As I consider the importance of Halloween in my life, I am forced to truly ponder what Halloween means to me. As a Halloween romantic, I discovered that all of my love for the day stems more from my belief of what Halloween ought to be rather than what Halloween actually is. Captured so beautifully by the images in the Dennison's Bogie Books, Halloween should be one big, spooky, Cole Porter musical with Jack-O-Lantern footlights and costumes reminiscent of Erté!
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| Scepter, wand, cane, crook, staff - a recurring element in many Deco-era Halloween costumes was one kind or another of stick. Impressed by the pumpkin scepter of Little Bo Creep (center), I decided to see if I could DIM, do it myself. |
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| I started with a seven-foot-long bamboo pole and a twelve-inch, orange paper lantern, both found at my favorite craft supply emporium - the dollar store! With a budget totaling two dollars plus tax, this was a provident beginning! |
I had the materials, now I just needed a face. I took to the internet and reference books but was having difficulty deciding on a pumpkin face that I loved well enough to commit to dollar-store lantern. This was to be a huge decision; once the paint was on, there would be no turning back! I had considered adapting one of those leering faces found on vintage, German, papier-maché candy containers, but after flipping through one of my favorite Halloween resources, Halloween in America, I knew I had found my face!
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| I couldn't get beyond the lovable Jack-O-Lantern face of this Dennison's crepe-paper Halloween apron, dated 1918. (Source) |
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| I embraced ( and thanks to my unsteady hands, perhaps even magnified) the loose quality of the inspiration art. It would be pretentious of this seriously-untrained "artist" to label my work as "mixed media" when all I did was sketch on the face with a #2 pencil and fill it in with whatever I could find around the house, including paint (undiluted yellow watercolor from a tube of unknown origin and nearly-expired, crusty, black acrylic from high school art class) and a black sharpie. |
With better light and less chance of overspray, I do all of my spray painting in the front yard; given the kind of wacky tacky crafting I am wont to do (see: Pickles the Pink Piggy Purse), I spend quite a bit of time painting in the front yard. If my neighbors had a questionable opinion of me before, they must have serious concerns over my mental capacity after watching me play a one-man game of ring-around-the-rosie, applying several coats of glossy, black spray paint to a seven-foot pole stuck in the ground.
I may perform a few minor tweaks/additions before All Hallow's Eve but for a two-dollar investment, I think I did pretty well!
Cheers!
Mr. Tiny
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| Even I had to question my sanity when I went into the wacky tacky costume archives and couldn't find the cape I wanted...because there were too many homemade capes in the way!!! I tried riding a broom but it wouldn't hold me... |
I may perform a few minor tweaks/additions before All Hallow's Eve but for a two-dollar investment, I think I did pretty well!
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| Lit from within by battery-operated lights that I had on-hand, it has sort of an eerie, reverse Jack-O-Lantern effect...but I still like it. Of course, after my craft was completed, my next trip to the dollar store was met with row after row of battery-operated, jack-o-lantern style, paper lanterns. Nevertheless, I am happy with the chance to get into the Halloween spirit with some custom Crazy Crafty!!! |
Yes, Mr. Tiny's Halloween threads will be built in stylistic conjunction with his Jack-O-Lantern walking stick, but you'll just have to wait until the day draws nearer before the entire costume is revealed. How about you? Are you gearing up for the Halloween season? Are you feeling crafty? Do you have a great idea for your costume? Whatever you decide to be this October 31, remember that it's Halloween...
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| LET'S MISBEHAVE!!! |
"Let's Misbehave" as performed by Irving Aaronson
Written by Cole Porter
Cheers!
Mr. Tiny
