Friday, October 31, 2014

The EHAG Emporium is open.


  HELLO!  

  HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!  

I am so glad that you stopped by to have a look at my sculpture - “Landscape rattle, Ambrose and Monty, his Parade Lantern”.

Ambrose and Monty, his parade lantern, are discussing the coming events for the evening.


Well, I suppose I will tell you about the making of this sculpture, what you can see as well as what you cannot see.

The barrel rattle that the landscape rests on is 5 1/4" wide and the ground that was built up with tinted composition is roughly 2" wide. The cardboard cylinder was covered in crushed, hand painted paper before adding the composition ground.

Inside the cylinder is a ½” wide x 2 ¼” high x 5” long piece of wood filling the centre of  the interior, it has been glued in place.

Holes were drilled through the cardboard cylinder into the wood to hold the fence, the tree, and the handle securely place. Cardboard, painted black, covers each end of the rattle. Screw eyes were inserted in the centre of each end to hold the vintage brass bells. It was then covered with black glass glitter. Glue was painted over the glitter to hold it in place when the bells move across the surface.

The 10 3/4" tall tree was hand built from vintage florist pips, tissue paper, wire, and painted with acrylic paint. The wooden fence was made from branches from a vintage basket; nailed together with cigar box nails. The basket with the miniature handmade fireworks was first aged, distressed with paint, and then screwed in place. I do not want anything to come unglued so I take many precautions such as this when building my sculptures.



This back view shows the orange velvet coat that Ambrose is wearing. It was made from a piece of vintage orange velvet ribbon. The collar of the coat comes from a piece of a vintage scarf. Ambrose stands 5 3/4" tall.

The grey green composition that was used to make the ground that Ambrose is standing on was painted with acrylic paint. Once dry glue was liberally applied to the ground and a mixture of roasted sterilized soil, finely cut hand dyed green, brown, and natural sisal twine was dusted onto the glue.


The tree has been glued into a hole drilled into the rattle. The trunk has also been nailed to the fence and also wired to the fence for security. Sections of vintage vegetal fibre rope were glued around the base of the tree interspersed with vintage yellow floral stamens to resemble weeds.


More weeds and dried grass were added to the base of the other fence post.


This view shows a bit of my hand so that you can get an idea of the scale of the sculpture.

The overall size of the sculpture is18” high, 6 ¾” wide from bell to bell, and approximately 4 ½” deep.

$250.00 plus $35.00 postage.  This sculpture arrives duty free into the US.

When I pack this sculpture it will be carefully wrapped, the tree bent over onto the sculpture so as not to require a larger box and much more postage. The tree can be carefully bent back into shape without damaging it.

Please email me at lenbenny@shaw.ca if you wish any more information or to purchase this sculpture.

I take PayPal and can also take credit cards through PayPal. I do not take personal cheques.

EHAG Emporium Sneak Peek.


Once again the EHAG Emporium opens its doors tonight at 6 PM Pacific time. 


Here is a sneak peek at what I have to offer. See you there.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

"TRICK OR TREAT!" Hallowe'en treat bags Part 2.

Here is part 2 of the treat bags as promised. I had so many images I thought that it would be better to divide them into two posts.


This treat bag is made with glassine paper, a glossy transparent paper.


This is a later version using ordinary paper; it is smaller than the original bag. Remember in my last post I said that the round top bags are old and the straight top bags are newer; this newer reproduction has a rounded top; I was wrong on that point wasn't I?


I love the surprised look on the house and the pumpkin.





This Hallmark treat bag came from the package of treat bags below; 25 bags for 35 cents.



Here is another Hallmark treat bag that belongs to the 35 cent package of treat bags pictured below.



This treat bag I remember getting in my stash of goodies, I love it! It is made with the glossy transparent glassine paper.


This is a paper version of the same treat bag done years later.


I bought this treat bag two years ago at Hallowe'en and Vine, I was one of the participating artists. I would like to know how it was used. I don't think that it was a Hallowe'en treat bag, I could be wrong. I don't really care if it isn't, I love it. This side is advertising "Tums, for the tummy".


The other side is advertising "NR", a remedy for constipation if I am correct, NR = Nature's Remedy.


Click here to go to my Etsy shop to purchase my, "What did you get Jack?", party favour.

"TRICK OR TREAT!" Hallowe'en treat bags Part 1.

Trick or Treat bags were bought by the parents that loved the design a particular bag that would hold the candy for each trick or treater. The bags were only fleetingly appreciated ,if at all, but torn open and discarded in order to get to the precious candy contents, myself included.


This and the following two sets of bags are the only plastic bags that I have bought new; I love the clean design.




This and the two following bags are Martha Stewart treat bags. A collector friend shared some of her bags that she had bought.




This is a small grocery bag with a great pumpkin and candy graphic on it. The size of the bag is far to big for handing out to all of those trick or treaters at the door but was probably meant to be used as a party loot bag.


The paper used for this bag has a hammered texture to it.





The graphics on this bag are not that great compared to the earlier designs. This bag also has some printing on the back.




This small bag has some interesting graphics on the front as well as the back. The older bags have a curved top, except for Martha as their designs are retro, and the new bags are cut straight across the top.

I will post, "TRICK OR TREAT!" Hallowe'en treat bags Part 2, later today.


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Hallowe'en Hilarity Party Book

Hallowe'en Hilarity was published in 1924 by the Paine Publishing Company of Dayton Ohio. It has very few illustrations in it; the cover of the book is the most interesting. 



The pumpkin on a pole with an owl perched on top and the invitation/place card below are two of the best illustrations.



What I did find inside though was this newspaper clipping with party ideas on one side and decoration ideas on the other side. The layout of the newspaper looks very much like an old Victoria newspaper, the Times/The Daily Times?... I was young then so it wasn't important to know or remember the name of a newspaper! It is now called the Times-Colonist. I don't know when the name changed so the clipping may be the Times/The Daily Times or the Times-Colonist.

Hallowe'en ephemera.

This year I haven't put any of my paper items out on display so I thought that I would post a few items that I could scan. I will do a post and show you pictures of this year's display. Enough with the talking/writing, enjoy yourself.

I didn't mention but the images are larger than the actual pieces so I'll put the dimensions under each image.


A ghost in the pumpkin patch by the light of the silvery moon is only 2 3/4" by 2 3/4".


The scarecrow decoration is 3" by 3 1/4".


This Hallmark party invitation is 3 1/2" by 5 1/4".


Coutts was a Canadian card company that eventually became Coutts Hallmark and then just Hallmark. The place-card has the inscription on it copyright Coutts Canada and underneath a Hallmark card. This may be just before they became known as Coutts Hallmark, I am not certain though. The place-card measures 5 1/4" by 4".


I love the addition of the Autumn leaves to this pumpkin image, it measures 4" by 4".


This little witch measures 4" by 3 1/4". The marks that you see unfortunately are pin holes.


This little die-cut witch measures only 1 1/2" wide by 1 1/2" high, the detail for the size is quite amazing.

Despite the fact that all of these items are small the graphics look great enlarged.