For the most unique and spectacular Halloween goodies you really can’t do better than handmade. The diversity, quality and imagination beats the pants off any of the mass produced Halloween items. Etsy – the epicenter of handmade items sold online – has put together a spooktacular Halloween gift guide that features quite an array of treats; costumes, decorations, jewelry and accessories, toys, cards, spooky art, and even food. Now you can support independent artisans while decking out your haunted mansion in style.
With Halloween about a month away, seasonal chain stores are popping up everywhere. They’re definitely a fun experience, but feel a little sterile, a little canned. Don’t you wish a Mom and Pop Shop of Horrors would show up instead? That’s just how Los Angeles based The Mighty Squirm describe themselves and their online store of creepy t-shirts. Lovers of chilling design, Thea and Daniel create spooky detailed original illustrations and put them on high quality cotton shirts. Many of them glow in the dark and come on organic cotton, too! Their company is named in honor of their daughter and so there are plenty of creepy-cute kids shirts and placemates to choose from as well.
One aspect we really like is that all of their designs are free of text. As The Mighty Squirm says, “each of our designs serve as the beginning of a romantic, thrilling story that really drives your imagination”. The illustrations are intriguing and detailed enough to speak for themselves.
Let me guess. You’ve been spending your summer vacation making gory Halloween props and really accurate vintage Halloween decorations. Wait, that’s Sleepy Hallow Props and Dead Tree Halloween, respectively. These creative Halloween lovers let us know that their eBay stores are already in full swing. Check out their creepy offerings…
Canada based Dead Tree Halloween hand makes each of their vintage inspired Halloween decorations. But they also go the extra mile by incorporating vintage design elements and materials into the ornaments:
“All of our ornaments are handcrafted in our studio using materials that would have been available in the 1920’s & 30’s, or as close to it as possible. We also incorporate as much actual vintage material as we can find. All of our Dresdens are made by a company in Germany that has been producing them since 1861. The company still used the same machinery and the same dies to stamp them so are they actually reproductions or are they ‘vintage’? Hmmmm… good question. Most of our plaster items are made using antique or vintage candy molds, some of the molds we have made ourselves. All of our designs are original and we get our ideas from actual vintage Halloween items, old magazines, catalogs and the like.”
There are so many “vintage inspired” items out there that are just so garish because the manufacturers don’t seem to care about those kinds of details. It’s nice to see an artisan take pride in such accurate reproductions. Soon they will be adding a bunch more designs such as garlands and tree toppers so be sure to add them to your favorite sellers to stay updated.
If you’re a regular here, you might remember Sleepy Hallow Props from last year. We’re glad to see that Erik is back making his quality homemade props again this season. Because what’s Halloween without a bucket of bloody guts or a killer butcher’s meat hanger?
Do you sell your Halloween themed goods online? Know of a great Halloween e-store that we should feature? Get in touch!
Whether you like em’ gory or silly, chances are you have some favorite “scary movies”. The ones you break out every Halloween season or just when you need a freaky mid-year fix. The ones that chill your blood and/or make you roar with laughter. We’ve already shared our favorites in the Top Scary Movie list, and now it’s your turn.
Dredge up all your spooky favorites then head over to the Top Scary Movies comments section. Don’t see your favorite movie listed yet? In about 2-4 sentences, let everyone know which scary movies are your favorite. We’ll add your reviews and the list will just keep getting better. With the Halloween rush almost upon us, we’ll be up to our eyeballs in creating new projects and contests for you; scary movie lovers everywhere (us included) could really use your expertise!
Drew Falchetta’s dark art is beautifully unsettling. His water color paintings range from sweetly twisted to dastardly epics. His subjects are equally diverse; robots, snowmen, and creatures from the deep sea make frequent appearances. I especially like how he presents traditionally peaceful characters – such as nuns and cupid – and is able to put them in bloody situations without seeming trite. Something about the deadpan expressions of most of his subjects makes them seem perfectly creepy no matter what’s going on. A gallery is available on his website, and a few prints are available from I Vote For Art. Hopefully he will start offering more prints thought, because his creations would make wonderfully spooky decor.
Remember about a month back when we talked about making your own mad science lab? We mentioned artist Alex CF and his cryptozoological retrofuture art pieces. At the time, none of his amazing creations were available for sale, but he currently has a new piece on eBay! Check out the level of detail that was put into this strange artifact:
“Contained in this large unique display case are the preserved embyronic alien, and a piece of the wreckage from the craft. In the small draw space are other paraphanalia linked to this cover up – alien implants found on board the craft, their obvious goal was to be inserted into the bodies of abductees. a stack of papers regarding MAJIC 12, illustrations of the craft and the aliens themselves, the newspaper from the fated day, photographs of autopsies on the aliens, and much more.”
Talk about one of a kind. There are actually a few people creating knock-offs of Alex CF’s signature style of multimedia art assemblages, so please make sure to support the original artist if you’re looking to purchase.
As someone who has a rotting zombie head on my kitchen table year-round, I have some decidedly unique ideas about decorating and displaying art. What about you? If you won the Crash at Roswell research case, where would you put it? How would you display it? I’m really curious how you Halloweenies would feature it in your home or haunt (or office or nursery or…) so let me know your ideas in the comments section below.
