The year has finally rolled around to my very favorite day. By way of celebration, have an extra serving of piping-hot links.
Happy Halloween!
Bwitches – “A feminist comedy series about two friends who use their magic powers to vanquish the sexism and racism they face in modern Hollywood.”
Frankenkuties Pencil Dress – Cute Rockabilly-style dress featuring chibi versions of Frank and his Bride.
The Historian – Eerie novel which follows a fictional search for Dracula’s tomb.
7 Haunted Dolls You Can Buy on eBay – I love that one is described as a “rare antique” haunted doll. None of your modern poltergeist-infested Barbies for me, thanks!
The King in Yellow – Free online copy of the short story collection that helped inspire H.P. Lovecraft. (Hat tip to DeVries)
Frodo Didn’t Fail – I get a kick out of long, scholarly analyses of teensy little details in LOTR.
Pumpkinshine – Illustrations of an attempt to make pumpkin “wine.”
A Rather Haunted Life – New biography of author Shirley Jackson. There’s a review here. (Hat tip to pdq)
It’s time for the annual costume recap! Every year I spend entirely too much time making costumes for Shadowboy and one or two friends, then have professional photos taken. Sometimes I’m lucky and can talk them into matching costumes, and sometimes…not so much.
This year Shadowboy and one friend wanted to go as Mario and Luigi, and the other friend steadfastly declined to complete the trio by being Princess Peach and instead wanted to be Bloody Mary. Which, y’know, props for originality but you’re killing my costume photos, kid. Last year it was Doc Brown, Marty McFly, and…a frog. This year it’s two videogame icons and a hellspawn. Stahp.
The boys’ costumes were made by modifying a simple “loungewear” pattern, Simplicity 1605. The shirts were made from cotton jersey and followed the pattern with no alterations. The overalls were blue twill; I made the pajama bottoms according to the pattern and before inserting the elastic at the waistband I stitched on a front panel with straps that I made freehand (the big yellow buttons are nonfunctional). I toyed with making the hats from leftover jersey but found some online that were cheap, and since I get no joy from making hats I decided to cheat. The gloves were plain cotton parade gloves; Shadowboy complained that they lacked the cartoony black lines on the back, and since I was afraid that a black marker would bleed I wound up hand-embroidering cartoony black lines. Oy. The mustaches were cheap party favors and stuck about as well as you’d expect cheap party favors to stick; on Halloween I’ll be using spirit gum.
Despite being fairly simple, the costumes turned out pretty well. Here are the boys posing: Mario | Luigi. And here are a couple of “action shots” that the photographer managed to capture: Mario | Luigi
Bloody Mary’s costume was Simplicity 3725, view “C.” I omitted all of the recommended trim and instead used embroidered ribbon on the bodice and sleeves. The fabric was chosen the way I always choose fabric when I’m not entirely sure what the costume is supposed to look like: In a frenzy of indecision, throwing everything that looks vaguely promising into the cart and hoping I can figure something out. I wound up using everything; I had a yard of two different fabrics that I didn’t use in the dress, but I decided that she needed a veil and they worked perfectly. I stitched them to a fabric headband and then sewed a row of little silk roses along the top. After I finished the dress I realized that completely by chance I’d chosen a pattern that’s pretty similar to what Princess Peach wears so at least she can sort of match the boys’ costumes. It’ll be Mario, Luigi, and the malevolent ghost of Princess Peach, back from the grave and hell-bent on vengeance.
So that’s this year’s collection wrapped up. Maybe if I start lobbying now I can convince them to let me do something challenging next year, like Labyrinth or Beetlejuice or just about anything more interesting than overalls. Sigh.
Updated Post on the Bat Dress – Roundup of some gorgeous interpretations of the Victorian “Bat Dress” replica pattern by EvaDress.
Knitted Scale Armor – These aluminum scales knitted into armor are amazing for cosplay. If you want to try your hand at it, there are some tutorials here.
If you’re not carrying around matchbooks from places you’ve been recently I don’t know why you don’t want your murder to be solved
— AndyRichter
tie a yellow ribbon ’round the old oak tree – quick – bind it with the old magics before it wakes and turns to us again
— mallelis
I saw a blind guy with a full sleeve tattoo and it made me wonder if he’d always been blind. Because that’s a lot of trust.
— mimismartypants
Pro tip: “Foolish mortals” is a gender-neutral form of address.
— Black_Isis
Now hang on–How are all these bats *getting into* hell in the first place?
— dessadarling
Because telescopes work using mirrors, we will never know if space is full of space vampires. #Showerthoughts
— rShowerThoughts
Google should do a thing where if you type in “clown sighting” the first result is always “BEHIND YOU” in blood-red.
— pattonoswalt
*birds dress Cinderella for school*
*gets to school, goes into bathroom*
*buncha rabid squirrels gather and re-dress her in goth shit*
— _ElvishPresley_
Alright kid I’m gonna kill your whole family and leave you the sole survivor but don’t like, dedicate yourself to revenge about it
[10 years later while hanging off the side of a bridge on fire, about to fall to my doom] man what did I say about this
— iscoff
THIS PUB SELLS A BEER CALLED DORIAN GRAY. IT DOES NOT SELL THIS BEER IN PITCHERS. I CANNOT GET A PITCHER OF DORIAN GRAY.
— applebamos
This animated doorbell decoration is pretty neat in its own right, but also seems ripe for a DIY makeover.
The case could easily be repainted and embellished with extra doodads to make it look spookier, but it’d be especially neat if you could wire it up to your actual doorbell. I’d just leave it up year ’round.
It’s manufactured by Gemmy, and if you can’t find it locally (the video and comments mention Big Lots and WalMart) it’s available on BoingBoing)
Update: The fabulous Anne found these suckers at Target for ten bucks. Thanks, Anne!
Newport Jerky Company – In addition to the standard beef and venison jerky, this company offers earthworm, octopus, alpaca, and tarantula. Yum! (via pdq)
HandiCraftKate – Etsy shop featuring gorgeous felted fantasy witch hats and other cosplay items.
Hogwarts Nine Nine – Mashup of Harry Potter and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I had never heard of the latter (apparently it’s a police sitcom), but even without any knowledge of the source material the choice of images to accompany each quote is inspired. (via xJane)
I’ve mentioned The Great Pumpkin Project previously, and a timely note from Shellhawk has reminded me that it’s just kicked off again. Read all about their mission here and do your part to bring more random pumpkins to the world!