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All posts for the month August, 2014

Seedling Creeper, by  Zoë Williams

Felt creatures by Zoë Williams

Maskull Lasserre carves skeletons in tchotchkes.

Maskull Lasserre carves skeletons in tchotchkes.

The Dark Sculpture of Cameron Stalheim

The dark sculpture of Cameron Stalheim

Krisztianna's Beautiful Muertitas

Krisztianna’s beautiful muertitas

Crocheted Skeleton Sculptures of Caitlin T. McCormack

Crocheted skeleton sculptures of Caitlin T. McCormack

Sydney's Doll Hospital

Sydney’s Doll Hospital (hat tip Anna)

Frankenstein's Monster tattoo by asussman. Check out the bride he put on her other calf.

Frankenstein’s Monster tattoo by asussman.

And the Bride on the other calf.

And the Bride on the other calf.

VHS Retro makes VHS covers from modern horror movies.

VHS Retro makes VHS covers from modern horror movies.

Wesley Fleming's remarkable glass bugs (and other creatures) Thanks to Anna again

Wesley Fleming’s remarkable glass bugs (and other creatures) Thanks to Anna again

Cryptozoological Wonders by Tin Plate Studios

Cryptozoological Wonders by Tin Plate Studios–Thank you Kari

Two Eyed Necronomicon

Two Eyed Necronomicon

Mille Cuirs makes wonderful books.

Red Leather Dragon Book

Red Leather Dragon Book

Book of Lloth

Book of Lloth

Grimoire of the Witches

Grimoire of the Witches

Books for sketching, books for spells.

Steampunk Bodypainting

Steampunk Bodypainting

Steampunk Leather Tome

Steampunk Leather Tome

Books with gears.

Eye of Madness

Eye of Madness

The Fourth One

The Fourth One

And an entire section devoted to books for summoning elder gods.

He’ll definitely be eaten first.

Red Dragon Necronomicon

Red Dragon Necronomicon

Virginia Hoffman

Reclining Buddha, by Virginia Hoffman

Splendid China opened in 1993 in Citrus Ridge, Florida, near Kissimmee.

Prayer Room, by Virginia Hoffman

Prayer Room, by Virginia Hoffman

The park was built by the People’s Republic of China at a cost of $100m. Exquisitely hand-wrought miniatures depicted Chinese landmarks.

The Great Wall, by Pat David

The Great Wall, by Pat David

Imperial Palace/Forbidden City, by Pat David

Imperial Palace/Forbidden City, by Pat David

Though the original Splendid China in Shenzhen was, and still is, a successful venture, the Florida park was besieged by protests, and fraught with internal corruption.

Rhys Asplundh

Rhys Asplundh

Rhys Asplundh

Rhys Asplundh

After just 10 years, Splendid China Florida closed in 2003.

Rhys Asplundh

Rhys Asplundh

Lee Bennett

Lee Bennett

For the next decade, the park became home to vandals and abandoneers. Much of the original statuary was stolen. This was probably for the best, as if it had not been taken, it would have been completely destroyed.

Analogcolor

Analogcolor

Allen Buckman

Allen Buckman

Rhys Asplundh

Rhys Asplundh

I missed visiting by one year. The park was completely demolished in 2013.

Rhys Asplundh

Rhys Asplundh

Allen Buckman

Allen Buckman

allen buckman

We interrupt our usually postless weekend to direct your attention to Shellhawk’s Nest.

In short, Derek Young has started a Gofundme campaign for the Davis Graveyard. They are good folks fallen on hard times, and in danger of losing their house. A horrific personal loss for them, and an incalculable loss for the haunt community.

Cliff and Jen have already lost the haunt and the house. Now they just need a deposit on a place to live.  Here is their Youcaring campaign.

I know how fortunate I am. I have been where they are, but right now, I’m living in a comfortable house in a beautiful neighborhood, and I have the disposable income to make pretty much whatever I want.  So I’m going to be a bit frugal this week, and send some their way.

When humans lived in small villages, they cared for each other during hard times. We are our village.

Clipboard Image (21 August 2014)

The Bongcheon-Dong Ghost is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen on the web. It’s stuck with me, after I watched it the last time Art of Darkness linked it. Now, she’s found a couple more.  Ghost in the Masung Tunnel is my favorite of the two new ones.

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I am not the only lover of dolls among the creepsters. She Walks Softly does a nice profile on Dustin Poche.

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Yong Ho Ji makes elaborate, creepy sculptures from recycled tires.

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7 actual cursed objects. Found this article as I was looking for info on the Woman from Lemb. Are they cursed? I want to believe.

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The Skull of Frankenstein’s Monster.

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Lance Cardinal wanted to do some stop-motion with The Nightmare Before Christmas characters. So he made his own.

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I was asked to share some of my favorite Halloween wallpapers. Here are a bunch I marked on a browse through dA.

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I was working on stuff for my Month of Spookdays, experimenting with adding stuff to hot glue, when I stumbled upon something very unexpected: a pretty decent faux opal, made with hot glue. They look much better in person, and are hard to photograph. Here’s a slightly better shot:

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Here you can better see the internal texture.

This is how you do it:

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You will need:

–Hot Glue Gun. Mine is high heat.
–Silicone mold. I’m using a Mod Melt mold. I wish I had one for a plain cabachon, but I could only find facets.
–Ultrafine glitter in Light Blue Transparent, Lavender Transparent, and Gold. My blue (Powder Blue) and lavender (Plum Fun) are from Suzie Sparkle, and the gold (Tang) is Barbara Trombley’s Art Glitter. Sparkle has no web presence, and is a small independent in Oregon. I’m sure other glitters will work—experiment!
–Pearl Powder in Interference Green or Blue. I’m using Pearl-Ex Interference Green.
–Chunky salt of some kind. I’m using “Pure Ocean” salt, which I bought from some wankery place. They probably thought I was going to cook with it. Nope.
–Soft paint brush.
–Heat gun (optional)
–Popsicle stick

Line your mold with glue and let it cure for a few seconds. It should be soft, but not liquid. This is so you get a decent top. Remove as many air bubbles as you can. I used a toothpick.

Get ready to work quickly. Fill the mold about a third of the way up.

While the glue is hot, layer your glitter. Use mostly blue first (more than you see here—I did a better one later). Add about half as much lavender. Finish off with a tiny bit of gold. The gold here is more centered, but I often put it off to the side.  TIP: Glitter will stick like mad to the mold. Clean it off with a baby wipe.

Add several salt crystals. Keep them away from the edges, and press them firmly into the glue.

With the paint brush, apply a thin layer of pearl powder. Don’t overdo. Blow away excess.

Here’s the thing: hot glue doesn’t stick to salt. Unless you don’t want it to. That means all that salt is just sitting there, and if you put the glue gun nozzle down by it, your salt will move. So drop the last layer of glue on top from a few inches up. Once all the salt is covered, you can move the nozzle down and make sure all the edges are filled. I usually end up over-filling a bit.

Coat the back of the cabochon with pearl powder.

If you have over-filled, you can flatten things out while the glue is still warm with a popsicle stick.

Allow the glue to cool completely, and pull your gem.

Give it a trim. This is more easily done with scissors than a knife.

I think a milky look is more opal-like, but if you want to increase the clarity of your gem, hit it with a heat gun for a few seconds. I flipped over my mold for a heat-resistant surface. If you have facets, this will soften them.

The gem on the right has been clarified.

Of course, they don’t feel at all like opals. But they sure are pretty! If you try this, I’d love to hear back how it went. There’s lots of room left to experiment with colors, glazes, etc. I found that the gems look less opal-like when I used a nice, neat mold. Blobs on the work surface have a wonderful color. Fixing that problem is another project.

 

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So Perfectly Twisted makes lovely boxes and other creepy creations. This keepsake box features a hand-sculpted bat.

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Grandin Road has some mighty tempting goodies in this year’s Halloween Haven.

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Tiger Milly carries rockabilly dresses, with some cute spooky stuff in the Hell Bunny line. Many items in plus sizes.

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The Vintage Halloween Store carries vintage style decor and supplies, as well as some vintage collectibles.

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Immortal Visions creates elaborate paper crafts, including many genres of greeting cards. Special October hint: this coffin shrine will be inspiring something during my Month of Spookdays.