Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 11 - Hallowe'en Displays, the hallway entrance

Here is the Hallowe'en display that I did in the hall entrance. Those of you that have been following my blog will have seen the Thanksgiving display that I put up. I took out the items that were specifically for Thanksgiving and then adjusted the main body of the display. The vintage Hallowe'en items from my collection that I wanted to display were then added in.


You will notice that I that I follow the "more is more" and the "enough is never to much" school of display. I tend to do that at home, especially for holiday displays. I heard a comment one time that holidays should be like opera - bigger than life. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

Our son said that it looked like Hallowe'en vomited against the wall! I think he's right.


This lovely big Jack-O-Lantern is by Lori Rudolph of RetroRudolphs. On the right hand side you can just make out a black cat ornament of hers. I displayed her lantern on a green glass cake stand that I recently picked up at the Salvation Army thrift store. Underneath the cake stand is a vintage pulp pumpkin nut cup and 4 modern wind-up toys. The two grey top hats are 1950's Japanese papier-mache. Over the years I have picked up domino masks, some plain and others with a frill around the edge. The two on the column are edged in plastic ruffles.

The Donald Duck mask is hollow plastic; the inside fits the contour of a child’s face. The bottom part of the bill is separate and attached to the upper part with string. This piece is also hollow plastic. The inside is moulded to snug up to the child’s chin so that when they speak the bill opens and closes. The plastic pumpkin above this mask is a rattle. It is filled with very coarse sand and mounted on a wooden stick.


This picture shows some 1950's Japanese domino masks that I have pinned to the draperies. The masks are made of a thick paper that has a layer of very fine silk fabric glued to the surface. The masks were then die-cut and embossed to a general facial shape all in one quick process. They have 2 1/2" tarlatan ruffles decorated with foil stars and foil circles of various colours. I love these masks! Exquisite opulence made from cheap materials.

Hanging in behind the taller column is a Japanese cloth pirate costume.

On the column in front of the costume is a Starbucks “Day of the Dead” lantern. Nestled around the base of the lantern are Hawaiian leis made in Japan from rice plant fibre. Underneath the cake stand that they are displayed on are some copper glazed ceramic pumpkins. Pinned to the draperies in behind are vintage gauze masks from Japan.


In the last photo you can have a better look at the gauze masks. There is a puppy, a very incorrect African Tribal image, and an American Indian face that is as incorrect as the African native is. Underneath the Indian mask is a fabric "Tonto" costume.

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