Skeleton Mannequin

You may remember that for my birthday I got my own personal mannequin for crazy cheap at a sidewalk sale.

She sat naked in my garage fora few months while I waited for stores to get their Halloween stuff in.

Viva la labor day, because I managed to get a skull masquerade mask that was perfect for my evil plans.

First step was figuring out how to get into the mannequin's face. Out came the drill. I perforated her with a series of holes and then used a reciprocating blade to slice in.

After that it was just evening out with a dremel, cutting up the skull, slotting it in and hot gluing. I also diced up a section of her chest and glued in some ribs.

That gave me this:

I'll see you in your dreams!

I also scored a mace over the weekend from the dollar store. It was pretty boring plastic but with the power of spray paint I took it from left to right.

You can do almost anything with spray paint.

Ghost Writing

August is almost gone and you all know what that means...

HALLOWEEN STORES!

Spirit actually opened sometime during the last weekend. They haven't gotten much of the new merchandise set up but it didn't matter. I knew exactly what I wanted to get this year. A ghost writing book. I put on top of my witch's cabinet.

Despite being made of cardboard and plastic it looks pretty realistic even close up. And the writing in the book is actual sentences and not lorem ipsum covered in blood.

 

It's sound activated, which is extra annoying, but it's fun to watch it in action.

 

And because I secretly want to be a skeleton outside my skeleton, I got some new socks to go with my skeleton fingerless gloves.

Halloween is coming...you've been warned.

Witch's Cabinet

As we crawl slowly to labor day, most of my halloween projects are stalled. I've finished what I could, and have to wait on stores to put out their goodies before I can complete the rest.

I did manage to top off one project that'd been on the sidelines since July.

We snagged a cabinet from goodwill that someone made out of leftover wood paneling and plywood. Not really fancy, but it had a certain je ne sais creepy. But it needed a shelf. So I finally got some pegs, a level, and sawed off a chunk of wood.

Needs a few more bones. I might get a different lantern or stuff in some candles. God knows I have a ton of candles.

They won't be ready until September, but I've also started work on the All Hallows Read posters.

Here's a little sneak peek.

The full sized downloadable images will come out after labor day, like all things Halloween. Sigh.

New short story

In all the painting pilfering, I forgot to share a bit of good news.

One of my short stories pertaining to the art of prophecy and fates that really enjoy screwing around with Kings was accepted by Quantum Fairy Tales.

You can read The Prophecy here if you'd like.

Stolen Painting

Today started much like any other day: a late summer headache, a hand coated in paint, and hunting through Halloween stores.

I'd actually been thinking about Dark Candle a bit after I pulled out some of my unused votives to fill my witch lanterns. As part of the cosmic balance, I got an e-mail from them today and thought, "Why not see if there's anything new. Ooh, an RPG themed pack."

Perusing the lists of scents I froze and did a double take when I saw the listing for their Dark Grove™ candle.

That forest behind their trademark is my painting. A painting that I've only sold once and it certainly wasn't as a commercial image.

The candle is listed as being added in 2013. I painted my Dark Forest way back in 2010 and uploaded it to deviantArt.

Usually this would lead to rage, gnashing of teeth, etc etc, but I really like Dark Candle. I've even blogged about them before. Their Nosferatu is as much a part of my Halloween as Nightmare Before Christmas.

I sent off an e-mail showing evidence of my painting and got a response back. She claims that the person hired for candle art passed off my painting as her own work. If this is true, then Dark Candle should be just as pissed and possibly shame this thief "artist" themselves.

I'm sure some would say it's my own damn fault, that putting the painting out there means people can and should steal it whenever they want. I'm not asking for compensation, or even that she takes it down entirely. A credit link is enough for me. The painting itself is long since sold, I don't have any prints of it.

But it does suck to think someone gained something, if not money then prestige and possibly other work, for passing off my creations as their own.

I have tons of things people can download and use for whatever they want. My nerdy baby shirt templates, my nerdy valentines, my years of All Hallows Read posters. But please, if you want to use something of mine I haven't explicitly said is free for anyone to use, just ask. More than likely I'll say "sure, go ahead."