I blogged about Speleobooks’ bat merchandise a while back, and it appears that when I wasn’t looking they went and got even MOAR bat merchandise.

So much, in fact, that they’ve spun off a whole new site to showcase it. Their “bat friendly and bat positive goods” include clothing, jewelry, toys, home accessories, and lots more. Since bats so often get bad press, it’s nice to see a store that casts them in a positive light.

I also love that they brand themselves as “one source chiroptera shopping;” heaven knows you don’t want to run all over the place to fulfill your chiroptera needs.

The subtitle of this post is, “Yankee Candle is a bunch of lying weasels.”

The Boney Bunch is a fantastically popular collection of skeletal candles and accessories, and last year Yankee Candle claimed that they were going to go out on a high note and discontinue the line after the 2010 offering.

Loyal commenter wildeprose occasionally provides updates on the old thread, and recently alerted us thusly:

HELLO ALL!!!!! We are fast approaching 2011 Halloween season @ Yankee!!!! I haven’t had access to online in a couple weeks so I wasnt able to come here and mention as soon as I heard!!!!!
GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!?! Boney Bunch IS going to be back again!!!! I know I had mentioned last year that it was going to be the last year…..HOWEVER, as I also mentioned that the company has begun to be VERY sneaky with this collection!!!! It has been SUCH A CRAZE!!!!! SOOO yes, they tricked me as well!!!! But guess what?!?!?! They tricked the employees as well…they just wanted everyone to realize the limited amounts of the collections that come out each year….and to create a BUZZ!!!!!
I havent quite heard much about them this year, but will be hearing very soon some details!!! As in the past I will give the info as soon as I get it…and based on the past couple years, I have been getting the info before anyone yet!!!!!!
STAY TUNED!!!!!

and followed up with:

Hello All!
They are being VERY SNEAKY even now! The stores that have been saying when the “Halloween Preview Party” was going to be are now being elusive! I should be hearing some info VERY SOON! It has trended that I get info about the pieces the first week of July! BE ON THE LOOK OUT!

So apparently they were just funnin’ us on the whole discontinued-product thing in an effort to drive up demand. Huh.

On the plus side, the series is cute and as long as you’re not suckered into spending too much (particularly for sold-out pieces on eBay; woof) they’re a nice option for a gothy wedding or housewarming gift.

Thanks to wildprose for keeping us in the loop!

Here’s a nice way to add a subtle touch of gothiness to a room: Ameroonie Designs has instructions for making a throw pillow covered with bats.

Since the bats are made of felt their edges won’t fray, so there’s no need to worry about seaming the edges. The tutorial unfortunately doesn’t include a pattern, but searching “bat pattern” turns up plenty of suitable candidates, such as this one.

The pillow is made from the same felt as the bats, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t just decorate a pre-made pillow instead.

The blogger also did a “sequel” pillow using pumpkins, and the two together are a lovely matched set.

(via Creepy Cupcakes)

I’m rather taken with this “dripping blood” address marker from Speedcult. It’s powder-coated metal and is available in several colors.

I wonder, however, if it might be possible to DIY something a bit cheaper. Spooky fonts, either “dripping” or something more formally gothic, are widely available at places like Fontspace. The appropriate numbers could be printed and used as stencils, and the marker cut out of wood or acrylic. If you don’t have woodworking tools, you could also make an address plaque using a dremel tool. Paint as desired.

The same technique could also be used to create “messages” as interior decoration. I think “redrum” would be particularly entertaining hung in the bathroom.

p.s. – Be sure to check out some of the other stuff in Speedcult’s “gothic” category, like this cute bat key holder.

(via Midnight in the Garden of Evil)

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.

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)

This is…just what it says it is. Etsy seller ArtAkimbo sculpts these lightweight tentacles from styrofoam and papier mache, then sticks them in a plywood porthole. Perfect for making your room appear to be under attack by some horrible octopoid menace. They’re wonderfully realistic, and would be an entertaining addition to a room decorated in either a Captain Nemo-esque nautical theme or an H.P. Lovecraft-esque oh-no-the-Old-Ones-are-coming theme.

They’re also, as one might expect, on the expensive side. If you’re good with sculpting it might be possible to make something similar yourself, but considering the level of detail I don’t think it would be easy. It would depend upon your budget vs. how badly you wanted a wall tentacle. I have to admit that it would be a heck of a conversation piece.

(via Neatorama)

Just in time for autumn,* MAKE has a tutorial for making some lovely harvesty lanterns out of dried gourds.

The example uses a drill, but if you’re afraid of power tools you can use those little pumpkin-carving jigsaws instead. In addition to making patterns of holes you might also be able to cut larger designs in the gourd, although you’d want to take care not to crack the brittle walls. Since the gourds are lit by miniature fairy lights or LED lamps, you can also embellish them with paint or glue-on ornaments that wouldn’t be appropriate for anything lit by a candle.

The gourds are easy to grow and come in a wide variety of shapes, so if you’ve got a little yard space you can plant some for future craft projects.

I love how elegant these look, particularly with several massed together. They’d make a lovely and inexpensive centerpiece for a dinner party or even for the tables at a wedding reception.

*I’m sorry, Southern Hemisphere readers; you know I love you, but autumn starts now, not six months from now.

Haunt Style recently pointed to this interior decorating design, which included consolidating the customer’s extensive collection of Carrie memorabilia in the home office.

Preferring my spookiness to be more Gorey than gory I’m not wild about the theme (although I do think the blood-red walls are a clever touch), but I really love the idea of designing a home office or other space around a collection of movie posters or other related images. Walls full of Hitchcock movie posters or vintage absinthe ads would present a rich visual environment at relatively little cost. Paint the walls a complementary color and perhaps add a few related curios (a framed dagger, absinthe spoons, or whatever fits your chosen theme), and you’d have an appealing space that reflects your interests.

As a bonus, the posters are a good choice for renters because they don’t harm the walls (use those sticky hooks instead of nails), plus you can move them around or change them out if you get tired of them.

…literally.

I ran across this on TYWKIWDBI, but the site he got it from doesn’t appear to be the originator and doesn’t credit a source. So I can’t tell you who made this but it’s really kind of neat.

A few of the smaller toys seem to be floating, so apparently the jars are filled with fluid of some kind. I don’t know if that would be a good idea for long-term storage since I assume they’d eventually start to degrade, although it certainly adds to the “laboratory specimen” ambience.

It probably wouldn’t be appropriate to display a child’s castoff toys this way unless you want to be hit with a large therapy bill, but if you’ve got a few toys from your own childhood that you can’t quite bear to part with this might be a fun way to showcase them.