Pop Stars Gone Metal – Some great concept T-shirt designs (sadly not for sale), recasting mainstream artists as metal bands. There are a couple more here. (via Spooky Moon)
H.P. Lovecat – “Because there exists no method known to man, more terribly suited to expose the cosmic meaningless of existence than pairing the words of H.P. Lovecraft with seemingly delightful and charming pictures of adorable kittens.”
Russian Fairy Tales – Artist Uldus Bakhtiozina takes photos of vignettes based on Russian fairy tales. Some of these would be amazing cosplay ideas.
The Halloween Oracle – Gorgeous set of Halloween-themed divination cards. (via Spooky Moon)
Nihilist Arby’s – Arby’s is a U.S. fast-food chain (although they also have locations in Canada, Turkey, and Qatar; the hell?), but this amusing Twitter feed could just as easily apply to the fast-food restaurant of your choice.
Lure Paper Goods – Lots of neat vintage-feel greeting cards and stationery. (Hat tip to Fiend4Halloween)
Apuglogies – Pugs bearing apologies, courtesy of Tragedy Series. I wish I had cause to use the lower-left corner one more often.
SoEffingCute – Etsy shop specializing in geeky underwear bearing slogans like, “You Shall Not Pass,” “Mother of Dragons,” and “Speak, Friend, and Enter.”
Life Lessons from Gomez – A cartoon drawn in honor of Raul Julia’s birthday. “Nurture the passions of your loved ones, even when those passions are weird.”
Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism – Interesting-sounding novel which uses Lovecraftian horrors whilst confronting Lovecraft’s racism instead of eliding it. There’s a review at BoingBoing.
Zombie Bear – You know how I know that the whole “zombie” thing has jumped the dead, decaying, yet-horribly-reanimated-by-eldritch-forces shark? It isn’t Death Troopers. It isn’t the Nerf zombie-fighting gear. It’s this zombie teddy bear that you’re supposed to give as a token of your affection. Would somebody please shoot the zombie craze in the head, double-tap just to make sure, and then bring back vampires? Please?
David F. Sandberg makes amazing short horror films. I mentioned his short Lights Out – Who’s There a while back, but didn’t realize it was the second film in a loose “series” featuring a woman who really, really needs to move out of that apartment. The first in the series was Cam Closer, then Lights Out, after which came Pictured, Coffer, and the latest is Attic Panic, below.
Also be sure to check out his ultra-short See You Soon, in which he manages to scare the crap out of you in a mere 14 seconds.
Watching Sandberg’s stuff alone is a very, very bad idea.
Designer Mitch Barchi created this attractive Adventurer’s Kit for quick, portable roleplaying:
My goal was to create a portable kit that anyone could pickup and play a quick, or introductory, roleplaying session with little to no prep time. I created a simple overland map illustration for the lid using the Art Institute of Seattle’s lasercutter. I also included a standard set of polyhedral dice since they are used in many roleplaying systems. Many roleplaying systems also use miniatures, I wanted to include some basic minis for the players. The miniatures featured in these sets are vintage unpainted Heroscape monsters. Also provided is a Moleskine notebook with gridded paper if the player or game master want to map a dungeon or take notes. Each kit also includes a pamphlet for the excellent hack and slash World of Dungeons RPG system.
There are a couple of photos of the interior on Barachi’s site; the dice and miniatures are kept neatly in place with a foam insert. He doesn’t give any dimensions for the box, but assuming that the pencil inside is a standard-size #2, it’s probably about 10″ (25cm) square.
This would be a fun project to make as a gift for a tabletop gamer. You can find unfinished wooden boxes at craft stores or online; a flat cigar box like this one would work pretty well, but if you’re making a D&D-themed kit you may as well go a step further and use a treasure chest.
If you don’t have access to a laser cutter, a color printout of a map or other artwork could be decoupaged to the top. It’d also be possible to decorate the exterior with glued-on jewels or other decorations, but if the kit is intended to be portable you’d want to be careful to use flattish, sturdy elements that wouldn’t be chipped or dislodged by knocking about. Alternately, the wood could simply be stained or painted.
Foam padding for the interior is available at craft stores, but the dice and miniatures could also be put in little fabric bags to keep them from rolling around.
The notebook with gridded paper could also be themed; this “Smaug’s Scribbles” one from Etsy is cute. This “dragon skin” one is probably a bit too expensive to include in a DIY gaming kit, but it might be possible to find something similar made from faux crocodile leather.
This is a fun, thoughtful gift that could be personalized and embellished in all sorts of ways. You never know when an adventure game is going to suddenly break out, so it’s best to be prepared with a portable kit.
GHOST SCHEDULE:
Wind noises
Mess with cat
Get Scrooge to check his shit
Move knick knacks
Gaze at cheeseburger, unable to weep
— josswhedon
I just went to Jane Austen third base: making unpleasant eye contact with a handsome man on subway.
— erinhollyfenton
My new hobby is sitting outside on campus at night in my 1940s clothes and when people say things to me, I say “You can see me?”
— ShadyLadyHH
parenting tip
if you want to avoid the world’s aggressive gendering of your infant, consider skipping the pink dresses or blue coveralls in favor of dressing your baby solely in tiny halloween costumes
strangers on the sidewalk: aww, is it a boy or a girl?
Skull Fried Egg Ring – Amusing mold for making your breakfast a little more macabre.
Tea & Absinthe – “Decadence and Delight for the Elegantly Geeky.” (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)
Machine Age Lamps – Gorgeous–and commensurately pricey–steampunk light fixtures.
Werner Herzog Inspirationals – The wit and wisdom of Werner Herzog, paired with “inspirational” photos. Man, there’s a Tumblr for everything. (via Burning Prairie)
Ouija Be Mine – Neat little animated papercraft ouija-themed Valentine. Too late for this year; bookmark it for next.
Weirdo Toys – “The Home for Odd, Ugly, and Neglected Toys” (Hat tip to Fiend4Halloween)
Zombie Apocalypse – Whimsical(?) fabric with a zombie motif. There’s a companion pattern panel for making your own stuffed zombie and her undead dog.
Uncanny Art Shop – Etsy store filled with oddly creepy plush toys and not-at-all-oddly creepy candles resembling body parts. No, not those parts. (Hat tip to pdq)
Severus Snape in Chronological Order – Snape’s story is mostly told in out-of-sequence flashbacks. This fan-made cut strings them all together in the correct order, telling Snape’s own story of heartbreak.
Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging. The aptly-named Elkebana bills itself as “the first trophy for plant lovers,” and consists of a wall-mounted plaque with two hand-blown vases for arranging botanicals. The photo section of their site has a number of floral designs with fanciful names like, “Xavier the Deer,” “Isodoro the Oryx,” and “Pierre the Chamois.”
The only drawback is the price; at €99, this sucker is priced for the sort of people who would name an oryx Isodoro.
This would, fortunately, be pretty easy to DIY. Depending upon your skill level, you could either cut a thick plywood trophy base and sink a couple of wells to accommodate the vases, or just buy a cheap antler mounting kit and some slender glass bud vases which fit into the antler holes.
The floral arrangements can be long-term, like curly willow branches or silk flowers, or changed with the season. Then you can point to the trophy and proudly tell guests that you bagged it yourself.
It’s time for another bunch of random stuff I’ve found which I want to share but can’t hang a whole post on. Some of them have no attribution, so if you happen to know the source for any of these please leave a note in the comments. (Click to view larger.)
Bat Manicure
The Facebook group I found this on vaguely credited VampireFreaks, but I didn’t see any similar photos and didn’t feel like registering to do an in-depth search. Anyway. These would be impossible to type with, but I love the wavy edges.
Oversize moths seem to be a fairly popular subject for textile arts, and they always make me sort of melancholy because I want a kitten-sized moth as a pet. This lovely example is by Yumi Okita; you can see more of her work here.
Castle Bed
Huh. This is the first time I’ve ever done a Google image search and gotten back nothing but Facebook pages. That’s vaguely disheartening. Anyway, this is a completely awesome bed/play area (or bunk bed; it’s hard to tell). I kind of want a bed like this.
Carved Crocodile Skull
This astonishingly intricate piece is by Bali Organic Arts, which seems to be an artist collective. They’ve got a Facebook Page, website, and Etsy shop, where they sell carved wooden pieces as well as skulls. (It’s unclear whether their bone pieces are humanely harvested, so shop with caution.)
Steampunk Chandelier
A reverse image search turns up nothing but aggregator sites, so I’m not sure where this came from originally, but it is sublime. The little spidery hands holding up each Edison bulb are the perfect combination of steampunk and goth.
Vampire Teabags
This zipped pouch for carrying tampons is, as the Etsy store describes it, indiscreet. But it’s also, y’know, funny. It’d be pretty easily DIY-able with painted stencils or embroidery.
Notice: Travellers from the Future
This faux PSA for time travelers is by Miguel Marquez. I quite like the idea of printing up similar notices and posting them anonymously.
Beetlejuice Cabinet
Fiend4Halloween pointed me to this gorgeous piece by FourthDimensionCo. Their furniture is handmade, hence the price, but Fiend4Halloween notes that it might be possible to repurpose an existing cabinet with stencils. Be sure to also check out the same seller’s vintage-style carnival ticket booth.
Steampunk Fairy
I unfortunately have no information about who made this pretty thing; in a reverse image search, all roads lead to Pinterest and/or Facebook. I’d guess that the wings are something like plywood or maybe acrylic, cut with a jigsaw and painted. I adore the detailing on the dress.
Shoulder Chain
I like this interesting jewelry idea by Etsy seller xTarnishedx. It’s like a fancy epaulet.
Stop. Before you read any further, go clear your schedule for the next few hours. You’ll be spending them digging through the archives of Dave’s Geeky Ideas.
I found the ouija board decor photo above posted on an aggregator site, but for a wonder, the watermark hadn’t been cut off so I was able to find the original creator. It’s a concept design by Dave Delisle, and there’s lots more where that came from.
The site is devoted to just what it says on the tin: Geeky ideas that Dave has. As he says in his FAQ:
I post all kinds of ideas, usually of the geeky variety. I strive to create content that does not exist anywhere else. A lot of this is ‘dreaming out-loud’ or ‘food-for-thought’ or ‘wishful thinking’, but hopefully presented in an entertaining way.
He notes that he isn’t interested in manufacturing any of these things–frequently there are licensing or logistical obstacles–but he also doesn’t mind if somebody else is inspired to create something he’s suggested. He even recommends resources for the custom manufacture of his designs.
The site is a treasure trove of geeky and gothy DIY ideas, from a Zelda floating rupee to a Supernatural-inspired Blu-Ray case to a LOTR jewelry box (which would be a great way to showcase a prop ring).
Since the ideas are mostly just-throwing-it-out-there concept stuff, there obviously isn’t a lot of detail about how any particular item might be built. However, as a jumping-off point for your own creative ideas, this is an amazing resource.
Designer Mitch Barchi created this attractive 
Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging. The aptly-named 
