Artful Halloween: 31 Frightfully Elegant Projects

Artful Halloween: 31 Frightfully Elegant Projects
By Susan Wasinger
Gifted by Lark Crafts
larkcrafts.com
Reviewed by Jessica Nichols, Editor of AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com

Artful Halloween: 31 Frightfully Elegant Projects by Susan Wasinger is about escaping the commercialism of Halloween and making your own Halloween decorations that draw on the creepy cool history of the holiday. Wasinger presents readers with instructions and examples for 31 handmade Halloween crafts that save money and give your festivities a personal touch.

Wasinger introduces Artful Halloween with her own take on the creepiest holiday. She rejects the plastic decorations and and cliched costumes sold in every party store for a creative, personalized approach to Halloween decorating. She insists that her Halloween crafts be not only haunting, but also beautiful. Drawing on spooky sources of inspiration like Medieval weapons and alchemists' labs, Wasinger sets forth her ideal of Halloween crafts that express the eerie essence of Halloween while still adding a bit of elegance to the home.

Artful Halloween provides a variety of projects to help you celebrate All Hallow's Eve, including wearable crafts, decorations for inside and outside, and a whole section on creative ways to embellish pumpkins. Wasinger uses all kinds of classic creepy motifs to evoke the sinister feel of Halloween. Severed hands, plucked-out eyeballs, and glowing specters remind readers of the true origins of All Hallow's Eve as the one day a year when the dead return to earth. Creepy creatures like bats, owls, and spiders play on our phobias, while black lace and blood-spattered flowers give the haunting impression of something beautiful defiled by evil. The patch of decorated pumpkins towards the end of the book eschews the traditional carving for more out-of-the-box embellishments. Paint, thread, ribbons, and jeweled thumbtacks transform these gourds into elegant, long-lasting Halloween decorations.