New Jacks and Pumpkin Guys!

 Now available in my Etsy store!

Pumpkin Sugar Skull Person in Progress

Step one: Throw the body!

I've gotten curious about how the pumpkin people will look with the Raku process vs. regular glazing and firing. Then my creative mind spun off into the key question all creatives ask: "What if?"

What if I do a sugar skull pumpkin person?

Step two: throw, attach, and carve the pumpkin skull head.

Step three: Throw the arms, wait for them to dry a bit and then attach them.

Step four: sculpt and attach the hands.

What if, instead of the white ghost robe I've been doing, I use color, instead?

What if I make it orange with some kind of black pattern or design along the hemline, and maybe elsewhere?

I found this orange just a little too bright, so I layered another orange over it (not pictured, yet). Part of me is considering starting bright from the head and neck area and gradually blending to a darker and darker orange as the color approaches the hem. We'll see how it goes!

Final Details

If you're one of those crazy people like me, who loves to put detail into every little thing in your Halloween decorations, you might think about putting a small cabinet of curiosities together, or perhaps just a little apothecary display in a handy front window.

I did this a few years back and threw in a Madame Leota effect, and it turned out pretty well!

What you need to do is either cruise through your local second-hand store or just save bottles and jars of different shapes and sizes that you were going to throw out, anyway. Fill up your sink or a bucket and put your bottles and jars in there to soak the labels off completely. After a few hours, most of them will just separate easily from the glass.

If you're handy with Photoshop, you can create your own labels. But if you're like me, the person who keeps saying you're going to learn Photoshop, but somehow never gets around to it, you can search around for cool labels to download. There are plenty of creepy labels available on Etsy, but you can also find free downloads, like this one, from Catch My Party.

At this point, all you really need is a pair of scissors and a glue stick, and you're in business! Fill up the bottles with tonic water and position a black light where it can't be seen, but it will shine down on the bottles, and you've got spooky, glowing bottles! (Tonic water is black light reactive.)

If you're really ambitious, throw on a pair of disposable gloves and take apart some fresh highlighter pens of different colors. Take the ink cartridge and squeeze it into the tonic water for different colored "potions." Throw in some plastic eyeballs, spiders, or whatever you want, to give yourself some variation in your contents. You can even drip some wax on the lids, or use a glue gun to glue down some sisal twine and then drip wax on it for a real, homemade look.

Most of all, just have fun with it, and let your imagination roam!

Happy making!

Final Details

If you're one of those crazy people like me, who loves to put detail into every little thing in your Halloween decorations, you might think about putting a small cabinet of curiosities together, or perhaps just a little apothecary display in a handy front window.

I did this a few years back and threw in a Madame Leota effect, and it turned out pretty well!

What you need to do is either cruise through your local second-hand store or just save bottles and jars of different shapes and sizes that you were going to throw out, anyway. Fill up your sink or a bucket and put your bottles and jars in there to soak the labels off completely. After a few hours, most of them will just separate easily from the glass.

If you're handy with Photoshop, you can create your own labels. But if you're like me, the person who keeps saying you're going to learn Photoshop, but somehow never gets around to it, you can search around for cool labels to download. There are plenty of creepy labels available on Etsy, but you can also find free downloads, like this one, from Catch My Party.

At this point, all you really need is a pair of scissors and a glue stick, and you're in business! Fill up the bottles with tonic water and position a black light where it can't be seen, but it will shine down on the bottles, and you've got spooky, glowing bottles! (Tonic water is black light reactive.)

If you're really ambitious, throw on a pair of disposable gloves and take apart some fresh highlighter pens of different colors. Take the ink cartridge and squeeze it into the tonic water for different colored "potions." Throw in some plastic eyeballs, spiders, or whatever you want, to give yourself some variation in your contents. You can even drip some wax on the lids, or use a glue gun to glue down some sisal twine and then drip wax on it for a real, homemade look.

Most of all, just have fun with it, and let your imagination roam!

Happy making!

Need Hallowe'en Inspiration?

Pinterest is great inspiration for everyone, isn't it? I suspect it of somehow warping the fabric of the space-time continuum, because any time I go on the site, I lose hours!

In any case, if you need ideas on last minute how-to's or just want to see all the pretties, you can go to my This is Halloween Pinterest board, or just do a search for Halloween.

Many happy sighs to be had this time of year!

Shadows

Simple silhouettes for a big effect.

Via Make Magazine.

Jacks in the Shop!

At long last! My shows are done and I can put my jack-o'-lanterns in the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy shop!

 I'll continue to get them in over the next couple of days, plus I have a couple of fun Candy bowls and other goodies I'll be listing!

 I'll be listing these guys shortly, too!. Don't they look wickedly wonderful?

For my shop, click here.

ShellHawk's Nest Vlog-o-Rama #2

At long last, the non-awaited second installment of ShellHawk's Nest Vlog-o-Rama, announcing some stuff and things for this October's Countdown to Halloween!

Click on Christmas Ape and the were-hedgehog for the vlog.


Happy October!

Vintage

One of the few things I regret about not having a real job and enduring the growing (read:economic) pains of starting my own business is not having the discretionary income to spend on what's really important: vintage Hallowe'en decoractions!

Oh, well. At least with window shopping, there's no buyer's remorse.

Image by halloween_guy

Heartland Antique Mall

Halloween Decorations Ideas Blog

For sale at iOffer dot com by donaldroszz (379)

From the Atelier Blog



Decorating at the Nest

"Hon? Could you help me bring in a bin?"

"Sure."

Halloween bin is maneuvered into the house. This bin is the interior Halloween stuff. We decided where things should go. Being somewhat new to the house, we're still figuring out where things look best. It could change at any time, but for now, we're satisfied.

Mr. ShellHawk put up the cheesy eyeball/ghost lights. I try to keep the cutesy stuff in the house or the back yard.

Found this on ThinkGeek.com. Love it. I think multiple bloody handprints are so unnecessary. Keep it simple. Just two makes a statement, don't you think? Especially for the guest bath. I can't wait for the friends and relatives who are staying at Halloween to get a gander at this. Hope it doesn't freak out my niece too much!

Then hubby says, "What about your pumpkins? Can you bring them in?"

"How many?"

"All of them. They can be out until you sell them."

"Kewl."

"And get rid of those cheap made in China pieces of shit. Yours are much nicer." I can only smile at that.

I took a few pictures to share.
A couple of Dia De Los Muertos pieces I've acquired.
The piece below was a gift for a friend who seems to need some space at home. It's o.k., I'll take good care of this one!A couple of Target finds, one from this year, one from last.I love this one. Bats, skulls and spiders in lace. So elegant!Since my niece and sister-in-law are coming for Halloween, I got my niece a treat bag. No pillow cases, plastic grocery bags or other lazy treat bag alternatives. If that got out, I'd be the laughing stock of the blogosphere!Skelanimal dog. Too cute to pass up. I'll put up more pics as days go by and things get unpacked!