Wow!

I have to say, I'm quite overwhelmed! I've had my work posted by Halloween Greats Pumpkinrot and The Frog Queen in the same week!

Above is the Raku pot Rot bought from me, made within the last month and finished only last Friday with the Raku glaze and firing. Below, you see two of my earlier forays into pottery. I can't believe how much my style has changed since then, and it was only a year ago! I love how she set this shot up with the frog I gave her on a pumpkin I made. Frog on the Pumpkin. Get it? Har!

In any case, my humble thanks to both the Frog Queen and Rot for featuring my work on their blogs and recommending that all of you immediately spend every dime of your next paycheck in my Etsy store.

O.k. They didn't actually say that. But you could still go with the spirit of the thing...

Treasure Found!

I was going through my email-box and found a notice that there was a dvd collection available from John Carpenter, and I thought I'd share.

It includes classic Carpenter flicks The Thing, Prince of Darkness, They Live, and Village of the Damned.

Of course, I ordered it immediately, 'cause it's cheap! Can't wait for it to arrive!

Just in Case...

Not that any of my readers are sinners, or anything like that, but for those who may know one, I have something for you!

Here's the product description:

Burn away your sins with our set of seven deadly sins scented candles.

Got that morning after the night before feeling? Woken up not just on the wrong side of bed, but in the wrong bed altogether and in the wrong part of town? We all know that life is full of its little sins, not all of which are worthy of a visit to the confessional box or sharing with Ricky Lake.

So for each of life’s naughty sins, we have created a candle. Simply light each one after each little sin, and feel assured that the process of absolution is well under way.

Whew! I was worried for folks who are sinners. Now all you have to do is wash with this soap or burn a candle, and you're all good. Available soon...

Candles. Soap.

A Few More Jackos

I've added a few more pumpkins to the shop! Click on the Etsy widget to see!

West Coast Haunters Convention

It's official: I'm headed to the West Coast Haunters Convention May 21-23 with Hauntcast. I owe a big thanks to Mr. ShellHawk for graciously allowing me to make an appearance so soon after the last convention. What a guy!

I'm very excited to have the chance to meet friends of the show Chris and Jeff Davis and Leonard Pickel. I'll be joined by honorary Hauntcast member, House Bloodthorn, who has been kind enough to work with us on our website redesign. (Har!) He will be helping me out at the Hauntcast booth, so be sure to stop by, say hello, and congratulate him on winning the Haunter's Video Vanguard Award for The Resurrection of Rose.

I'd like to encourage everyone on this end of the world to make an effort to come to support this new convention so it returns for many years to come! There will be many haunt legends among the teaching staff, so it's worth it to come out and gain some knowledge from their years of experience.

In the Shop

Pumpkin love has hit the shop. Click on the Etsy badge to go to the latest shop listings. I just finished a Raku firing on Friday, so there are some Raku Jackos available.

Haunter's Clothesline

I did laundry today and noticed a certain similarity in clothing, both human and dog...

Artist Clayton Bailey

The other day, I received an email from some clay friends of mine that artist Clayton Bailey would be giving a lecture on his work at a nearby college. While I hadn't heard of Mr. Bailey, I was up for hearing anyone discuss ceramics and their techniques. My friends and I went to the lecture last night.

I don't know if any of you are familiar with his work or his style, but to call this a "lecture" would be putting the visit we all had with Bailey into the wrong perspective. While he discussed his inspirations and touched on his techniques and history, his style of discussion leaned more towards chatting with friends and sharing some of his favorite jokes while he was at it. We had a blast!

Bailey is a whimsical guy. Some of his work is kinetic and some is wired so it can be lit from within, and some of those techniques can certainly be seen in some Haunters' yards. I asked him where he got the "tinkerer" gene, and he said from his dad, who restored cars while Bailey was growing up.

He has a bit of a dark side, though he expresses it in a more comic than sinister manner. For instance, his piece, "The Revival of Uranium Man," shows an orange critter on the laboratory table, awaiting a jolt of electricity from the electrodes attached to his head.

As Haunters, the Mad Doctors' Laboratory has a certain pull.

Bailey told us this was a self-portrait of himself and collaborative artist Peter Saul. Everything you see is ceramic.

The Murder Victim is another dark project.

Bailey is quite well known for both his fully functional pop guns which he glazes with luster glaze.

Haunters can appreciate his robot series, which came to life through numerous trips to local junkyards.

There's a bunch more stuff about Clayton Bailey to see, as he's been making art for 50 years. (The Bigfoot Skeleton is da bomb, and be sure to visit the Wonders of the World Museum!) I really wish he were still teaching, as a teacher like that would be fantastic to learn from...

Roadtrip America article here. Clayton Bailey's website here.

I Won! I WON! IWONIWONIWON! HEHEHEHEHE! Part 2

You may remember that I won the Skull-a-Day Iron Fist Giveaway, possibly because the random number generator recognized my inherent coolness. Yesterday, as I was throwing some new pumpkin pots, the UPS guy showed up with my winnings.

Happy dance!

Here's what arrived: one pair of shoes, two t-shirts, and a bathing suit. Now, when Noah contacted me about the bikini, I expressed concerns about my age and the viability of a two-piece bathing suit for someone of my vintage years. (Seriously, only my husband gets to see the slight martini paunch any more!) Apparently, he was kind enough to pass that on to the folks at Iron Fist, and they sent out a one-piece bathing suit. Yay for me!

From left to right: Robo Wishbone t-shirt, Man's Ruin swimsuit, 99 Dead Balloons t-shirt. Top: Mombassa Punk Platforms.

Since I'm a shoe whore, you get both pics of the shoes I am currently in love with.

I also got several very cool stickers, one of which Mr. ShellHawk all but snatched out of my hand and put on prominent display on the front of the hard hat he wears when doing surveys out in the field.

Again, big, sloppy kisses to both Skull-A-Day and Iron Fist for my winnings! I simply love them!

More NHC Pics

In case you haven't seen some of these elsewhere, I thought I'd include some pics here.

Our neighbors were the crew from Professor Nightmare, Inc., and were a bunch of very cool ghouls. They even helped me out with my new camcorder when I needed a little clue about what I was doing...

This delightful artist was an inspiration, too. I'll have to dig out her business card and post her name to give appropriate credit!

I really enjoyed The Gemini Company's booth. I got some brain-shaped lavender soap while I was shamelessly pimping Haunt Cast and my jack-o-lantern pots, and can't wait to use it.

They seemed open to doing an interview soon, so I'll have to jump on that. Very cool people, too!

There were a couple of booths that sold some pretty cool steampunk stuff. I really wish I had gotten more pics of the stuff!

I was disappointed that I had to leave this behind, since I already had enough stuff to take home on the plane. I'm pretty sure I can track these folks down online, though...

Of course, I got to hang with a couple of the boyz from Haunt Cast, and had a great time! Pictured above is the one and only Johnny Thunder, and if you were wondering, yes, he really does laugh like that!

G-Host Chris Baker, Johnny, and minion/roadie Denhaunt took great care of yours truly. Some of the fans that stopped by the booth were surprised that we hadn't me in person before the Convention, but it was true. Though I had tix for the haunt tour, I blew it off to spend the evening with the guys, since I don't get to spend time with them. What a blast!

Denhaunt did a truly impressive job of making Skully, our official Haunt Cast logo, come to life in toxic 3D. Great job, Denny Darling!

Who wouldn't want this book? It's actually a clever puppet-the mouth moves when you stick your hand in. Very well made by Rotten Jack's Creep Shop.

I was very impressed by the time and effort that some folks put into their makeup effects. Top notch job, All!

That's it for now. More soon!