uncommon ephemera

Ghouls, Girls and Gypsies Just Want to Have Fun

Here's my offering for the Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun Bloglandia Ball. Photoshop can offer so many options for the discriminating ghoul...you can be whatever you want to be without even visiting a costume shop or picking up a needle and thread! The best part is that you can remove pounds if you wish! Well, ladies, get your groove on - there's dancin' to do!

Halloween Countdown

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend - the last big flurry until the Big Night! It was so bloomin' hot today, it was very hard to believe that Halloween is just 3 days away. I have been gimping around today with a pinched nerve next to my shoulder blade, but managed to get our entryway decorated and the candy purchased. I put our lawn furniture away - rain is expected Monday or Tuesday - and sincerely hope it clears by Wednesday. Daylight Savings has been pushed out until next weekend, so the ghosties and goblins will have some twilight to navigate by. I always get excited on my way home after work on Halloween - the street that leads to mine is lined with Chinese Pistache - a tree that here in California gives brilliant color and just the right touch to Halloween. Now I have to get busy on my costume for the Halloween Ball! The pictures are of my entryway - a little difficult to photograph because it is quite narrow from door to wall. The Chinese Opera masks hang year 'round and the homely little fellow was made by my daughter when she was in grade school and only comes out for Fright Night! Woo-haa-haa-haa!

Witchy Fun

This evening I treated myself to a showing of "The Witches" at The State.Costumes were requested but not required and there was an abundance of wild and witchy get-ups. I have seen this movie any number of times on television - though not on a big screen - so this was a treat, indeed. This is the description provided on the theatre's website: "This satisfying and mischievous adaptation of a Roald Dahl children’s classic stars Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch of All the World. Enormously fun and wickedly entertaining, The Witches follows recently orphaned Luke whose grandmother takes him to the English seaside where he discovers a society of witches. His mission: To save the world from witches, a tall order for a boy who has been turned into a mouse! Splendid puppetry by the late, great Muppet creator Jim Henson and offbeat performances by an alarmingly charming cast of witches makes this a must-see for children and adults alike." Angelica Huston is delicious as the Grand High Witch - haughty, evil and speaking with a thick German accent. The event was sponsored by Queen Mab's and owners, Elizabeth and Karen came in their witchy best. Elizabeth has 6(!) children - 4 of whom came in great costumes. I noticed a lot of striped tights with the costumes - a look I love. The theatre has been sponsoring "Theme Thursdays: Movies Served Straight Up, With a Twist" - the next offering is Thursday, November 8th and the suggested attire is "Decadent 1931 Berlin". Sounds like quite an evening - I'd better take my camera for that one! Good Night, Bloglandia!

Halloween Inspiration - Jack Roads

The crows are something I put together in Photoshop, using a Japanese print and a Shakespearean quote that is so appropo to Halloween! I have this framed and bring it out to celebrate the season.

I was unable to go to Halloween and Vine - much to my dismay - but had the opportunity to see some Halloween greatness from the show. Our local museum is featuring a show by Jack Roads, papier mache wizard of all things Halloween! I went the weekend it opened and then went back with my friend, Andrea, to share the wealth. McHenry Museum has some nice photographs at their site. Also the newspaper I work for, The Modesto Bee, did a very nice article about him - click on the link and it will take you to the article, which also has some pictures.

For those of you who do not know of him, Mr. Roads creates Halloween figures in the style of the papier mache pumpkin buckets and candy containers that came from Germany in the 1920s. The resemblance stops there...Mr. Roads upped the ante, so to speak - and his creations are beyond amazing. His color palette is subdued - so his figures seem like they could have come from a museum. The attention to detail is just amazing: Jewel-accented bat wings on a witch's shoes to replace the buckles, a rather maniacal-looking pumpkin waiter with a towel over his arm holding the "catch of the day" - a frightened gourd character, an ornate Victorian clock that is completely decked out with cats, bats and pumpkins and my personal favorite - a "gourd opera", featuring the "three tenors", singing their veggie hearts out. Mr. Roads also loaned some vintage costumes, which are also on display - and donated three of his works for a silent auction and a raffle. Surely a memorable show - it made me want to go home to mix wallpaper paste and rip up newspaper!

Night of the Living Dead

For all of you that have prepared for any kind of craft/art show, you can relate to the pre-show prep and adrenalin jitters...and you can also relate to the apres-show fatigue (hence the title of this post). I have finally finished cleaning up my craft room (although it lives under a fine dusting of glitter at all times) - and processed the photos from the Art Walk evening I mentioned in my last post. The evening was really great fun - Elizabeth Zapien-Plata of Queen Mab's could not have been nicer and I did quite well in the sales department. Elizabeth's son stood in front of the store, playing tunes with a Parisian flair on his accordion - and the State Theatre (next door) had an art show in the lobby and showed student-produced horror movies on the screen inside. We now have several galleries downtown and the restaurants also did a pretty brisk business. All in all, it was a very enjoyable night. Here are some pictures of the interior at Queen Mab's...





The photos do not do the store justice. It is just jam-packed full of things you just KNOW you need! They even have a section with merchandise geared to the little ones: Books, games, clothing; etc.

The photos following the pink armoire are of some of the things I featured - the first photo being my display. All I can say after viewing the pics is that I really have to do some serious study on how to use my camera!

Here is a Dia de los Muertos skull that I made - the color looks bad - I painted a plastic skull, coated it in clear glitter to make it look like it was made of sugar, added a colorful crepe paper ruff and silk marigolds, then perched him on a black pedestal. I sold both of the skulls I made.

Queen of the Night started out as a cardboard cone glued to the top of a papier mache box and morphed into what you see here...

The Halloween shoes each had a tag attached that said "I Put a Spell on You".

Last, but not least are my little Halloween witches...very proper in their Puritan hats. You can see them in beginning stages on my prior post.

Thank you to everyone for being patient. This has been a crazy week - and just when you thought it was "safe to go back in the water" - the holiday season is about to begin and it's back to the drawing board, so to speak! Oh...and for those of you who don't already know, don't forget the last picture...the Bloglandia Halloween Ball!

Reports of My Demise...

To paraphrase Mr. Twain, "reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated". Sorry fellow bloggers - I've just been extremely busy. As you can tell from the time I'm posting, I am awake at a late hour. My eyes popped open about 1/2 hour ago and I could not go to sleep, so here I am. I have been working furiously for the past week trying to get ready for this week's monthly Art Walk. I did not have any Halloween goodies ready - so that has been my focus. Here's a teaser of what I'm making - bits and pieces of unfinished creations...

All of this has to be pulled together by Thursday (ack!). I have been lurking out there in Bloglandia - some of you may have noticed that I've left some comments - but just have not had the juice to pull together a posting. When I resurface, I'll post pictures of my finished products. Thanks so much for your patience - I know it is annoying to keep revisiting a blog that seems to have stalled. Now I think I had better try to get back to sleep. Good Night!

Halloween Madness

I'm a little lax getting back to posting. I returned from a pleasant weekend with my mom and dad and realized that I needed to get busy on Halloween goodies. The photo is just a teaser, if you will - the Pierrot is a little celluloid doll I purchased on ebay some years ago. I fluffed him up a bit when he arrived - but the kicker was his maniacal little face! My daughter says he is scary...I find him amusing. I have a number of things in various stages of production for a monthly Art Walk we have downtown and really have to pedal furiously to get some things put together. Throw an upcoming wedding into the mix and I'm feeling a little pressed for time. I'll post some pictures when I get some things to the finished stage. I'll leave you with a picture of my "grandkitten", Belle, sporting the witch's hat I bought for her at Target...and none too happy about it! (Photo courtesy of my dear daughter, Jessie!)

Btw...I loved the photos of Halloween & Vine, Ulla and Kimberlee!