Craft Party 2016

This October marked the 9th year of official Halloween craft parties. It's a lot of crazy, but magic happens when you throw a bunch of people in with a bunch of stuff, stir in some glue and sprinkle on a little glitter.  I love seeing everyone feed off each others ideas. It's like being in a vortex of creative energy.

Sadly I didn't get pictures of everything.  I never do, there's so much happening at once, it's hard for me to keep up.

As we do every year, there were potion bottles.  Bottles with labels...

Both this poison label and the one in the first picture are from SpookShows.com. Life Renewal Potion label from Love Manor.

bottles without...

The bottle below is one of my favorites, staring at the line between the light and dark red was like looking off into the horizon of a red alien landscape. 
Someone said it looked like a core sample from Mars. 

Last year we discovered that if you add glitter to a bottle of water
with a little oil in it the glitter sticks to the oil and takes on
a globular life of it's own when you shake it around. 

This bottle is kind of neat because there is too much glitter for the oil to hold,
so it has both the globular effect and loose glitter falling down when shaken. 

We also did lava lamp style bottles, which are a lot of oil
and a little water with alka seltzer tablets thrown in.
I wouldn't recommend adding glitter to these, it ruins the effect.

We used both corn oil and baby oil. 
Corn oil is cheaper, but yellow and baby oil is clear.

This one is pretty as is, but I wish I had a picture of when it was just plain water,
baby oil and silver glitter.  It almost looked like a storm cloud in a bottle. 

This year I made vampire blood.  Which is super cool, green under normal light, but glows red under UV. I used kale as they did in the instructions, but it's noted that anything green and leafy should work.

I have never eaten kale and after this I probably never will. Just blanching it for a minute smelled really bad, like old broccoli and even after pureeing the crap out of it the solid matter was really fibrous. It was not attractive. I'm just mentioning this in case you think you're going to tempt kids over to the dark side of kale by showing them how "cool" it is.  Cool, it is.  Edible, I think not. 

Anyway moving on, what to do with it? I tried lighting the "blood" from within with a submersible UV tea light.  It needed to be watered down so much for the light to come through that the effect is pretty blah.  Pictured above is full strength vamp blood on the left and watered down on the right, being lit from a source outside the containers. It's just a little strobe UV light, so it was hard getting a good picture. 

I kept the fibrous muck after I strained it out, because that stuff is cool too.  The chunky stuff isn't as bright, but this picture still doesn't do it justice. After it dried, it glow a bit less, but still enough to look cool.  Once it dried it didn't stink, it smelled a lot like alfalfa.

You can write or draw with the liquid and that looks cool too, but I don't have pictures.  Again it fades as it dries.  Maybe mixing with an acrylic glaze would help? Definitely need to experiment more. Like these glowing cupcakes from PhotoandGrime.com that use the chlorophyll from mint. Betcha mint smells better than kale.  I wonder if you can make minty vamp blood mojitos? Ok I definitely have to get down to the laboratory.  Igor? Where's an Igor when you need one?

I've been wanting to do papier mache at the party for awhile, but that's not a project that can be finished in a few hours.  So as a compromise, just to get some techniques introduced, we did simple stuff that people could at least get the foundation laid and then paint it on their own once it was dried. Here are some fantastic books my neighbor did. 

Here's a cute little pumpkin and some eyes before painting. Both are done on pieces of cardboard.  The eyes are glass gems over iris printouts from Orestesgraphics.com

And some random glass gems over magazine cutouts. 

I've been wanting to make tampon ghosts for ages, but the kids were so young I held off.  You can't really traumatize them if they don't get the joke.  But now that most them are in middle school, I figure the only thing worse than going through puberty would be tampon crafting with your mom. 

Tampons and I go way back, to when I was in middle school.  You know when dinosaurs roamed the earth and mullets and parachute pants were cool. In all that time I never noticed that they are made up of a bunch of really short fibers that fall apart when you futz with them. It may be unnecessary but I spray them with a little starch for longevity.  A clear acrylic spray would probably work well too. If you would like to read more about tampon construction than you ever really wanted to know check out my tampon angel.

I didn't want to add spraying starch as a parlor game inside my house, so for the party we just dipped them in starch.  A little liquid goes along way, so quick dips. My friend had the genius idea to wet the ends with the watered down glitter glue we had for potion bottles and then took it one step further to drop food coloring on the bottoms and let it wick up. Next time I would skip the starch and go straight to the watery glitter glue or maybe brush starch on the top and glitter glue the bottoms. 

I was inspired by her ghosts to make this tampon Cthulhu,
which I will write up a tutorial for, because everyone should
have a super absorbent Great Old One in their life.

The past few years voodoo dolls have been a party favorite. 
The girls love making fashionable outfits for them, so when I saw these ladies at Grandin Road, I thought we could do a similar thing with mini skeletons.

 They came up with some pretty amazing ideas. 

I was inspired to make this last skeleton while cleaning up after the party.  Scraps of this and that were laid out in such a way that the universe was practically begging for this to be made.  I started off with every intention of making a punk skeleton, but the scraps of pink neon lightning material (I have a friend who makes skate costumes, among other things, who donated some really neat stuff.), had other ideas and wouldn't leave me alone until I resigned to go 80's glam rock.

She's missing an arm because pre-party I played around with posing.  Soaking in boiling hot water was ok for minor manipulation. Snapping joints off and gluing into position looked the best, but leaves the joints very vulnerable, which is fine if you aren't going to mess with it much.  Obviously I messed too much and lost limbs along the way.      

We also made box mummies inspired by these but on a smaller scale.
Even though they look very similar we did things differently enough that I'll write up a separate tutorial. 

We did more foam bats this year too. 
Add a wire and you can stick them with your plants. 

We also made witch jars and other silhouette luminaries. 

No pictures but last year's post has pictures and links to silhouettes we used.

Food.  I'm obligated on penalty of death or at least torture by being tied to the tree of woe and licked by fire kittens to make rat and eyeballs every year. 
This year I went with diseased rat.  He did a fantastic job of oozing raspberry blood, I was very pleased.

I also made cookie dough brains, making the full cookie dough recipe without the cupcakes resulted in about 40 dough balls, which took about 16oz of white chocolate to coat enough molds.  These numbers are approximate because my kitchen is infested with ninja trolls that steal dough balls when I'm not looking. I made intestines, another recipe I'll have to post, and I tried these jalapeno mummy poppers, with a few modifications.  Instead of scallions and garlic, I seasoned them with chipotle powder and instead of salt & pepper I used a chipotle sea salt blend. The jalapeno's were a nice balance to all the sweet stuff. 

Guest contributions included Bat Barf, a meaty queso dip.  I didn't get a picture, but it was very barfy looking.  I did snap a picture of the tag, which makes me giggle, like only emoji barf can do.

On the sweeter side there were eyeballs,

bones,

witches hats and broomsticks,

graveyard cupcakes,

acorns,

and candy corn.

There's also a part that no one else gets to see. When the party's done, when it's quiet, when I can finally process everything...that's when I get some of the best ideas and I owe them all to the wonderful people who choose to share this day with me. 

Winter Squash & Roasted Seeds

Fall gently ushers in Halloween with silken whispers of rustling leaves.

As a kid one of my favorite things about this time of year was fresh roasted pumpkin seeds.  Now it's fresh roasted squash seeds. I love the smaller seeds and thinner shells. The problem is cleaning the guts off all those little seeds. I figured out a little trick this year to speed up the process.  It's so blatantly obvious after the fact, it feels like a stretch to call it a trick.  But if I've been doing it wrong all these years, I'm sure I'm not the only one and hopefully someone finds this useful. The trick is to scoop out the seeds first.  Just the seeds. Leave the stringy guts intact.  You can kind of pop them out with your finger pressing at the base of the seeds to disconnect it from the guts.  This is so much faster and cleaner than scooping them out together and then trying to separate seeds from guts.

Squash with seeds removed, guts still intact.

To roast them; I rinse them off, toss them with a bit of olive oil, spread them out on a sheet and sprinkle them with salt.  Lately I've been using this chipotle sea salt grinder for all of my savory salting needs.  It's great on roasted veggies and popcorn too. Since they are smaller they roast up pretty fast compared to pumpkin seeds. I roast them at 275 for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

My favorite winter squashes are the Carnival, Delicata and Sweet Dumpling varieties picture above. They are all very similar in taste and texture, with mottled orange, green and cream colors on the outside. Small, sweet and creamy, I don't do anything fancy with these.  I cut them in half, scoop out the guts, bake them cut side down on a baking sheet (covered in parchment or aluminum foil for easy cleanup) at 350 about 40 minutes until tender.  Once they are cool enough to handle, I scoop out the squash add a bit of butter, salt (chipotle salt blend for a kick) and pepper. No brown sugar, like I grew up with on acorn squash, these are so deliciously sweet on their own.

Spooky Beach Fairy Garden

My daughter and I were invited over to the neighbors to make fairy gardens, this isn't one of them.  A gang of chipmunks vandalized ours, because chipmunks are little bastards.  Adorable little bastards, but little bastards nonetheless.  They literally left no stone unturned. No stone, no marble, no decorative whatnot. They even violated a fairy princess. Seriously guys is nothing sacred?

I salvaged parts from the originals, added in a few skeletal elements and moved it inside where it's safe. The fence is made out of hands that were a gift from another neighbor.  I've never thought of fairy gardens as a creepy medium, but now that I've had a little taste, I can totally see getting lost in the world of miniature gardens with zombies and tombstones instead of fairies and butterflies. First I'll have to see whether I manage to keep the plants alive. Then maybe I'll figure out how to make a skeleton lounging in a beach chair sipping a fruity cocktail. 

Skull Pot and Black Thumb Gardening

 How to Repot a Plant

 

Step 1: Sorely neglect plant for years.

Step 2: Marvel at plant's tenacious will to survive.

Step 3: Purchase terra cotta pot, saucer and proper soil.

Step 4: Spend infinitely more time painting pot than ever spent on caring for plant.

Step 5: Actually take time to read up on repotting plant.

Step 6: Discover new pot is way too big.

Step 7: Get smaller pot.

Step 8: Quickly sponge paint smaller pot due to mounting guilt over taking too long to repot.

Step 9: Repot plant. 

To paint this pot I used painter's tape as I've done on previous projects.  This was a really simple design that was quick to cut out by hand. If you have a fancy machine, a repositionable vinyl might be the way to go, but I've never used it. For this pot I've spray painted a base coat and layered on acrylics, but I've also done just acrylics with equal results. For the record I went all out with metallics but in the pictures the gold looks yellow, the copper looks red and the silver looks white.  Also I couldn't decide which side I liked best, so you get to see them all whether you like it or not.

At first I wasn't sure about the paint durability, what with watering and all but I have a couple pots that I did years ago and don't seem any worse for wear. All the pots I've done are indoors and out of direct sunlight, so not sure how they would fare under other conditions. 

My grandmother had house plants everywhere. Crowded along window sills, set on small tables, hanging down, on plant stands, and anyplace else you could put a plant. I never really paid attention to them. I couldn't even tell you what they were except for the spider and bleeding heart plants, which fascinated me both in name and appearance. But I realize now they were working a subtle magic in the background, bringing a little life, a little color, and a bit of serenity with their presence. Anyplace populated with plants has that affect on me and I wanted that in my home, except for as long as I can remember I've had a black thumb.  In retrospect my biggest crime has been overwatering.  In my cruel ignorance as I watched them turn yellow, assuming it was from lack of water because plants must need water like I needed air, I watered them more, oblivious to their silent screams.  I was once gifted a big beautiful jade plant, I can't even speak of it.  

The important thing now is that I no longer overwater. But that alone isn't enough to curtail the body count. It's not that I don't have a green thumb it's just that I'm terribly lazy and forgetful when it comes to plants.  I found the key to successfully cohabiting with vegetation is to know thyself. If you are like me, there are tons of plants that more than happy to be neglected by you.   Search on "easy care" or "hard to kill" (Also good qualities to have in a life partner).  As a bonus most of these plants are also some of the highest rated air purifiers (Life partners not so much.  See "dutch oven")

I forget to water, so plants that need to dry out between waterings are good. Also good for me are plants that will tolerate being root bound since it'll be awhile before I repot anything.  Also when I say a plant will put up with abuse, that doesn't mean it will flourish and be the loveliest plant ever.  Although some will, what I mean here is that they will merely stay alive long enough for you to get your shit together. 

Besides being generally neglectful there are a few things I actually do.  When I finally get around to watering, I use filtered water.  I also like clay pots because they dry out faster.  Although slapping a bunch of paint on a clay pot is going to make it less porous, I still have better success with them than a plastic pot. I've also been adding perlite to my potting soil. I originally got the perlite to grow snake plant leaf cuttings, which has been a complete fail even though it's supposed to be so easy. Nonetheless I'm glad I had it on hand to amend my crappy (ahem Miracle Gro) soil. There is some great information at Plants Are The Strangest People about soil that I wish I had read before I ever owned a plant. There is a wealth of knowledge in all things house plant related there and it's also highly entertaining, which is not something I thought I'd ever say about a plant blog, so most of the plant links here lead there.

With the exception of the spider plant which I just got, here are a few plants that I've had over a year and haven't killed:

Snake Plant - It's all those things I listed above and does fine in any lighting.  PATSP delivers the best article I've read on this plant.  I would probably say that about any plant article that managed to reference Gremlins and Kiss but it has loads of good information too. 

African Violet - Another good read at PATSP.  Seems some people take their African Violets very seriously. I should probably keep an eye out for angry mobs with pitchforks and torches after I post this.  There are many complex ways to water them.  I just use a thin spout watering can and water the soil underneath the leaves (you're not supposed to get the leaves wet) until the water runs out the drain holes.  Then I don't water again until the soil is dry, sometimes too dry. Actually this is pretty much the way I water everything. I have forgotten to water them until they were bone dry and wilted and they came right back after watering.  I've had them in areas too shady or too cold.  I recently split my two plants into a half dozen crowns each, like this video, because they were so overgrown. I did buy African Violet potting soil, so I'm not a complete monster.

Pothos - It would probably like better lighting or more water than I give it, but it hasn't complained. When I was a kid everyone had this and spider plants and now I know why, hard to kill and easy to propagate.  Everyone also always had a few slips in water rooting to make new plants, either for themselves or to give away.

Peace Lily - This one needs water more frequently than my other plants, but it's nice enough to go limp when it gets thirsty as a visual reminder.  Even if you forget about it until it's so wilted it looks dead, it's very forgiving and perks right up after watering.  I've since learned that for me plants that need more water have to be either in the kitchen or close to it. Try drinking a glass of water while they are guilting you with their thirsty eyeless stare. Also after the flower dies you have these awesome caterpillar looking things that are definitely going in a potion bottle after I come up with a better name than Awesome Caterpillar Looking Things.

 

Spider Plant - I haven't had mine long enough to claim that I can't kill it, but I have faith it will survive. I got mine the old fashioned way as a piece off my friend's plant. 
 

Christmas Cactus - This is the plant I had to repot and it's looking much happier.  I used cactus potting soil this time around, with some extra perlite. It's put up with a lot of hardship and it would definitely be much fuller if I properly cared for it.  From this point forward I will try to be a better plant person.

Besides low maintenance plants, it's also helped me to only get a couple at a time, adding to my brood when I was pretty confident with what I had.

I also have a calathea, which I'm not listing as hard to kill because everything I've read says its a fussy plant, but I've had a gorgeous one for a few years now. I only mention it because it doesn't hurt, (well maybe the plant, but not you) to try something outside your comfort zone once in awhile.

I'm not any better about watering stuff outside either, so I only have a small area for annuals, in the ground not in pots.  That's important because outside pots need regular watering.  "Drought tolerant" annuals are great for those such as myself. Drought tolerant flowers generally need a couple weeks to get established, which happens to be the exact length of my outdoor watering attention span. Marigolds are fabulous at not dying if you are looking for a hardy flower. I have never killed a marigold, they have plant balls of steel. 

Real quick, one more painting method.  Gunmetal base coat.  Silver paint slapped on leaves. Press leaves to pot.  Sponge metallic black on top of leaves to define the edges a bit more. While the paint is still wet peel off leaves. 

The middle one looks more like a flower print than leaves, but it's not.  That's sweet woodruff. Pictured on the left are segmented pieces of one stem. Do be warned this can be an invasive plant. In the plant world invasive means Level 3 Zombie hard to kill. I have it growing in isolated rocked off area.