Halloween
Spooky Greetings folks! I’m writing to you a day earlier this week to catch Halloween. I don’t know if Sunday is a good time for you to read..? Or, do you prefer Mondays?
As is traditional, I carved a lantern to ward off evil spirits, ghosties, and ghouls. Hope it works! Pumpkin is great to carve, unlike the solid-as-a-rock turnips us kids growing up in the 70s had to contend with!
To carve the pumpkin I used a very sharp kitchen knife for carefully cutting through the top, then a craft knife, lino cutting tools, and a wooden skewer for the face. You can achieve different effects by removing just the top layer of skin or cutting right through to the hollow core. I was amazed by how well the incisions made with just a blade showed up when it was lit. Instead of a candle, it’s lit with a very bright torch, so it’s less of a fire hazard and will also take longer to decay.
Of course, it had to be a cat face lantern since I’ve turned full crazy cat lady since I adopted my two kittens. Melba here seems transfixed by the fiery demonic glow.
I hope making your own Halloween lanterns and costumes isn’t going to die out completely. I know traditions change, but seeing supermarket shelves piled high with throw-away plastic tat for Halloween is enough to give me nightmares! People of yesteryear went to so much effort in celebrating Halloween, often with the most elaborate and frankly terrifying costumes, as this google image search shows. Another memory is making paper mache masks at primary school. Mine was a witch, made with so many paper layers I don’t think the paste ever dried out. I’ve been thinking about making more masks and have a Pinterest board for saving inspiring examples.
A scary tune from 1982 to draw this segment to a close. How sharp are Pete Murphy’s cheekbones?!
Stay safe!
Spring Forward, Fall Back
Did you remember to put your clocks back? Not so important to remember now we have phones which automatically update but I forgot to do my watch which confused the hell out of me this afternoon.
Goals
I worked my little socks off last week to reach my goal of adding 30 items to my shop in October. In fact, I managed to do even better than I’d hoped and added 22 new items on Friday which brought the total up to 40 for the month. I’m really happy with this small collection of necklaces and textile brooches. Some of the ideas have been simmering away since last year but I didn’t have all the materials I needed until now to actually make them. The mixed-media wooden pendants were particularly fun to do because they’re completely unique. I have lots of ideas for more but might need to work on something different for a while…because that’s the way I work best - it stops me from getting bored.
For November I’m going to be realistic, with a goal of 20 new items for my shop. I know my energy levels will plummet now there’s less daylight. Curling up in bed, with a hot-water bottle for the next 6 months is actually what I feel like doing but getting out for morning walks and working on new makes is what’s good for me. I’ve never been great with sticking to goals but sharing them with you has definitely helped me with accountability. Thanks for reading!