Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Swap Coordinator:	HoneyBunny (contact)
Swap categories:	Challenges Themed Crafts
Number of people in swap:	13
Location:	International
Type:	Type 3: Package or craft
Last day to signup/drop:	August 23, 2010
Date items must be sent by:	October 18, 2010
Number of swap partners:	1
Description:
Looking down at the worn and tattered handbill your heart beats with flurried excitement. The carnival is in town and it opens tonight.... Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up, get your tickets here. A slight man with sunken cheeks and greased back hair greets you as you slowly step up to the window. His boney hand reaches out to snatch up the crinkled mass of dollar bills you have to offer and he motions with a quick jerk of his head for you to enter. Crossing over the threshold you begin to notice that this carnival is not quite what you had expected. No bright lights, cotton candy hawkers or boisterous crowds are there to greet you. No shrill cries of excitement and delight to startle you. You hear only the tinkering whistle of the Calliope playing somewhere in the background as it sends its soft eerie song into the tar black night sky. But still you are intrigued, so you continue on. As you walk down the midway you feel the warm summer breeze as it blows the heady scent of smoke and deep musk into your nose, permeating your senses. Look now to the edges of the light. Past the dilapidated tents, toothless carnies and broken down Ferris wheel. Into the shadows, the back alleys, the darkness. You are drawn to the macabre not the merry. You are in the right place. Come, I'll show you something I know you will enjoy. A show like nothing you have seen before. Pull back the curtain. Go ahead, take a look. For this swap you will create/purchase/pull out of your hat or manifest out of thin air the following: A handbill for this dark carnival/sideshow. Did it ride in on the wind to land at your feet? Or was it placed on your doorstep tied in a black ribbon. Maybe it was tacked to the bulletin board at your neighborhood Starbucks. You decide. Use any medium, any style and any format you like. A ticket stub. You want to re-enter later tonight, don't you? Again, any medium, style or format. A trinket or souvenir you bought at the carnival. Or, maybe the bearded lady took a liking to you and gave you something to remember her by. Hum.... One other crafted (or purchased I suppose) item of your choosing. This could be a few ATCs, an altered tin, a t-shirt, a bag, a wolf-man amigurumi, anything your dark little mind comes up with. That is it. Have fun. Go on a crafting spree. Ask questions. Slowly slip into madness.

Discussion

BirdGuhl 08/ 9/2010 #

Best swap description EVER. I'm so in.

dissolvedgirl 08/ 9/2010 #

I am watching it for now because budget season at work is killing me and I have other swaps. But if i get threw all this in one piece before the sign up date, I am so in!

RyeRye 08/ 9/2010 #

I want to read MORE!!!

0pheliac 08/ 9/2010 #

woooot! Yesterday I was researching and reading about old freak shows and human circuses and now this! Creepy and I like it.

pandessa 08/10/2010 #

OMG this is AWESOME. I LOVE IT! What a great group! Honeybunny I wanted to read more!

HoneyBunny 08/10/2010 #

Thanks guys for all the nice comments!! I am looking so forward to this swap. I really hope everyone has fun with it. :)

LeftHandedGoth 08/16/2010 #

I love this book and the movie was OK too, Disney didn't mess it up too much! WOW, what an awesome idea for a swap. I could make a career out of crafts from this. HBO did a series called Carnivale, which I haven't seen, but I like the computer tarot game they made up to go along with it called Fate. Every time you win a round, you get more parts to the story about whichever freak you have chosen to be. I like the storyline about the conjoined twins -- one of which becomes a psycho killer...

Iloenchen 08/17/2010 #

This sounds like a really awesome swap! Just a question before I enter, because English isn't my first language and I want to make sure I get everything right. What is a ticket stub? Is it like a small recipe you get so you can get out and back in again whenever you wish? I know those usually as parts of the original ticket that you tear off, but can it be a separate piece of paper?

HoneyBunny 08/17/2010 #

@lloenchen usually the ticket stub is torn off the original ticket. But feel free to create a separate ticket, half a ticket, a torn ticket, anything you want! Does that help?

LeftHandedGoth 08/24/2010 #

Oh wow, I have a great partner. It's nice to get someone who will appreciate an investment of time, because I think I'm going to get rather caught up in making the stuff for this one.

Anyone know where to acquire/view images from Olden Day Freak Shows? The circus art was so distinctive. I remember it from my childhood 25, 30 years ago but they stopped having the sideshows when I was in my teens. I want to be inspired by those old posters and banners.

I have a horrible idea for the re-entry "ticket"... an ink stamp on severed hand... I am not going to have time to do that one, though. Dang!

LeftHandedGoth 09/14/2010 #

Ah -- I can answer my own question: http://www.phreeque.com/

I got some ink today (LOL that usually means "I got a tattoo"). I re-read the Bradbury book and I am SO full of ideas, woo!

I usually use acrylic but I want a soft wash for my handbill, so over to the transparent ink section for me. Water color look, but it's permanent when dry. So I can do multiple washes and they won't pick up and smear into each other.

Oboy oboy I gotta get started on my sketches! WOO! Thank you SO much for coming up with this -- it's really got me in a happy place. Dark... but very happy. Like the thing with Sharp Teeth lurking in the shadows because it knows prey is on its way.

LeftHandedGoth 10/12/2010 #

squee almost done! Just gotta finish up the ticket stub and the souvenir. Partner... I hope you like yours!

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