Photographs by Edward Burtynsky - black things

Photographs by Edward Burtynsky.

1. Nickel Tailings No.1 (Ontario) from the Tailings series.
2. Sip Breaking #23 (Bangladesh) from the Ships series.
3. Oxford Tire Pile #9b (California) from the Oil and Urban Mines series.
4. Oxford Tire Pile #4 (California) from the Oil and Urban Mines series.
5. Tanggu Port (Tianjin) from the China -Coal and Steel series.

Post Halloween and I still have a fairly large collection of black images I wanted to share. These ones are all by Photographer Edward Burtynsky (his photos aren't always black). Whenever I waiver in my consumer or energy use restraint I should look at his website and remind myself of what is involved, before and after, in our culture of mass consumption. Makes me want to get out in the garden and grow more seeds.

My Halloween - food, face, flowers - 2011

Much belated, a few snippets from my Halloween Dinner party:
1. Autumn Squash and a lovely Black Bear brooch from Adadine (guilt gift from Mr P).
2. Facepaint always makes me happy.
3. Oxalis plant in a ceramic raku fired bowl I made in the early 90's.
4. Japanese snacks in a small ceramic tealight holder.

Halloween inspiration - black white grey & stylish

Mummified drink bottles by one charming party


Marshmallow goody bags by one charming party


Crushed Oreos adorn the top of the cake to resemble dirt, inside is red sponge. By one charming party


Halloween table display with pumpkin painting tutorial on Apples & Onions


Black lace candles on Family Chic


Table setting for Black Halloween in Sweet Paul Magazine


Black Pumpkin styled by Paul Lowe for Black Halloween in Sweet Paul Magazine


Framed Embroidery by Paul Vitale for Black Halloween at Sweet Paul Magazine


Spanish Moss tealight holders and white Ranunculus with wording make more grown up table decorations via One Charming Party.


Chiharu Shiota - In Silence - 2008


Sweet Paul's scary portraits tutorial is here.

So you have some ideas for the house, but what about you? I always think about how I'll do my hair, or my wigs. Here are some tamer than usual ideas for a more stylish party...


Désirée Dolron - Xteriors VI - 2003 (via Alain Truong, see more on Artnet)


Dusan Jaukovic working with Morpheum Couture for Best Shop (via Haute Macabre)


A Tribute to Dorian Gray. Shot by Vincent Alvarez for Soon International. Found via Haute Macabre.

Next up, what to wear? Perhaps that should have been before the hair, but I usually start with hair and work a look around it. When you are going for something stylish that shouldn't mean giving up on the costume side of things, dressing up is half the fun. One option is to think Couture or Avante Garde catwalk style take some Halloween fashion tips from the runway shows and magazines.


Gareth Pugh via About a Girl.


Gareth Pugh - Spring Collection, Women's 2010 via Million Looks.


Gareth Pugh - Spring Collection, Men's 2010 via Homme Times.


Gareth Pugh via About a Girl.


Peter Pilotto Franken-Fashion mask for model Guinevere van Seenus on Dazed Digital.


Chic Gothic Glam, shot by Craig McDean for Vogue Italia. Found via Haute Macabre.




Photographed by Jerry Bennet :: Modeled & MUA by Manchester
Wardrobe and Styled by Alex London. Found via Haute Macabre.


Photos from Max.Tan’s F/W 2010 collection via Haute Macabre.


Iris van Herpen - Capriole - Paris Haute Couture Show

I have so much more but don't have time to find the links, perhaps another time? FOr now I need to get on with my own Halloween arrangements, like dusting off Mr P's green lady painting 'Tina' by J.H.Lynch which is perfect for Halloween in a mobile home since it oozes kitsch. I'll try and get a photo if I have time.

Halloween costume ideas - Day of the Dead

-2006
-2005
..-2006
2003

I love Mexican Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead. All that colour, art, creativity and food, what a joyous way to celebrate and remember loved ones who have died. Every few years some friends host a Day of the Dead Party instead having a traditional Halloween party. In the early years I started off with simple skulls make-up and a plain red wig but in subsequent years I was inspired by edible Sugar Skull candy and opted for much more colourful face painting and costumes and lots of colourful flowers in my wig to give that true Mexican feel. As always, I did other people's faces first so my own was a bit of a last minute rush, but even messy painting looks jolly when it's in such bright colours. I always enjoy doing them.

DIY Halloween Lighting Ideas

I like to set the mood at Halloween with home made or customised lighting.


I make paper Pumpkins to work as wall and window decorations, lighting and masks.

• Fairy lights, which are a year round feature, get a Halloween twist with orange paper chain and shreds of orange crepe paper (only on led lights that don't get hot).

• Tealight holders and glass jars get wrapped in orange paper chopped with jaggy tops and grouped to look like little fires.

• Rather than doing scary faces on pumpkins I prefer something more decorative or abstract so that I can keep using them past Halloween.

• Paper pumpkins ensure I still have a spooky vibe on the night. Made from orange paper and drawn on with marker pen then cut out. They look great in the window with tealights behind them (safely in jars) and if you attach two lengths of wool either side they double as pumpkin masks if you have guests who don't have the time or interest to make anything. The one in the photo above is in front of a small table lamp with a 4w energy saving bulb to give a gentle light.

Halloween face painting - elf/goblin/sprite

Elf, Goblin, Sprite? I just painted in a way that suited the ears I'd been given.


A friend gave me her green ears • sitting by the fire

Here I am as a Goblin type of critter in 2005. It was a mild dry October that year so we had the party outside around a tiny barbecue based bonfire with orange tea light lanterns and pumpkins around the garden.


Halloween Invitation 2011

When I was a kid I absolutely LOVED it when we were out Guising (Trick or Treat) and would occasionally go to a house that had made an effort to be spooky. In the 70's it was very rare to encounter that and I vowed when I grew up I'd always dress up for the Guisers. Since Asda in the UK was bought by Walmart there was a definite importing of Halloween as a commercial concept and all the other supermarkets have followed suit so Halloween themed houses are much more prevalent these days, but I far prefer a home-made look rather than a bought one and for me getting creative is the most fun part of Halloween. Having ME has meant not a lot of partying but having had a nice Fancy Dress dinner for 4 last year I decided to increase that this year and tweaked the Elfish Goblin with some fangs to make the above e-vite for it.

Halloween costume inspiration

Junya Watanabe - Commes des Garçons - Autumn/Winter 2008-09

When friends say they don't have anything to make a fancy dress costume with I always remind them that you'll never be stuck for a costume if you have some old tights and a bin bag (panty hose & trash bags). Several of my best, indeed 1 prizewinning, outfits were made with those basics and perhaps some wire or cardboard scraps, or a bit of tinfoil to tweak my own clothes into creations fit for any costume party.

I've had a LOT of fun over the years stretching old tights over shapes to make weird headwear but beware, I found out, to my great dissapointment, that sometimes people think you've made a bad attempt at being Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) from Star Trek.

The collection above by Designer Junya Watanabe is clearly not made from bin bags and tights, but the effects are similar, albeit painstakingly sewn and crafted, not held together with glue, pins and tape like my 'collections'. The point is that you just need to use your imagination a bit. Costumes don't have to be about recreating something that already exists. Some people may look at you with bafflement if you don't dress as a character but don't let that stop you coming up with something creative and original if you are feeling inspired.

Update: A follow on post shows the work of Hendrik Kerstens who uses a plastic bag to style his daughter like the Dutch Masters.

Free Halloween invite & tutorial

Part of my 2005 Halloween Party Invite (180dpi 15cm wide)

Want to use this to make you own invites?
• Click the invite above to enlarge the black and white image.
• Save to your hard drive.
• Scale to the size you need and print out.
• Colour in the lettering by hand - orange, bright red and green work well.
• Leave it at that and add your details on the back. or read on for the 3D version...

Here is my original mock up (a bit streaky as the ink was running out).

Place party details behind the front flap in contrasting colour


Flip over tabs of different heads on the body.


Wig hand coloured to match the text.

Well, not so much a Tutorial as a 'Look how I did it'. When I made this originally it was actually part of a flip to change card showing the body with my head in various fancy dress outfits from previous years with Jack Skellington as the main one and Ghostly Woman, Dia de Los Muertos Skull and Edward Scissorhands as flip down options simply attached with a bit of Scotch tape at the top, like a hinge. The corners of the flip tabs are folded forwards on the left so you know they can be lifted and and backwards on the right to make the layers stick out a little from each other to give a better 3D look. I cut a slit in the centre of the card so that the text on the front would fold back to reveal party details in a contrasting colour underneath. The Tree and landscape silhouette was from a photo I took nearby and the oversized moon was added in Photoshop. Why not try making one with things related to where you live.

I hope you can have some fun with this or are inspired to try something of your own. I'd love to hear if you do. I hope to post more Halloween inspiration through the week.