Idol Worship: Frog on the Pumpkin

The Froq Queen is a busy little blogger. Not only does she run Frog on the Pumpkin, she also posts bits and pieces on a second blog, while her husband runs the Davis House blog. And then there's the Davis Graveyard website. Now add to that the fact that they run a really amazing haunt. If I was the FQ I doubt I'd have time to post at all. I'd probably spend all my time out in the garden playing with all the Halloween props, of which there are many.

This spider is my favourite of them all. I think. I'd love to have one hanging from a tree in the backyard. Just waiting to freak out passersby. Most likely I'd be the one most scared by it, but it would be worth it.

One of my favourite parts of the blog is seeing how their neighbours help out. People come to help make props, do make-up, even dance. I read these posts and sigh wistfully, wishing I had neighbours like the Davis family. But until then, I shall sit at my computer and look at all the pretty things they do. And hope that one day, I will.

Idol Worship: Art of Darkness

A lot of the time when webstores run blogs, they exist as nothing more than another place for them to advertise their wares. Shadow Manor's Art of Darkness blog is nothing like that.

The Shadow Manor shop was what first caught my attention. It's full of wonderfully pretty things for me to lust over and consider selling organs for (I'm looking at you, Bat Purse. Also this thing. I can't pronounce it but I know that I want it.).

And this one. 

However since I have only a limited number of organs and the store has many many pretty things, I think I'll be staying away from paid donor-ship for now.

The blog itself is wonderful, full of neat little dark crafty things, cool stuff from the blogosphere, a tutorial section, and my favourite, weekly link dumps. Oh the linked goodiness. So go have a look. Could you pick me up a few things from the shop while you're there?

Idol Worship: Haunt Style

I think Haunt Style's attraction can be described in four words: They post cool stuff.

I don't really know what else to add. Haunt Style keeps me entertained with short posts highlighting neat stuff from the interwebs, and it's one of the sites that has me keeping a tab open on Google Reader so that I don't miss anything. Which would also explain the incredible drop in productivity lately. But it's a great blog, regardless. Ch-ch-ch-check it out.

(I had to make the Beastie Boys reference. HAD to. I hope you'll understand.)

Idol Worship: The Obscure Hollow

The Obscure Hollow is my go-to site for inspiration when it comes to atmosphere. The concept behind the blog is simple; they - Kerry Kate, Micha Michelle and Rebecca Kasner - watch horror movies (haunted house movies in particular) and provide us with lovely screenshots of the decor.

This year's Halloween decor is inspired by these shots from their post about Fear In The Night. Choosing dust sheets and minimal lighting was perhaps the best decision I've made this year. Also great source material for this year was the post about the first movie from The House That Dripped Blood. It's the attention to detail that I love, and my friends and I have been collecting old books since I showed her the photos.

Idol Worship: Stolloween

When it comes to papier mache, Scott Stoll (AKA Stolloween), is king. Sure, there are many people who are good at it. But few are this good.

If you've got a question about papier mache, this is the place to go. Paperclay or paper strips? Flour or glue for the paste? How do you build up your armatures? How do you keep them waterproof? It's all here.

Whether you follow his projects to the letter or use his instructions for a jumping point, you know you're going to get good results as long as you get the basics right. Scott breaks each piece down to the bare bones - which, a lot of the time, is made out of old containers and cartons. But you'd never know it from looking at the finished product.

I used his pumpkin tutorial as the starting point for The Gardener's head (which is almost finished, I promise. I'll stop talking about it soon), and it worked a treat, especially considering it was a first try - I expected to have the first turn out wrong. So the next time you want to paper mache something, you know where to go.

Idol Worship: The Shadow Farm

Dave the Dead is the mastermind behind The Shadow Farm. His blog posts give us a chance to peer into the wonderfully dark world of his creations. And such beautiful creations they are.

Some artists' work makes you think that they've perhaps been doing this forever - that they've had hundreds, maybe thousands of years to perfect all the little details in each piece. Dave is kind of like that. The difference is that I think that Dave has given his artworks a little bit more than that. I could swear that some of them have a soul.

Meet Sid. He's my current favourite. Sid is a hearse driver. In the other photo in Sid's introductory post, you can see both the hearse and the dead (or un-dead) horse that pulls it. Dave gives each creature it's own little backstory, and this is what he has to say about Sid:

Sid is the henchman to Frau Trauermarsch and driver of her hearse. SID is a scavenger, and follows the Frau in the night and shadows, collecting young victims. While the Frau is concerned with the fragile young souls, Sid collects whatever is left.

Recently Dave announced on his twitter that he'd begun selling some miniatures in his Etsy shop. Unfortunately as I write this post Etsy is down for scheduled maintenance so I can't find all my favourites to show you. However, he did tweet a links to his two most recent items for sale: a skeleton bird and skeleton cat.
I want them both.

On a unrelated note: I've updated the blog feed to feedburner. There's a shiny new subscribe button on the sidebar for the feed-reader types.

Idol Worship: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow blog is one I found only just recently, and then kicked myself for not knowing it existed sooner. The props are just so wonderfully made with such a great attention to detail.

I showed the blog to a friend of mine who is quite the Sleepy Hollow fan. She agreed that if we ever go overseas, we're going to go during October and visit all the haunts we can find - especially this one.
Unfortunately this is one of those times where I wish I spent more time on the internet, because I really can't tell you much about the man behind the work, just that the work is worth a look.

Idol Worship: My Ghoul Friday

If Pumpkinrot got my vote for Halloween Homecoming King, then it's fairly safe to say I would give My Ghoul Friday my vote for queen. Hers is quite possibly the first blog/site that made me seriously consider doing something to bring the Halloween cheer to my hometown and my admiration for her is quite a bit too much for me to continue writing about why I like her - as there's a chance she'll read this and then she'll know.

So. Taking a step back from my fangirly side, I'm going to tell you why she's so neat - starting with Brains Vs. Coffee. What began as humourous posts on her twitter about the hard decision of deciding whether your morning beverage is caffeine or grey matter soon turned into quite a collection of anecdotes and arguments. And now it's a book. With it's own twitter. A book that I've been begging anyone with a credit card or paypal account to buy me. I'll get it, just you wait.

Ghoul Friday also happens to be the first site I hit up whenever I'm looking for answers on how-do-I-make-that?, what-to-do-now? and why-is-it-watching-me? She has a bunch of tips and tutorials in the Monster Workshop, with toilet paper papier mache being my technical guide for The Gardener. She has lists of great ideas for parties, saving money and prop-storage in her Party Planning Guide, and her links page is where I found out about people such as Pumpkinrot and Dave Lowe. But you must check out the blog. It's always filled with something interesting and more than once I've gotten lost in the archive, just looking through all the wonderful posts.

So go check her out. I hear she's even got a giveaway going on. But you didn't hear it from me...


----------------
Now playing: My Chemical Romance - House of Wolves
via FoxyTunes

Idol Worship: Pumpkinrot

Lets face it, if there were a Halloween Homecoming dance, Pumpkinrot would probably win Homecoming King crown. Why? Well because he's freaking Pumpkinrot. I don't doubt that he'd have some stiff competition, but he'd definitely get my vote.

Why? Well for one, he runs quite the nice blog. I can't imagine the time he must spend searching the internet - and other sources - for inspiration, but he saves us that time by posting the most wonderful of it. Photos, music, ghost tales, pumpkin flavoured foods, past-Halloween nostalgia, it's all there. But that's not the main reason I adore his blog. It's his creations.

He has so many creatures in his gallery it was almost hard to choose my favourite. Almost. But this guy has always been my favourite. There's just something about it - the pose, the facial expression, the colours. It's magic.

I feel like I could go on forever about this. But I think most people know about the brilliance of Pumpkinrot already. And if you didn't before, you certainly do now. Go lose yourself in his wonderful Halloween world.



----------------
Now playing: The John Butler Trio - Damned To Hell
via FoxyTunes

Idol Worship: One Pretty Thing

Before I start, I think I should mention that One Pretty Thing isn't really a Halloween site. It's actuallykindareally a craft site. You know, craft. Things like knitting and sewing and making jewellery. I happen to follow it quite religiously, because somehow I am Suzy Homemaker at heart.
And if you're not, just stick with me here. It's worth it. There's cake.

One Pretty Thing is run by Rachel (and her cat, Lil' B). Rachel scours the internet looking for tutorials, and every weekday she posts at least one roundup of them. Some days feature themed roundups, and that's why we're here. A few weeks ago heralded the return of Halloween Roundups.
You can search for the Halloween Roundups by using the Catagories button at the top of the site. You can choose between Halloween Roundups, Halloween Food and Drink Roundups and Pumpkin Roundups.
Rachel also posts gift-guide roundups around Christmas, my favourite of which being the Gifts for Geeks. Binary Scarf, anyone?



----------------
Now playing: Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country
via FoxyTunes

Idol Worship: Dave Lowe

Dave does stuff. Lots of stuff. It's all really cool and I'd like to steal his brain.

But to put that in less creepy "I keep a lock of your hair under my pillow" terms, Dave is one talented fellow. He's a prop-maker. An illustrator. He works for Nickelodeon. Does set design. But most importantly (not really, but kid-me thinks so), Dave draws cartoons.
Darwin's theory of evolution of candy-corn, anyone? How about the Loch Ness monster in a bar? Home DIY for the serial killer? Pick up lines for brains in jars? Or my personal favourite running gag, the white-creature-in-a-snow-storm?
His blog features how-tos on many, many different haunt-related tips and tricks. Last Halloween's giant eyeball in the window is one I've been dying to replicate for awhile now.
Dave's niece Devin has cameo appearances in blog posts, and she makes me jealous that I haven't got an uncle as cool as Mr. Lowe.

Just as a side note: I feel the need to confess something. I don't actually know what candy corn tastes like. I've seen pictures. I've heard stories. But I've yet to view the rare beast in real life. Now you know. Don't judge me.