I opened this photo and stopped breathing. It's just sensational. This is from the Brno Ossuary located in Brno, Czech Republic. Only rediscovered in 2001 during an archaeological dig, the Brno Ossuary is 800 years old and holds the remains of some 50,000 people. It's second only to the Paris catacombs. The Brno Ossuary is currently being restored and it's not even open to the public yet. So Dr. Koudounaris' photography gives us a rare look at a world few living people have entered.

One of my favorite people, Dr. Paul Koudounaris, author of The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, has a new photography exhibit coming up in San Francisco’s Articulated Gallery from June 2 to June 28.  The exhibit includes large-scale prints of photos from the book and photos from his upcoming book, Heavenly Creatures.  Heavenly Creatures continues Dr. Koudounaris’ study of ossuaries with a specific focus on seventeenth-century, jewel-encrusted skeleton relics from Switzerland and Germany.  I’m obsessed with all things bedazzled and macabre.  Needless to say, there aren’t words for how excited I am about Heavenly Creatures and I’ve been relishing every sneak peak.

Every time I look at Dr. Koudounaris’ photos of bone structures I’m transported to a different world where people had a much more active and reverential relationship with the dead.  The photos are beautiful and provocative and if you have the opportunity to see them blown up you should take it and treat your senses.

This skeleton, on display in Waldsassen, Germany, is one of a collection of Christian martyrs who were exhumed from the Rome catacombs in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and then dressed in ornate precious stones and robes.

Another ossuary in the Czech Republic, the famous Sedlec Ossuary, features the incredible bone chandelier. Incorporating at least one of every human bone, the chandelier hangs in the middle of the church.

Chiesa dei Morti in Urbania, Italy, has eighteen mummies on display behind the altar. Gathered by the Brotherhood of Good Death, the mummies were naturally created by a mold that sucked all the moisture out of their bodies. Disturbingly, the one on the left is thought to have been buried alive.

The Skull Chapel in Czermna, Poland was built in 1776 by parish priest Wacław Tomaszek and a local grave digger. I like to think the priest had piratical leanings, as a lot of the designs feature cross bone motifs.

This Plague Crucifix stands in a Charnel House in Leuk, Switzerland. It's gruesome, but the exaggerated lesions were actually meant to serve as a comfort to victims of skin diseases by linking them to the sufferings of Christ.

This mummified monk served in the Capuchin Order which took vows of poverty, charity and obedience. He stands in the Crypt of the Monastery of Santa Maria Della Concezione in Rome, Italy

This is the Skeleton of Saint Pancratius at the Church of Saint Nikolaus in Wil, Switzerland. His dazzling suit of armor was commissioned in 1777, to celebrate the centenary of the Saint's arrival in Wil.

Articulated Gallery is inside Loved to Death on Haight Street in San Francisco, which is a great space for any fans of the dark side of life.  If you don’t have Dr. Paul Koudounaris’ book, The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, yet, you are missing out!  You can learn more about Dr. Koudounaris here.

Sculptor and show curator David Richardson poses next to his sculpture, Age of Innocence (to the left). A work by menton3 hangs ominously behind him.

Beware, darkness is extending its reach, grasping for new victims to infect. Last Friday night, Ethereal Darkness, a massive sinister group art show, opened at Opiate Gallery in Fort Collins, Colorado. The show was curated by the insanely talented sculptor David Richardson and featured the likes of Chet Zar, Krystopher Sapp, menton3, Larkin and many others.

The gallery has an innovative set up with floating partitions that can be rearranged to suit each show.

Excited to see such great dark artists finding a new audience, I talked to David Richardson to find out more about the show:

Do you think there is an appetite for this type of dark art outside of the big cities such as New York and Los Angeles?

Yes. I think that humans in general like to see new and unique forms that are outside of the mundane. I feel that it’s healthy for emotions to be stirred up a bit because this can open doors to new thoughts. So many people want to embrace the “dark side” or the “unusual” but don’t quite know if it’s acceptable. I find that it is and there is a part of us all that want to dabble in these deeper and sometimes darker thoughts. “Breaking new ground”, if you can dig it.

Chet Zar, the feathered wings look like they'd be soft to the touch. I love the colors in this piece, the delicate halo and the limp hand.

EC Steiner, the teeth in the eye socket and the segmented bug legs make my skin crawl

Did you enjoy curating a group show and were there any unexpected challenges?

Indeed, It was a pleasure to help my fellow artists. I have been traveling and exhibiting professionally for 3 years now. In this time, I’ve had the opportunity to come into contact with all of these amazing artists. A chance to talk, share ideas, and just shoot the shit. This communication is very import to me and a somewhat enlightening experience. In life there is always “unexpected challenges” but to be honest, I thrive on this. A challenge is just a way to get to the next level.

Trëz Orb, these gritty images have a great sculptural quality about them. Though deathly, they seem bursting with life right out of the frame. And I love the monochromatic tones.

Gina Uhlenbrock, the fear is palpable!

Larkin and Tim Roosen, these pieces are well matched in menacing tone and disturbing expressions.

Why do you think so many renowned artists participated in the show?

In this time I have spoken of, I’ve asked many of these artists if they would be willing to do a show in Colorado. I feel like honesty and respect for one another is the key. All these artists involved have a level of respect and admiration for one another and in this we share a common ground. As a sculptor, I really enjoy the 2-D aspect of painting so I’ve tried to match sculptures to painting and vise versa. This way of exhibiting is a fresh and diverse way to keep things interesting.

Tatomir, wow, there's so much great stuff going on in this piece. It makes me nostalgic for the illustrated fairy tales and fantasies I used to devour as a kid. It even reminds me of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky and the monsters in Bosch's paintings. I love the acorn light, the look of the forest and the pointy-teethed serpents.

Shahla Rosa, what a breathtaking piece!

Was opening night a success? What was the public response like?

The opening was a great success. Hundreds of people came out to celebrate and commence in this creative process. The crowd was very open and accepting of the work. I heard people say ” this show is very weird” and I also heard ” wow, this is amazing”. In the end, I can say emotions were sparked and the vibe was intense.

Delphyne Veyrat D'Urbet, love the blood red and the curled up fetus inside the womb bubble.

Congratulations to all of the artists involved!  Thank you so much to David Richardson for keeping me apprised of the goings on in Colorado and for answering my questions.  Photos courtesy of David Richardson as well.  I wish I could have seen this show in person!  To see more photos from Ethereal Darkness, check out this Facebook album.

To participate in discussions, click on the BOOK CLUB page link on the right side of this page. Then go into the Forum with the book title and select which section of the book you wish to comment on. There are many options to register and participate in the Forum.

The Facebook Group Page will feature announcements and highlights. Then on Thursday, May 31, we will have a group chat at a time to be determined.

Our first book is A Dark Dividing by Sarah Rayne.

According to Publishers Weekly: “Journalist Harry Fitzglen is unimpressed when he’s sent to profile a new London artist named Simone Anderson. When Harry begins digging into Simone’s past, however, he discovers that her twin sister, with whom she once was conjoined, mysteriously vanished years ago. As Harry’s interest in Simone grows, the story branches into several separate tales: in addition to Harry’s present-day investigation, there is the story of another set of conjoined twins, Viola and Sorrel Quinton, born in London 80 years earlier; Simone’s own history with her twin, Sonia, and her mother, Melissa, dating to the 1980s; and the parallel plot of a novel that Harry uncovers during his research, The Ivory Gate, published in the 1900s. Rayne writes in a semiformal style that evokes turn-of-the-last-century England and lends the novel an appropriately gothic atmosphere. Well-drawn characters reveal themselves through thoughts and actions more than dialogue, as Rayne favors extensive narration over banter. Still, Rayne has crafted a memorable novel with the right mix of suspense, horror and emotion.”

UK novelist Sarah Rayne is known for dark psychological thrillers.  It seems that the book was written in 2004, but only released in 2011 for US audiences.  This is a new novel and a new author for me and I’m excited to share the twists and turns along with you.

A Dark Dividing is available on Amazon as a paperback book for only $8.12 and a Kindle download for $9.99.  If you are going to order from Amazon, I would appreciate if you’d click through one of of my links to help support this site through no additional cost to you!

If you want to join the Facebook group, you can message me, Dahlia Jane, through Facebook; find the Upon a Midnight Dreary Group on Facebook and ask to join, or leave a comment with your Facebook name under this post and I will add you.  You can participate in the discussion on this site as you read at your own pace, by clicking on BOOK CLUB in the toolbar on the right side of this page.

I’m really looking forward to this little experiment and I hope you’ll play with me!

Etsy seller KnobCreekMetalArts has some fun creepy bookends including their Zombie themed one which shows a zombie in pursuit and their Chainsaw Attack, $39.99 for each set.

Tombstone and Casket Graveyard Bookends from Ebay seller treasurestrinketstrash for $49.95

Cemetery Gate Bookend from Amazon by Alchemy of England for $95

Zombie Head Bookends, your choice of severed head or zombie head split mounted on hand carved wooden bookends, by My Pet Zombie for $175

Bookmarks

Skulls Bookmark is taken from an original print by Etsy seller fallen peach, $2.25

Vampire Beaded Bookmark by Peter Pauper Press on Amazon for $2.95

Etsy seller NaamahVonhell makes pretty corset Gothic Bookmark in many colors. Blood Red Satin shown, $6.92

Liquid Bookmark from Think Geek is made of silicone and looks like blood dripping down the cover, $11.99

Bat and Skull beaded, jeweled book thong Bookmark by EleganceFarm on Etsy for $19

Zombie Hands Art Bookmark is custom made to order by Etsy seller AnnaSternik for $21.65

From left: Craig Reardon, Tom Hester, Steve Johnson, Bill Sturgeon, Rick Baker, David Naughton and John Landis

I was fortunate enough to catch the panel for An American Werewolf in London at Monsterpalooza on April 15, 2012.  Panelists included director John Landis, star David Naughton, and members of the distinguished makeup effects crew; Rick Baker, Bill Sturgeon, Steve Johnson, Tom Hester, and Craig Reardon.

Director John Landis, also known for Animal House, Blues Brothers and Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, was only 19 years old when he wrote the script for An American Werewolf in London.   When the moderator asked Landis how the idea developed, Landis replied, “If you’re here you’ve read all this shit, right?  Who doesn’t know the inspiration?” somebody raised his hand a few rows back and Landis proclaimed, “Well fuck you. One person!” and proceeded to talk about the background for the film.

The inspiration came about in 1969 in Yugoslavia where Landis was working as a gopher, or production assistant, on Kelly’s Heroes.  He came across a bizarre superstitious ritual where gypsies were burying a man feet down, covered in garlic at a crossroads.  “And I remember thinking, we just put a man on the moon and these people are worried about this corpse getting up.”

“Vampires, werewolves, zombies all this shit, it does not exist, trust me, It’s not real.  And so how do you deal with the unreal when it’s standing in front of you.  Or worse, how do you deal with it when it’s happening to you?”

Landis wrote the script, but no one wanted to back the movie until he had proven himself with other projects.   “People wouldn’t make it,” Landis said.  ”They thought it was too scary to be funny or too funny to be scary.  They just hated it.”

But even in 1971, ten years before the film was released, Landis was talking to effects wizard Rick Baker about an onscreen transformation of man to four-legged hound from Hell.  And after its release, when audiences and industry people alike were astounded by the effects, people wanted to know the secret.   “What’s the new amazing material that allowed you to do this?” industry insiders asked Baker, “and I said, time and money.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the next clip John Landis talks about An American Werewolf in London sequel and remakes and David Naughton talks about some of the trials he faced while filming:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rick Baker discusses the makeup effects:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rick Baker continues to talk about Griffin Dunne’s makeup and the werewolf transformation:

Click here to view the embedded video.

David Naughton jokes about his uncomfortable shower with Jenny Agutter and the effects crew shares some war stories:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I heartily enjoyed this panel.  John Landis was a personable and entertaining speaker and it was easy to see how such a charismatic man found success in movies.  He had the audience in stitches nearly every time he opened his mouth.  Rick Baker is a legend so hearing from him was a thrill as well.

Justin Mabry, Art Director for Trick or Treat Studios masks, shows off a gruesome fiend in front of his Night Owl Production masks booth. Justin works with latex and creates high quality masks inspired by vintage horror.

One of Hollywood, CA's Immortal Masks, part of The Vessel collection. Immortal Masks creates durable silicon masks with power mesh technology. My face hurts just looking at this one.

A different interpretation of vintage horror with lots of jutting, rotting teeth. Aaron Lewis with his Monster Mayhem masks.

Aaron Lewis sculpted this Gluten Freak mask from Eric Pigor's Toxic Toons monster-verse. The candy corn teeth make it.

Of all the masks in the convention, the most human-looking ones were also the freakiest. Landon Meier's Hyperflesh latex masks are monstrously horrific because they play against expectations to create wild juxtapositions between adult body and giant baby head on the wearer. The tears and saliva on the baby masks look so wet and the skin tones are perfectly rendered. Very disturbing!

A close-up of some of the Hyperflesh masks. According to TMZ, Charlie Sheen wore the Charlie Sheen mask for Halloween in 2011. Pretty crazy. Imagine the Mike Tyson mask on a busty white female. Landon Meier told me he hopes to create a toddler with pigtails mask in the future.

Normally I stay away from the animal masks because I don't want to cross into furry territory, but I really like this albino rat mask by Lab Rats Inc. I think it could be part of some cool photoshoots.

Bruce D Mitchell crafts these militaristic and apocalyptic Conceptual Executioner masks out of many materials including fiberglass, epoxy clay, leather, metal and even steer horns.

Here's a creative interpretation of the plague doctor mask. "Doktor Plague" by Safari Anomalous is a grim, foam-filled latex mask.

Masks by Devil's Workshop. From left, Motor Maniac (my favorite!) and White Krampus (which were both one-offs for the convention) and De-Luxe Ghoul. Devil's Workshop produces monster masks in very limited quantities. Each mask is hand made and hand painted.

Dahlia Jane's maternal instinct surfaces while cradling this precious newborn werepup

Amongst the aisles of gruesome sculpts and twisted creations, I faced something so terrifying, so unnatural, that it shook me to the core. I’m talking of course about my biological clock. And it kicked into gear when I was confronted with the adorable WerePups.

My heart (she has a heart now? what is going on?) leapt when I cradled Asia Eriksen’s life-size werewolf baby doll.  I wanted to touch its tiny curled paws, feed it a bottle of blood and take it out for some fresh air at the park to make all the other mothers recoil in horror.

I marveled at the realism.  From the expression to the whiskers to the weight of the baby doll, Asia got everything right.  The head, which flops backwards like a newborn’s if unsupported, and limbs are solid silicon.  The body is weighted with silicon inserts in the belly and chest and padded with huggable polyfill.  The silicon is painted and then hair is punched in with a barbed felting needle.  Asia uses synthetic hair, mohair, and even shed dog hair for the fur.  The baby’s eyes, which catch the light, are regular teddy bear eyes.  “I tried different things,” Asia explained about the eyes, “[including] more human eyes and it just didn’t work for me.  I wanted that dog-like look without the white around it, and I think these work out really well.”

Each handmade baby is $500 and comes with an adoption certificate and an “Emergency Silver Bullet.”

This is Asia's first vampire baby, inspired by Radu from the film Subspecies. Asia's daughter helped dress the darling baby girl werewolf on the right.

These monstrous baby dolls have had a long gestation period.  Some of Asia’s favorite films include Silver Bullet, An American Werewolf in London and classic Universal creature features such as Werewolf of London.  “I’ve always been obsessed with werewolves from the time I was a kid,” Asia told me, “and my dream toy was to have a werewolf baby.”

Asia is also a fervent dog lover and the werewolf baby’s features were inspired in part by studying her pit bull Baxter.

I was impressed to learn that Asia has no formal training and has only been sculpting for about a year.  “I never was taught anything,” she said.  “I didn’t read anything.  I didn’t go to school. I just saw something in my head and just started playing with clay.”

Asia experimented with some of the materials her husband, who works in special effects, had in his workshop, and developed a series of smaller latex werewolf babies.  These figurines caught on and Asia kept working until she developed the more realistic, larger dolls.

Asia's first sculpts were these 11" latex werewolf babies. These minis are $70 each and can be customized however you want.

What excites me most about these frighteningly vital baby dolls is the promise of spooking random people.  Asia has had a few fun outings with the babies including one on South Street in Philadelphia where “People were pretty freaked out.”  Over the weekend after Monsterpalooza, “our friend actually took us to downtown Hollywood and we scared the crap out of some people.  We were just walking around up by Mann Chinese Theater and there was this group of girls.  I was pushing the baby towards them and they freaked out and just ran out into the street.”  Sounds like so much fun…

The babies will soon creep out even more people when they make their big screen debut in a film written by Asia called Cave Canem.  The film will be directed by Glenn Ciano film whose horror film Infected is due out on Halloween of this year.   Asia is not a fan of CGI and hopes to accomplish the film’s effects in-camera with animatronics and appliances.

Asia at the WerePup booth

Daddy

A big thanks to Asia for answering my questions and letting me cuddle the pups! Until the day when we figure out how to genetically engineer werebabies, Asia’s WerePups will allow us to play mother to monsters.  For more information or to adopt, visit the WerePups website.

Dahlia Jane playing with a Midnight Studios prop of Amber Tamblyn from the film The Ring

Saturday and Sunday April 14 and 15th I attended Monsterpalooza in Burbank for the second year in a row.  Weekends like this make me realize how blessed I am to live in Los Angeles.  I spent the weekend hobnobbing with fantastic effects specialists and dark artists who were more than happy to reveal techniques they use to scare the hell out of people.

Miranda Jory, contestant on SyFy's Face Off, season 2, doing live makeup at the Cinema Makeup School booth. Face Off contestants had a big presence at this year's convention.

The Convention includes a vendor hall with aisles of props, masks, art, makeup and sculpting mediums; a “Museum” brimming with authentic horror film props and artwork; and various panels and demonstrations.  With many attendees in lavish, full body monster costumes or dripping blood, my fashion choices seemed downright sedate.  And it’s a nice change of pace to be amongst a roomful of people who get why I might want a full-size Freddy mannequin or demon in the corner of my living room.

Extraordinary artist Chet Zar

Throughout the weekend I stalked and pestered very busy friends to Upon A Midnight Dreary including Bill Shafer, Bob Lizarraga, Bryson Ahlstrom, Dienzo, Eric Pigors, Justin Mabry, Krystopher Sapp, Kyle Thompson, Matthew Gonos, Matthew Levin, and Neil Winn at their booths and caught up with DW Frydendall, Clint Carney and Chris the Creep.

Polymer clay busts by Matthew J. Levin. The lighter flesh toned busts in the middle and back of this picture are part of a unique and twisted chess set.

Besides geeking out over all the insane displays, my favorite part of the weekend was seeing artists interact. There’s a real sense of camaraderie and excitement about the crafts of shaping horrific visuals. I saw several artists sharing tips and offering to stay in touch to talk about materials and techniques. Everyone I approached was open about their process and encouraging.  It’s pleasantly surprising that the people who spend their days obsessing over nightmarish monsters are generous and friendly.  Ask most of us and you’ll find we’re not people persons at all.  But we pull it together for a few days because of our enthusiasm for creature features at this convention.

Artists Krystopher Sapp and Eric Pigors at Eric's Toxic Toons booth

I was astounded by this massive opus, History of Monsters, by Pete Von Sholly. It was so much fun trying to identify as many monsters as I could down the line and I delighted in finding Norman Bates, Beetlejuice and Captain Spaulding.

Pete Von Sholly signing panels

A terrific horror costume. I especially love the teeth.

Spooky paintings by Daniel R. Horne and Exorcist head by David Haft in the Museum

Displays in the Museum: Osteo Insectica designed by Tunnicliffe and built by Two Hours in the Dark Inc from the upcoming release "The Collection" directed by Marcus Dunstan and silicon skin and urethane foam puppet of actor Todd Farmer playing Frank from "Drive Angry" directed by Patrick Lussier

A fearsome monster from the Corona, California haunted attraction Coffin Creek next to a massive sculpt of Frankenstein's monster. Both looked fantastic.

Monster sculpts by Neil Winn. Love his sense of whimsy.

Ewww, not sure what happened to her! Live special effects makeup demonstration at the Frends Beauty Supply booth

Dienzo (left with his brother on the right) debuted a new Wolfgang t-shirt.

A costumed Michael Myers and zombie wolf attack haunt the aisles

Metal artist Bryson Ahlstrom. His new canes with stiff chain were especially impressive.

I love to pester friends Bill Shafer and artist DW Frydendall at the Hyaena Gallery booth

The weekend was only marred by the ridiculously long wait to get in on Saturday morning. I arrived just before the convention opened at 11am and then waited almost two hours to get in. It was absurd and mind-numbingly boring. The line stretched all the way around the building and crawled forward. The delay is especially baffling since they only accept cash and hand out wrist bands (there’s no registration or name badges). It seemed like they were staggering how many people they let in at a time instead of moving the line forward.

The organizers need to make a change for next year. At the very least provide some form of entertainment outside or have cart vendors with snacks. I went from being excited for the convention to tired and cranky. I had the good sense to buy tickets for Saturday and Sunday on Saturday morning so Sunday I got right in and the difference in my mood and energy that day was extreme.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this convention has outgrown its venue. Crowds were much thicker than last year and the wait to get in indicates the interest in the event.

An armored dragon monster and Dahlia Jane

Come back for more coverage of Monsterpalooza 2012 all week.

Knitted Lab Rat on a dark cork background available for $95

Presenting “the icky and cuddly world of knitted anatomy” by Etsy seller aKNITomy.  These hand knit animal specimens with exposed felted guts make me smile.  Each creature is made to order and pinned, but not glued down, so it can be removed for hugs.

If you’re a knitter and want to make your own specimen, aKNITomy also offers pdf patterns for $4 and kits for $39.95.  She also offers some vegan (non wool so non felted) knitted dissections.

Knitted Dissected Bat Specimen, $115. aKNITomy donates $10 from each bat that's sold to the Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation

Knitting in Biology 101 in an actual aluminum dissection tray (the tray was never used) $105

Knitted Human Brains, $39

Knitted Alien Autopsy, $115

Visit aKNITomy’s Etsy store here.

I Don't Play Nice, $59

Locher’s collection of feminine charm necklaces is delightful.  They’re both whimsical and subversive, flirty and unfriendly.  I especially enjoy the more twisted examples which suggest harm may come to any who approach the wearer.

The line, inspired by vintage aesthetics and modern humor, is handmade in Paris.  ”The last person you would ever imagine creating the sweet yet perverted Locher’s line,” says the website, “is an innocent Swiss girl straight out of “The Sound of Music.”  Designer Nicole Locher revels in the naughty side of girlhood, and I’m having trouble picking a favorite piece.

Be Mine, $59

I Dig You the Most, $59

Mauvaise Fille, Bad Girl in English on sale for $39

Meow, $59

Go On, Piss Me Off, $59

Chop Chop, $59

To shop the collection, visit Locher’s website.