Witch Jars, Fall falling, and pine needles...

I'm supremely tired, so this is gonna be a VERY short post. A few picture posts will be forthcoming tomorrow when I finally run out of errends to do.
When in doubt/bored: Check online Classes, Facebook, Halloween Forum, look for Halloween pretties on Flickr and other image sites.
lol.
So I have so far Four Witch Jars.
Mine are inspired by pumpkinrot, but the Back Story is... different...


I imagine my odd, and wildly obsessed druid/shaman type witch pouring odd liquids and strange, thick extracts from Jars... the empties being thrown to the side and forgotten for years, possibly decades... Finally she gets to Halloween night and in a frantic rush to bring light in to her abode to hold back the spirits uses the Messy jars as candle holders: the blackened sealing resins, particularly disgusting verities of dried sludge, various fibers and dust filtering the light. The stoppers are all missing in action, used for other projects one wouldn't wonder.
Some where on there is at least one severely unfortunate cockroaches leg stuck to a jar.


Anyway, I'm achieving that forgotten, discusting, sludg-y look by coloring white glue (not school glue) with watercolors. You have to tip toe the line between opacity and color saturation to get the right look.
Its fun.
I'll have pictures some time soon, all hanging from their hemp chords and pissing off my husband.

Well its fall in Vegas, the winds have kicked up and Sunday the temperature peaked at a BEAUTIFUL 87F.  However Vegas weather is anything but stable, and the bipolar nature of our weather will kick in with low hundreds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday...

With the wind comes the pine needles and I plan on using them in my display this year... I'm letting my porch collect them, and I'll put them out on the concrete with a healthy layer of red dust... Its the desert's version of fall leaves.
Alright. G'night.

The Brainstorm

So last night I was just NOT tired. So I was laying in the bed, listening to the wrestling DVD I had popped in to the X-Box (Yeah, rockin' it old school) and I brainstormed, what else, Halloween Stuff.
I'm working on a seriously tight budget this year, but I have this interesting idea involving Paper bags and Theban, as well as other cipher writing systems.

Theban, One Version

Theban is a latin based cipher writing system, used typically by neopagans for their spell journals to hide what they are doing from prying eyes. I used it when I was a teenager, when I went in to the neopagan thing, and then realized how stupid it was to hide my notes using this method since resources on Theban are all over the place. (It is much better used for spells and entreaties to angels, as one has to seriously think about EVERY letter your writing while using it, thus adding subconscious power of intent to what ever your doing. Reminder: Spells are a form of prayer, essentially when you pray, you weave spells. Don't go crazy, okay kids?) Anyway, It has origins in the 1500's, and its cool looking.

Theban, Alternate Version (the one I learned)

So I was thinking about my costume this year, what I want to do, how I want to pull it off, ect ect. And doing a witch seems right up my Alley. It's been years since I've done my version of something simple like a witch, since I did not dress up last year, and the year before was a failure. So I was thinking about how my witch would look sitting on the stairs with my display so far in my head. So far I have Pumpkins (the goal is 20), my take on Pumpkinrot Witch Jars (small for now, bigger later), Cob Webs, and Neovana/Devotional Candles. I'm planning on making A fog Chiller, and a couple of other accouterments, but I figure that what I have is not enough for me... So I see paper bag LED luminaries, but not just any paper bag luminaries.... Spell Luminaries. I place inserts in to the paper bags that filter the light and illuminates spells in cipher writing on the insides of the bag.
I'll be doing a few tests tonight. And I might do this with The Witch Jars, which would be interesting.
If you have any suggestions for what the spells should be, please throw them up in the comments.
This should be fun.

Of Pumpkin Tealight Holders and stormy nights.

Image by Strublay

Shorty post for now, I might go trolling for some cool images later tonight... Went to Home Goods picked up the big guy on the right, I loved his small nose and big grin. Best 8 bucks I've spent on Halloween so far. Also It was storming in the Henderson area, so walking back to the car with my Jack pail in one hand and holding my husbands hand with the other I felt like I was trick or treating. It was awesome. 

Pumpkin Spice, and everything nice.

Image By Strublay

So I picked up my first pumpkin spice candle of the year from wally world. It smells awesome and brings up my spirits immensely.

Image by Strublay

Found on bathandbodyworks.com

I'm addicted to this scent. I haven't tried the perfume version yet... but I'm loving the body spray and lotion. 

Smells like fall.

Of Grunge, Spikes, and Colorful Devotional Displays.

Found on Flickr, Image By clockworknate

Found on Flickr, Image By Cremini

Found on Flickr, Image by JoelDeluxe
*Edit* This image is actually a Christmas Display, but I liked it so much I decided to post it anyway.

Of Fog, a Rose, and a Mausoleum Covered in Vines.

Found on Flickr, Image by ShotsAtRandom

Haunting Image, I adore the Celtic Crosses.

Found on Flickr, Image by Juergen Kurlvink

Found on Flickr, Image by Luigi Mancini

Just an epic image of a mausoleum, fog and vines, and that dreamy look... *shutter*

Music To Create By

This post isn't wholly Halloween Related, but it is a quintessential part of my creative process. 
Guild Wars is my Favorite game of all time, as of this moment. Guild Wars is an MMORPG that I started playing back in 2005, and back then I had a CD of the origional score that I listened to constantly (COLLECTORS EDITION FTW!)

I recently remembered my Account information to the Direct Song website and re-downloaded the Original CD, which I have seemingly lost in the intervening years, and I re-downloaded my Guild Wars Factions soundtrack that I bought in 2006.

Jeremy Soule's sweepingly epic music really adds the right punch to the game, to give you perspective I picked up WoW after I played Guild Wars and hated the game for its LACK of a good musical score. The soundtracks stir somthing inside you from begining to end, and this is the soundtrack to jump-start my creative process

If your looking for something to put in your Haunts I would Recommend Eve's Theme (shes a necromancer, and as such her theme is dark) and Abadons Mouth both from Prophesies, I haven't gone through Eye of the North or Nightfall yet, but both might have good stuff on there.

Enjoy.

No job = changing plans

So there will be no pumpkin beast this year. As much as making one would be awesome, a lack of money, materials, and space to house it has prevented any possibility of creating one this year, or any year in the near future.
Also the automated lighting system I had devised for the front yard of the house has also proved too expensive as well.
I'm sticking to what I have, a ton of Jack o lanterns, simple western cross grave markers, neovana candles, witch Jars (pumpkin rot's creation that I'm unabashedly stealing) and day of the dead altars. throw in some lighting fundamentals, cobwebs, a low laying fog, incense and candles and I'm set. I'll probably throw in some cheap rosaries and dead flowers too...
Its best, in my mind, to throw the majority of what measly budget I can claim towards the pumpkins, since they are the heart of Halloween for me. The rest will be for mason jars, neovana candles and the rest.
It's just the way it has to be this year. I can still get the creep though, and that's my intention.