are additional posts documenting the “gown’s” construction on the sidebar, along with similar decorations from previous years.

Our seventh Secret Santa Can Suck It pretend-gift exchange was heaps of fun, and even though we had a small turnout, everybody’s imaginary gifts were great.

Here’s a list of all the participants. Follow each link below to see what they chose for their giftees!

• Cobwebs (Recipient: Shellhawk)
• ShellHawk (Recipient: Pixel Pixie)
• Pixel Pixie (Recipient: Cobwebs)

Cosplaying is for people who want to have Halloween whenever the fuck they want.
— shwr_thoughts

Just once, when people ask me how my day was, I would like to truthfully reply with “….sinister”
— darrinfb

Who called it a “tramp stamp” and not a “tragic back story”?
— GianDoh

In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner summoned an undead army and forced their restless souls to play for his amusement and no one said a thing.
— SamSykesSwears

“Avada kedavra!” shouted Voldemort, instantly killing Lily Potter and her infant son.
The End
–George R.R. Martin’s Harry Potter
— sadmonsters

It’s fun to chant “Bloody Mary” into your car’s side mirror three times and watch her jog and try to keep up.
— mkaiser323

Dogs are just wolves who decided to get humans to hunt for them. We don’t own dogs, we just work for smart wolves.
— chazhutton

When you saw only one reflection,
It was then that Dracula carried you.
— bombsfall

MY CURSED RUNES BRING ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD
AND THEY’RE LIKE / ENCHANTED WITH CHARMS
I COMMAND THEM / HORDES OLDER THAN STARS
— Gre_Gone

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
— Pablo Neruda, Sonnet XVII
(This isn’t funny; I just thought it was pretty and would be rather nice as the sentiment on a goth wedding invitation and couldn’t figure out where else to put it)

Patchwork quilts are a great way to use up leftover scraps of fabric that fall in that awkward area between “too small to use for a project by themselves” and “too big to throw out without feeling guilty.” If you happen to have some scraps of Halloween-print fabric stashed away, this spiderweb-themed lap quilt by Life in the Scrapatch is a brilliant way to use them up.

She made a small version in 2013, detailed here, and then followed up with a larger version the following year. Her instructions are easy to follow, and there are lots of helpful photos.

She uses a couple of tools that you may not have lying around if you aren’t a dedicated quilter, but it’s possible to improvise substitutes (such as using the edge of a plate instead of a curved ruler). I do wonder, though, how a construction method which differs from hers would work out. Her method involves sewing square patches into a pyramid shape, trimming the edges into a triangle that represents a whole “wedge” of the quilt, and then cutting the triangle into pieces width-wise to sew in the black borders. This allows the same fabric to appear on both sides of the border, which is pretty, but if you don’t care about that I’m thinking that it might be easier to work outward from the middle: Cut a small triangle, sew a black strip to its wide end, cut a trapezoid and sew its narrower end to that strip then sew another strip to its wide end, and so on until you’ve built up a full wedge. (This will also give you straighter black borders instead of her curved design but if, like me, you loathe and fear sewing curves it’ll also make your life easier. The spiderwebby vibe should still be clear enough.)

Be sure to check out the rest of the site as well; there are some other great ideas for using up scraps, like this trick-or-treat bag (which would also make a nice tote bag) and this September quilt which features pretty autumnal fabric.

The Gregory Brothers like to experiment with major/minor key changes, switching happy songs to sad ones and vice-versa. Here’s their mournful version of “Jingle Bells.”

One way that a lot of people die is by going out in the snow to ride sleighs, partying too hard, and then getting frostbite and hypothermia. BEWARE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! you’ll be safe if you drink a lot of hot cocoa, probably.

(via The Presurfer)

Could You Survive a Victorian Slum? – For a new living history series, the BBC is looking for families and individuals to live as poor people in 1870s London would have done. (via WitchArachne)

Boris the Christmas Tarantula – Heartwarming tale about a Christmas-loving giant tarantula who journeys to the North Pole in hopes of finding a place to belong.

Happy Birthday, There’s a Corpse in Your Cake! – A look at Victorian “Frozen Charlotte” dolls. (I have a minor quibble with the author’s suggestion that the tradition of baking miniature dolls into cakes originated with these; the custom is a lot older, so these particular dolls were probably used during this time period because they happened to be readily available and cheap.) (Hat tip to Jes)

Yuletide Snake Advisory – Some species are more active at this time of year. Beware!

Classical Depravity – Atlas Obscura’s “guide to the perverted past.” You gotta admire the dedication of some sculptor who spent hundreds of hours carefully carving a statue of a satyr fucking a goat. NSFW (duh).

Haunted Beauty Zombie Bride Barbie – I’m rather miffed that I was unaware of the “Haunted Beauty” line of Barbies. This is the fourth in the series, following Mistress of the Manor, Vampire, and Ghost.

DiCaprio to Play H.H. Holmes – Martin Scorsese is filming a biopic of “America’s First Serial Killer,” which will star Leonardo DiCaprio.

Cthulhian Font – A TrueType font of Lovecraftian characters. (Hat tip to Bruno)

Neil Gaiman Reads A Christmas Carol – Everything is better with the addition of Gaiman, including Charles Dickens.

Wine Coffin – Instructions for making a gift “coffin” for a bottle of wine. If you don’t want to mess around with a miter saw, you could use thick cardboard and duct tape, then cover the whole thing in pretty wrapping paper to hide the seams.

The matches for our Secret Santa Can Suck It exchange have been made and sent to their assignees. After everyone posts about their “gift,” I’ll list all of the entries to peruse. To kick things off, here’s mine.

My giftee is Shellhawk, who makes all sorts of lovely ceramics. She’s mentioned that she’s always on the lookout for new ways to expand her skills, so we’ll give her some different avenues to explore.

	First, she’ll need a fancy kiln. The Janus Dragon is a dual-media unit that will let her experiment with firing both ceramics and glass. If she’s new to working with glass, the Corning Museum of Glass offers classes to help get her up to speed (obviously, the gift will include travel expenses to New York so she can attend).
	Since there’s no such thing as having too many books, we’ll also expand her library with all kinds of texts on glazing techniques, the history of pottery, unusual methods of producing ceramics, and various pottery bibles.
	There might be certain tools or other equipment she’s been dying for, so we’ll give her a shopping spree at her favorite supplier and let her pick up anything she’s lacking.
	Finally, for additional inspiration, we’ll send her on a world tour of pottery-related destinations. A cruise on the Yangtze river with a stop in Jingdezhen (the ancestral home of porcelain production); a survey of Europe to spend time in Meissen (the German city where the first European porcelain was developed), Majorca (the Spanish island which gives its name to majolica ceramics), and Faenza (the Italian town famous for faience); plus additional stops in Greece, Egypt, Japan, and India to tour museums full of ancient pottery.

Happy holidays, Shellhawk! I hope you like my “gift!”

During a recent attempt to find the original source for some orphaned image or another, I fell into a thicket of spooky wreaths. There’s still time to make some of these before Christmas if you hurry; if not, you’ve got plenty of time before next Halloween. (Click the images to view larger.)

	Ants This is from Better Homes and Gardens (whose site I almost hate to link to because it’s such a mare’s nest of intrusive advertising and poor navigation). It’s super-easy, consisting of oversize plastic ants hot-glued to a foam wreath base. Tie the ribbon in place before you start attaching ants, so you don’t wind up with lumpy bits where they overlap.
	Spiders Another one from BHG, this is pretty much the same idea as the one above. Spray-paint the wreath base black (make sure you use paint that won’t eat styrofoam) before gluing on the spiders.
	Spider Topiary This would be a nice companion to the spider wreath. The balls are just spray-painted styrofoam, and the stems are probably either wooden dowels or PVC pipe. Anchor the stems with floral foam/oasis, then cover over with candy corn. (I’m not sure about the original source for this project; a couple of sites mention Craft Town, but I don’t see it there.)
	Eyeballs Country Living has instructions for making this wreath out of bouncy eyeballs. Get the glow-in-the-dark kind for extra nighttime creepiness.
	Ravens This super-easy design is by Maker, Baker, Glitter Shaker and uses those inexpensive crow ornaments that pop up around Halloween.
	Feathers and Spiderwebs I can’t find an original source for this, and it looks like it’s maybe a premade commercial job instead of a DIY project. However, feather wreaths aren’t hard to make, the central bit appears to be very similar to this Kurt Adler decoration, and the other glittery bits could be made with dollar-store Halloween props and spray glitter.
	Masks Yet another super-easy idea. There doesn’t seem to be a wreath base; the masks may all be attached to a wire circle, but they’re lightweight and stiff enough that they might just be all stuck together with dabs of hot glue.
	Yarn Spiders This would be a fun wreath for a knitter or crocheter. It was made by whimsyworkshop, and unfortunately has sold. The yarn balls are most likely yarn wrapped around styrofoam cores, and the spiders are probably made in a similar fashion (with the addition of pipe-cleaner legs and googly eyes). The central web could be made using a technique like this.
	Mirror I can’t find an original source, so I can only guess at what this is made of. A similar round mirror might be found at a thrift store (a chipped frame or cracked glass would only add to its appeal here). The twigs look like natural lichen-covered branches, but something suitable might be found in a craft store’s floral aisle. The mossy stuff is probably Spanish moss, also available at craft stores; look for black flowers there as well.

Here’s an easy, mildly creepy, stocking stuffer idea that’s a particularly big hit with kids: Soap with a big icky insect embedded inside.

The project uses melt-and-pour soap base, which is easy to work with and doesn’t require any specialized equipment. You can make lots of these in a single afternoon and they’re ready for giving the next day.

The soap base is available at many craft stores and can also be found online at soap supply retailers (I like Bramble Berry) or Amazon. You’ll want to choose a transparent base (instead of something like goat’s milk) to be sure that the bug is visible.*

For nice, uniform bars you might also wish to purchase a silicon soap mold (which should be available at the same suppliers which carry the base); you’ll probably want just a plain bar mold for this project, but they also come in all kinds of fancy styles. You can also use margarine tubs, plastic food-storage containers, or similar items; just make sure that your molds will “give” slightly when twisted, to make it easier to remove the solid bars.

Then all you need are some novelty plastic bugs. You can find these in toy stores, party-supply places, or online. Choose ones that are fairly flat–you don’t want to displace most of the soap–and which don’t have legs or other bits that extend to the edges of the mold.

The soap base will probably have instructions on the package, but the basic method is simply to cut it into chunks and then melt it; either stir the chunks in a saucepan on low heat, or heat them in bursts in the microwave, stirring occasionally. The Dummies site has detailed instructions.

Place the molds on a flat surface. If desired, spray them lightly with vegetable oil to help the bars slip out easily. Pour a thin layer of melted soap into the bottom of the molds and let it sit for a few seconds, then carefully position an insect belly-up in each mold. Slowly pour in soap until it reaches the top of the mold. If bubbles rise to the top, carefully scrape them off using the edge of a knife or spatula.

Let the soap sit undisturbed overnight, then pop the bars out of the molds. They’re ready to use immediately. If you plan to store them for a while, wrap them in plastic wrap and store in a cool dry place. To give as gifts, put them in cellophane bags and tie a plastic magnifying glass to each bag with a bit of ribbon.

You can vary the basic project by coloring the soap and using different inclusions: Embed a spider in a bar of radioactive green, or a set of plastic vampire fangs in blood-red. You could also color the bars to resemble amber and add “fossil” insects for a more Jurassic Park-like vibe.

*If you’re feeling evil, you can use an opaque base instead and not mention the bug. They’ll find it when the soap wears down far enough to expose it.

(Image from Country Living)