Special Thank You to Janis Logsdon

Jan's Beads

Featured Artist:

Jan’s Beads: A special thank you to Janis Logsdon of Jan’s Beads for her diligence and dedication to the Halloween Artist Bazaar Perpetual BNS celebrating Halloween. See more her handcrafted Day of the Dead jewelry in her shops on Etsy and Zibbet.

Spirit of Halloween


Spirit of Halloween-By Angelique Duncan

Growing up in the 1970’s Halloween was a big deal. Before the “Candy Man” poisoning and alleged unconfirmed reports of razor blades in apples. Before the fears of devil worshiping cults stealing children and the belief ones neighbor must be a psychopathic killer, Halloween was huge. The urban legends of Halloween horrors hadn’t taken grip. The October holiday’s reputation had not been tarnished by the cultural fascination with fear that had arisen in the late seventies and early eighties. October 31st was an enchanting street party spanning one evening as communities came together, watched out for each other and owned their neighborhoods and ironically were not ruled by fear.

Halloween was the greatest spectacle in one night that a kid could dream of. In the neighborhood where I grew up, Halloween night was an occasion when the entire neighborhood was engaged and the community of neighbors came together. As the sun went down the streets began to fill with all manner of monsters, superheroes, and witches. Pirates and up right cats ruled the night. The build up to Halloween began promptly on the first day of October.

Over the weeks building up to October 31st the houses transformed from normal suburban homes to haunted vignettes. Pumpkins would start to show up on porches, sheet ghosts hung from trees. Orange and black streamers appeared and rattle-ly plastic skeletons were hung from beams and steeples. Home made scarecrows and monsters made from old work clothes and stuffed with newspaper would prop in lawn chairs and benches. The retail world had not yet caught on to the phenomenon of Halloween, so most of the visual spectacle of yard decorations and costumes were home made. There was a sense of sincerity and creativity shrouding the Holiday.

One essential component to every home was the carved lit Jack o lantern, no matter what motif one haunted their yard with; it was not complete with out the iconic glow from the face of a hand carved pumpkin guard. On Halloween night the assembled masterpieces formed from kitchen knives and powered by tea light and votives would smile their candle lit grins in unison.

The entire month of October was spent building ones costume. Once one decided what persona they would be for the night, it was time to assemble the costume. Back then it was deemed cooler to have created your own costume than to have bought one at the few stores that retailed them. Before the marketing of blockbuster movies and commercially licensed cartoon characters became a booming industry, the store bought sort of costumes were prefab plastic mask and tie back costume made from that odd sort of woven plastic nylon “fabric” that seemed to only appear at Halloween. Planning ones costume and getting it just right was essential. Weeks were spent in preparation; collecting bits, sewing and gluing this and that until all the pieces came together.

Finally, after much anticipation, October 31st had arrived. As tradition held from years before, the festivities would commence at dusk. The scramble would begin to get the pumpkin lit, the candy bowl by the door and costume on. Once the sun had sufficiently fallen on the horizon, with bag, pillowcase or bright orange plastic jack o lantern bucket in hand Trick or Treat would begin. Halloween night had arrived.

The little ones came first, accompanied by their elders who had taken on their own costumed personas. The next wave was the school age Trick or Treaters taking to the streets in packs. Later as the moon had ascended high in the October sky, the big kids came, these were the ones who put the trick in Trick or Treat. Halloween night would go on and wasn’t over until midnight. Today one is fortunate if masked visitors knock after 9:30. Back then the knocks would last well in to the night not fading until 11:00p.m. or midnight, even if the magical eve fell on a school night.

Through out the night neighbors flooded the streets in costume, the small children and the oldest of adults. Folks would decorate their baby’s strollers in black and orange or pull their small children in wagons that had been spooked up in Halloween flair. Through out the Autumn air the sounds of collective shouts of TRICK OR TREAT!” laughter and random screams drifted as if on a constant loop.

Nearly every house kept their porch light on. Most folks would answer the Trick or Treat knock in full scary garb or at least in a minimum witches hat or animal ears and drawn whiskers. If a resident had gone out for the night their neighbors would hand out candy in their stead and let the Trick or Treaters know not to trick their house. Folks would usually stand on their porches or driveways waiting for the costumers to come.

In our neighborhood the haunted garage was a common attraction. At least 3 to 4 houses would be decked out in mazes and stations where Trick or Treaters would dare to earn their treats. Friendly competitions would arise as to who would have the scariest garage for that year and bring in the most visitors. Word would spread like wildfire on the streets where the best candy or baked goods were being given and where the best-haunted garage could be found. At the end of the night one was sure to find popcorn balls, candied apples on sticks, rice krispie treats and printed Halloween bags filled with cookies assorted among all stripes of chocolate bars and packaged cadies. Ones bucket or bag would be so full that one might even have to work their way home to empty it so that one could go out and fill it again.

Once tired feet and aching legs had won over the excitement of the evening, and every last house visited, one would make the journey from the other side of the neighborhood back home. The sounds would have quieted some, lest the occasional Trick Or Treat holler heard in the distance. The streets would be littered with wrappers and plastics left from eaten treats and the occasional split skin from a smashed pumpkin that had suffered an untimely, and gruesome fate. Back home one would spread their bounty across the floor to revel in another year’s well-earned Halloween bounty. With sticky hands and sweet filled bellies one drifted to sleep with dreams of the big questions for next October…”What face to give the pumpkin? How to make the yard more scary? What do I want to be for Halloween”?

Reflecting on Halloweens gone by, one hopes that folks will keep the cultural experience of this historical celebration running and children today could have the same fond memories in their own neighborhoods. It is up to us who carry our own happy reflections to keep the spirit of Halloween alive for the following generations. Reclaim the holiday. Hang a ghost from your tree. Find the biggest bowl you can and fill it with candy. Put on a pointed hat and talk to your neighbors, know whom they are. Gather your kid’s friends and plan a Halloween Trick or Treat extravaganza. If you don’t have kids, gather your own friends and haunt up your yard, hand out treats and make Halloween great again in your neighborhood. Keep your porch light on and keep a Jack o lantern lit in the spirit of Halloween.

Angelique Duncan is proprietor of Twilight Faerie Nostalgic and Capricious Objects. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and vintage inspired traditional holiday art. Visit again next month for more traditions and folklore.

May this Halloween bring you all good fortunes.


May this Halloween bring you all good fortunes.-By Debbi Decker

Ever had your fortune told? No? Why not? Depending on who does it or how it is done, it can be illuminating and fun at the same time. Tarot and other types of card readings, tea leaves, crystals, and runes are some of the most popular ways of telling fortunes. Fortunetelling is related to divination, which has its roots in ancient civilizations. As an example, the ancient Greeks used oracles to “divine” the future and to predict for its followers. Divination is more aligned to ritualistic and religious practices, while fortunetelling has, over time, become more aligned to social and non-religious settings. Most of what we know today as fortunetelling has its roots in the European Renaissance era. It can be argued that present-day fortunetelling owes its arrival to the witchcraft persecutions. Those who practiced any form of fortunetelling or divination risked their life and the lives of their family and friends during this dark period of time. So, much like the early Christians appropriating pagan celebrations and cloaking them with Christian beliefs, the practice of fortunetelling and divination was given a “cover” of superstition, party games, and other social connotations. While still frowned upon by many during the burning times, it was still considered a pastime and not so much a religious practice.

The Victorians, with all their love of past pagan practices, brought another revival of the fortunetelling genre to family gatherings. Halloween parties and Yule gatherings saw a surge of such practices and the popularity is partly evidenced with all the different post cards created during this era that either reference a fortunetelling game or actually offer the reader a fortune right on the card.

One of my favorite fortunetelling games was taught to me by my Grandmother. She would give me an apple and a paring knife. The idea was to peel around the apple in a long strip, keeping as much of the strip as intact as possible. Once done or when the peel broke off, the peel was held gently in my cupped hand and thrown over my left shoulder, while wishing to know who my husband or next beau was to be. If I saw an initial in the way the peel lay on the floor, it was surely the initial of my next love! I must have done this every Halloween for years hoping to see the initial of the “one”!

Nuts were given the names of the persons of the opposite sex. Some would carve the initials onto the nuts, while others would choose a different type of nut for each person. The nuts would be then be thrown into the fire in a fireplace or bonfire, and the name of the first nut to pop would be the name of the nut owner’s bride or groom.

Victorian girls who were anxious to be married would walk down a flight of stairs at midnight, holding a candle in one hand and a mirror in the other, hoping to see the face of the man they would marry in the mirror!

A burning candle’s melted wax would be dripped into a basin of water and scrutinized for shapes of familiar objects and letters with the hope that a future would be revealed for the person looking.

These are only a sampling of the many games that were played throughout the Victorian age at Halloween. Why not try a few at your next Halloween gathering? And don’t forget to bob for apples. The first person who snags an apple from the tub will be the first person to marry. Already married? Well, I cannot help you there. Perhaps you will need to seek the services of a fortuneteller to get the answer to that one!

Debbi Decker is proprietor of twistedpixelstudio Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbi Decker.

Trick or Treat Give Away 2013


Trick Or Treat!

The 2013 Trick or Treat Give Away has concluded! The winner will be contacted via email. Thank you to all the folks who Trick or Treated! Visit Halloween Artist Bazaar to find more holiday events and give aways through out the year. We appreciate your interest in Halloween Artist Bazaar and for keeping the spirit of Halloween alive!

Best of luck to all, and to all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

How To Enter:

Official Rules

Entry deadline is Midnight on October 20th 2013. The Winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person. Winner will be notified via email. The prize will ship on October 21st 2013. The winners name will be posted on the Halloween Artist Bazaar website and Facebook page. Members of Halloween Artist Bazaar are not qualified for entry. Contest open internationally, however please note that prize may not arrive before October 31st due to international shipping delays.*your countries custom charges may apply.*

Contributing Halloween Artist Bazaar Artists:(check back as the list grows and photo’s of the winnings are posted!)
Ghost Gap
Dee’s Alchemy & Curiosity
XO Skeleton Creations
Gothbunny
twistedpixelstudio
Art By Sarada
Chaos In Color
Jan’s Beads
Lttle Shop Of Horrors
Regina A Suarez
Shrine Maiden
Holiday Hijinks
Haunted Hair Candy
Sauvage Raven Creations
Wicked Alterations
Jynxx Designs
Tahoe Snow Bunny
Twilight Faerie
Soiled Doves’ Mercantile

It Just Speaks To Me.


It Just Speaks To Me.-By Debbi Decker

When a good friend suggested that I write about haunted objects, I thought it a great idea and off I went to gather my ideas and how to present them. Halfway through the thought process, it occurred to me that I do not know, exactly, what I believe about this or even how to definitively define the idea.

Haunted objects are a popular subject. People search for these items, sell these items, there are museums that house these objects, and the televisions shows, movies, and stories are a dime a dozen. Paranormal investigators will swear to this phenomena.

The word “haunt” has different connotations. The presence of a ghost in a particular setting. The constant visitation or haunting of a particular place. The haunting memory that comes back over and over. The harmful effects of an action that we took that comes back to haunt us. These will suffice for the subject matter hand.

So, what exactly IS a haunted object? A commonly accepted explanation is that it is a tangible object, be it jewelry, furniture, books, dolls, personal effects, etc., that has a ghost or other entity attached to the object. The simple possession of the object in question brings with it a presence that manifests paranormal activity in proximity of the object. Strange noises, movements, feelings, illnesses are all reported in connection with objects purported to be haunted.

However, there is another equally commonly accepted explanation. That houses and land can be imprinted. Thoughts, emotions, etc., are all types of energy, and energy can affect its surroundings, to include the objects that are in those surroundings. Items from these locations could also be termed haunted.

An excellent example of the latter explanation would be a battlefield where people died and were left in situ. This type of event had enormous energy expended by the people there, so much so that it imprinted the land. The land becomes haunted. People report ghostly battles, see ghostly soldiers. Someone then comes along at a later date finds a button from a uniform or a bullet from a gun, and takes it home. Suddenly they experience feelings of pain, horror, fear, and sadness. And after investigation they realize that these feelings come to them through ownership of the button or bullet, so they get rid of it and then these feelings go away. That button or bullet had been imprinted with the same energy and emotions as the land it came from. The owner is haunted by the energy imprinted on the button or bullet.

The above explanations leave me a bit short, though, when trying explain the phenomena of an object that seems to call out to me. SOMETHING is communicating with me. Calling me to own that item for whatever reason. Which feels entirely different to me from experiencing a run of the mill haunting of a house or bit of real estate. I’ve touched “positive” items and bought them, and I have held “negative” items and put them down fast and walked away ignoring that call. For want of a better explanation I would have to say that the object is haunted.

So now comes my dilemma. Is it a ghost speaking to me? Will that ghost come home with me? Or, is it the ghost’s personality and emotions imprinted upon that object that speaks to my psyche and therefore imparts the feelings of being drawn to that object? I am sure that there were people who had such enormously strong attachments to their personal possessions that they would haunt in either a negative or positive manner the current owner. However, I imagine that as a ghost I would find other, more fulfilling activities to spend eternity on. Perhaps, it’s simply explained as a matter personal preference of the ghost involved. To haunt or not to haunt as it were.

I debate back and forth with myself regarding my personal convictions related to this phenomena so I can’t really offer a solid explanation for the idea of a haunted object. I have, however, adopted the expression that “it just speaks to me”. It is as good an explanation as any leaves me with less angst over my inner debate.

Debbi Decker is proprietor of twistedpixelstudio Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbi Decker.

He is the Rub…

He is the Rub…

By Intricate Knot

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”~ Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

Belying his hulking and awkward shape, he was fast and light on large, ugly feet. Most everything about him was ugly, though. Yes, he had large feet, with twisted, gnarled toenails; these were a good match to his long, crooked fingers that bore their claw-like tips.

He gave the appearance of having no neck; his stout head looked like it was being slowly swallowed up by his round, weighty shoulders. His complexion was an ashy green. His mouth seemed permanently affixed with a false grin, while large, decaying square-shaped teeth leered at anything unfortunate to catch their sight.

His brow hung darkly low, his chin jutted out nearly to his chest. His ears curled high above the top of his head, taller still than even his horns. His eyebrows lay heavy above smoky eyes that bore no spark of intelligence, but only revealed a sliver of cunning-will to survive. As his clawed toes ate up the ground, a tattered, ancient gold scarf flapped piteously, as if unwillingly, over his shoulders.

Unlike most creatures, he needed very little rest or sustenance. Ignorance and fear propelled him, which makes him the most dangerous of any beast.

His name is Diavex Clop and only one revenge-colored thought filled his fragile mind, ‘(the blue-feathered snake), she thinks she controls me, but I have my own plan.’

This fragment repeated itself over and over. It fueled him. It was his only companion. It was his armor.

And then he caught sounds that he’d waited thousands of years to hear. Voices. He stopped and blended effortlessly into the shadows of the trees. He listened intently with his large, unpleasant ears. Yes. It was them. Though thousands of years it had been, he would never forget that black, witchy cat or that baffling owl creature. They were his enemies. Right now they laughed together and those sounds made him angry. So angry. He peered through the leaves and could see them both in the far distance. They stood with a fox. He did not know her. It would not matter, though. When he made them pay, it would not matter who was with those two.

He could take them now. By surprise. He was so tempted. His fingers curled into misshapen fists. It was not time, though. Not yet.

He had to meet with the blue-feathered one. A low growl escaped his warped lips and in a whisper he was gone. The beleaguered golden scarf reluctantly pulled with him.

Mid-laughter, Fiddler and Wilbur stopped. A slow chill wound its way up their spines, while a heavy black, twisting mist oozed, snake-like out of the trees and swirled around the threesome. If there had been any flowers left in the forest they surly would have withered in protest.

Immediately and in unison, Wilbur and Fiddler grabbed a handful of silver sparkle from their pouches, puckered up and blew it to form a vibrant, protective circle around them all. The black mist, sizzled and screamed as if burned, retreated, then disappeared entirely.

Fizzy looked from one to the other in perplexity,

“What just hap-”

In all seriousness, Fiddler signaled silence. They all listened. Listened with all their power and they failed to hear, but it made no difference. The two friends looked at each other and with sinking hearts they knew. An old enemy had returned to the forest.

To be continued next month!


Illustration “Glassy Croon” by Intricate Knot.
Illustration “What to do?” by Angelique Duncan. Appearance of Wilbur with permission of Intricate Knot.

Intricate Knot is proprietor of Cards For A Gloomy Day.Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for more adventures of Fiddler the cat.

 

A Matter of Perception.


A Matter of Perception.-By Debbi Decker

You walk into a room where a conversation is taking place about a recent ghost sighting. On the table there are several pictures, and your eyes immediately lock onto an old, creased and frayed picture of a woman taken during the early 1920s. You think to yourself, that’s the ghost she must be talking about.

But wait. As the story unfolds, you realize that the conversation is centered on another picture. A picture of a young man taken in the past year. A young man who passed away just a few months ago. The details are blurry, and really, you are not listening now to any of the conversation because your mind is adjusting to the shock of the fact that the ghost is not that of the 1920s woman. That picture was simply on the table because the owner was working on a family album.

It’s a matter of perception. A matter of the brain processing details that stand out or are out of place in the current environment. A matter of preconceived notions of what should or should not be. Someone walking down the street in jeans and a cowboy hat is not going to startle you. But someone walking down the street in a pin-stripe suit and a bowler hat will give you pause. That person is out of context, out of the realm of what is perceived to be the present norm. A ghostly apparition? No. The person in the pin-stripe suit and bowler hat is on their way to a costume party. The person in jeans and a cowboy hat? That was the ghost. You might even have felt something off about that person as you passed them by. But, given the context of when and where you saw this apparition, and the modernity of the dress, you probably passed off the “something” you felt as a normal reaction. You don’t like cowboy hats. Maybe the jeans were not to your taste. You gave yourself normal explanations for the fact that you felt that “something”.

Ghosts are not always see-through apparitions, grey misty beings floating three feet off the floor and passing through walls. Ghosts can look just like you and me. We hear stories all the time of the recently passed coming to visit their relatives and loved ones. So, if those ghostly visits are given recognition and consideration, why not the possibility that at any time and in any place, you might just have walked by a ghost?

The next time you are out and about, and you feel a little tingle and the hair rises on your arms, take note. That little old lady you just passed by, walking her dog in that pretty flowered dress… Could it be?

Debbie Decker is proprietor of twistedpixelstudio Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbie Decker.