Pumpkins and some Rambling

So this year, I ended up with two pumpkins to carve, as they were on offer and Mum was feeling generous :)

I agonised over what to carve on them! I nearly carved Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson, then decided that isn't Halloweeny enough (ditto the Doctor and the TARDIS, though I was sorely tempted)

So I opted for these guys. Max Shreck as Orlok in Nosferatu, and Bela Lugosi as Dracula...probably in Dracula, that. ;)

I chose the Lugosi picture because he looks a little unimpressed...

History Lesson! Nosferatu was a rip-off of Dracula, made after permission was denied for adapting Bram Stoker's novel into a film. The Stoker estate took the makers to court and all copies of Nosferatu were supposed to have been destroyed, but some survived and now people go crazy over it.

 

Personally I like Shadow of the Vampire which is a bit of a black comedy centred around the making of Nosferatu. 

Well, NaNoWriMo is soon to start. Actually it's just gone midnight, so technically it has started for me. 

Originally I'd planned to write an in depth sci-fi/fantasy/religious/historical novel but my brain can't take it at the moment. I don't have enough background knowledge to write confidently. So I'm copping out and writing a sequel to last year's novel instead, as the characters have been knocking around in my head for about eight years, waiting to be written! 

...then again, I might sit down to start and completely change my mind on what I plan to write...

At the moment I don't have any motivation to participate at all, asides from a vague sense that I'd feel like I have failed if I didn't. Which is silly, because it's something I choose to do--nobody is making me! 

The lack of motivation is probably because the end of October has come really rapidly, I'm participating in a free iversity course, and mostly because I currently have a Project. Said project involves drawing/digitally painting a scene incorporating a bunch of my friend's characters. I'm giving myself a huge project in that I've drawn each character separately on paper, scanned the pictures, and am now in the process of painting over each drawing. Each individual character is taking about 8 hours to paint. Once I'm done, I'll combine them all into a scene, which I also need to paint... So far I've racked up about 23 hours worth of work! It's time-consuming and lots of things have fallen by the wayside as a result, but I'm enjoying it! So I'd rather do that than NaNoWriMo, I think. 

...but I'll probably start writing anyway. lol

Well, this post has ended up pretty rambly! 

Soon I plan to post something about soup...

Lazy Last Minute Clown Ruff

Previously, I posted a tutorial for a clown/pierrot ruff. It works pretty well, but is also pretty damn time consuming—it takes a good day or more!

This one is much faster. I’m talking of less than an hour to make. Maybe only ten minutes!

It won't look as good, but this is more of a last-minute party costume piece. It is made using string and crepe paper, staples of my childhood fancy dress costumes :)

Costume Bits! (Tutorial Roundup)

Halloween is lurking ever closer!
Whilst I have no full costume tutorials on this blog, I do have a few posts on 'costume bits': those little accessories that finish off a costume.

Here's a quick roundup of the pieces you'll find at Unfortunately Oh!

DIY Ruff | Customised Top Hat

Witch Fingers Tiara | Jabot with Neckband

Elasticated Jabot | Square Eyepatch | No-Sew Pirate Eyepatch

Hope you find something here to help or inspire you with your Halloween preparations! :D

Elasticated Jabot

Previously I shared a tutorial for a jabot with neckband. Today’s tutorial is for a simple elastic-neck jabot, perfect for wearing with a collared shirt! Mine is messy-looking because I didn't hem ;)

You can also make this without the elastic, and attach the jabot with pins (I’ve done this before too, due to laziness!)

Once again this is easy to make and can be put together using a small off-cut of fabric.

You’ll need:

Fabric

Elastic

Thread

Note: Thin cotton works best for this. The fabric I used in this tutorial has the black stripes printed onto it so it wasn’t completely ideal.

Jabot with Neck Band

With Halloween at the end of October, I’m sure some of you are already thinking of spooky décor and fancy dress costumes (whether that’s for yourself or someone else!)

Today I’d like to share this tutorial for a jabot, or ‘frilly neck thingy’, attached to a simple neck band. The fastening is a press stud.

I'll be posting other jabot variations in future, so if this isn't quite for you, come back again :)

I figured this out by trial and error when I made the one in the picture (hence why the top frill is slightly wonky).

Bottle Necklace

Whilst browsing the internet recently, I found some cute bottle necklaces! I have a few little glass bottles that I’ve kept since childhood, so decided to turn them into necklaces!

It doesn’t take much to make a simple necklace, just wire, chain and basic jewellery findings. After making the first, I made more and took pictures so I could share this tutorial!

Mrs Ogg

Every year, I love to carve something a bit more detailed onto my pumpkin for Halloween.
This time around, I racked my brains for ages! I'd done a cat, Dracula, Death (of Discworld fame) and more cats, and Frankenstein's monster.
Being a Discworld fan, I ended up opting to make a stencil of Nanny Ogg, one of Discworld's witches.

I scanned a picture from Nanny Ogg's Cookbook and used the Photoshop stencil-making method that I explained last year.

The pumpkin isn't all that big (large pumpkins seem to be in short supply this year) so the stencil ended up being just 15cm high!

Due to all the little details, this took me just under 5 hours to carve. Phew!

Of course, I made pumpkin soup with all the innards. This year I added (a little too much) curry powder, and subsequently blew everyone's socks off!

Halloween Printables

A4 Size|Letter Size

Halloween is creeping ever closer, and since I felt like playing around in Photoshop, I made these printables!

First off is the bog-standard BOO!

A4 Size|Letter Size

And Halloween wouldn't be complete with a famous quote, so here's one from Dracula. 

A4 Size|Letter Size

Finally, because I was feeling silly, a 'Halloween Menu' of grotesque grub.

The rose brush used is one of my own; I tried to make the spider webs as a brush too but Photoshop wasn't having any of it, so it's a separate layer!

To save or print any of these, either right click and save as for the size you want, or click to print straight from your browser--all links will open in a new tab!


These printables are 100% FREE for non-profit, Personal Use. That means your mantels, vignettes, parties etc. Please do not re-upload these onto other websites without my permission!

Will be linking up to some of the parties listed below!

A Top Hat for Halloween

To continue from my recent post about customising hats, here is another that I got my hands (and glue gun) on.

This time around, my inspiration was the hats of Kikirara Shoten, a fantastic purveyor of weird hats, unusual corsets, and unique accessories in Japan.

The hat is a basic top hat from a fancy dress shop. Sadly it’s a bit tight on my head, but I love how it turned out!

I used multipurpose glue to attach gathered lace trim around the brim. This hides the ugly brim edge that screamed ‘I bought this from a party shop’! Then I added a piece of ribbon (to replace the hideous plastic one) and glued on a strip of marabou. 

Everything else is attached with a glue gun. Hooray for glue guns!

This little picture frame feature on one side is my favourite part.

I didn’t buy anything specifically for this hat: aside from the frame and bats, everything was left over from other projects. The frame came from a charity shop (more recently I used another one to make a necklace) and the bats were amongst my Halloween decorations.

Admittedly the bat side doesn’t look as ‘cool’. I didn’t want this side of the hat to draw too much attention from the picture frame, so went for something simpler. In hindsight, perhaps I should add some extra decoration!

Here are some unusual hats I’ve found online that have particularly tickled my fancy.

Source: hautemacabre.tumblr.com via Kei on Pinterest

Source: kikirarashoten.com via Kei on Pinterest

Source: victoriantradingco.com via Kei on Pinterest

Will be linking up to the parties listed below!

Creepy Fingers Tiara

As a cheap Halloween headdress one year, I knocked together this quick, cheap and easy ‘creepy fingers tiara’.

Here’s what I used:

Nine ‘witch fingers’

Alice band

Cardboard

Hot glue & glue gun

Spray paint

Scissors

First off, I cut a piece of cardboard with tapered ends, wider than the alice band, to give it more of a ‘tiara’ shape and appearance.

I glued this on with hot glue and then added the witch fingers in a slightly arched shape, again with hot glue.

After that, I just gave it a few coats of silver spray paint!

This is a really cheap and somewhat ‘slap-dash’ project, but easy to cobble together at the last minute for a fancy dress party, or for a silly accessory to wear when answering all those calls of ‘Trick or Treat’! 

Will be linking up to the parties listed below!

Haunted Halloween Escape

Games aren't something I would usually write about here. I'm not much of a gamer at all, but I do love escape room games!
Recently I discovered Haunted Halloween Escape, a fun and seasonal game by TeraLumina.

I played this on my iPhone, but you can also play it online

The object of the game is to collect items that enable you to escape from the room. Along the way you have to find thirteen bats (this means bonus points!)

But of course, escape the room games aren't that simple. To gather many of the things you need, you have to find clues to unlock coded drawers and discover keys.

This game is peppered with all the typical ghouls and ghosties of Halloween--skeletons, vampires, ghosts, witches, spiders and black cats and pumpkins; even the Grim Reaper pops up!

There is also the typical Halloween soundtrack - a portion of Bach's tocatta & fugue in D minor (yes, I googled that :D) plays at the opening of the game. Gameplay itself is accompanied by a spooky soundtrack of howling, wailing, thumping heartbeats and more.

Once you've solved all the clues and unlocked the door, there is an extra surprise waiting for you :)

My first play through of this took about fifteen minutes and only one of the puzzles tripped me up a little.

A short but fun game, the puzzles aren't hugely taxing (I played this with a brain fogged up with a cold!) but still require some brainpower!

Great for the Halloween season :)

DIY Ruff

Ruffs are one of those iconic pieces that have carried through the ages - seen on nobles of the mid-sixteenth century, jesters, pierrot, clowns, and even the catwalks of today.

It’s easy enough to cobble together a quick elastic-and-fabric ruff, but if you’re looking for something that ‘stands up’, it’s necessary to take a little more time over the construction. 

 

These ruffs were all made for ‘cosplay’, therefore the designs are not mine, but having made them I can appreciate how much work went into the originals! (If you’re wondering, I reproduced costumes worn by Kozi, guitarist of Japanese band Malice Mizer).

Ever since making them, I’ve had a few people ask how to put them together! The first ruff I made (black and gold, above) was constructed based loosely on some instructions I found on the internet. Unfortunately the web site with these instructions has gone to the internet graveyard, so I’ve never been able to share links with people.

As a result, I thought I’d put together this tutorial!

I haven’t made a ruff from scratch for this, so some of the photographs are from the ruffs above. I used some off-cuts and fabric scraps to create process shots, so it should all be clear.

I’m not gonna lie. This will take you a LONG time.

So to find out how to make a ruff, read on!

It’s quite lengthy, so go and make a cup of tea first :)