Goblin Circus

Halloween 2022 – Robot Costume Shop

porch scene with shelves of masks based on classic movie and television robots. In the foreground are five robots wearing costumes: taxi, spam, fire hydrant, traffic light, and "not a robot" written on a bag.

This involved the most amount of research I have done yet for a scene. First week, shelves of robot masks hang in the back of the porch. Each shelf a different era or genre of robots in the media (not a comprehensive list, they all come from movies and shows I watched at some point.) After the first week, other robots began to appear in the foreground, all of a particular retro style. In the final scene, the robots in the foreground are wearing costumes that reference everyday elements from bot-blocking captcha challenges.

painting of robot heads on large sheets of cardboard

porch scene of four brightly colored robots without costumes

March 17, 2023March 11, 2023 by FC Categories: Home Decorations, Robot Costume Shop

Halloween 2021 – Trick or Treating in a Dragon’s Cave

Porch with a scene in a cave of a dragon confused by a small child in a sheet carrying a jack-o-lantern goodie bag.

Spent a lot of time researching caves and dragons for this display. This year benefitted from a new source of large sheets of cardboard (no more skulking around the back of Sears hoping someone bought a new fridge.) The scene emerged over a few weeks: first the cave, then the dragon, then the trick or treating ghost. Despite finding themselves deep in a cave, facing a dragon, this kid seems unperturbed in their search for chocolate.

simple line painting of a cave on cardboard

black and white painting of a cave on cardboard

March 16, 2023March 11, 2023 by FC Categories: Dragon's Cave, Home Decorations

Halloween 2020 – Fallacy Clown Theater

Porch window with curtains and footlights framing six clowns in pointed hats holding a variety of objects: paint brush, cherries, straw man, bomb + apple, and a red herring.

With a pandemic and an election year, this display was more political than most (for anyone walking by who gave it a closer look.) Started the month with an empty stage, gradually added clowns as the weeks went by. Each clown represents a logical fallacy–for anyone wishing to dive deeper into the meaning behind a cardboard home haunt.

Rough line paining of clowns on sheets of cardboard.

Six black and white paintings of clowns on sheets of cardboard.

March 14, 2023March 11, 2023 by FC Categories: Fallacy Clowns, Home Decorations

Halloween 2019 – Kaiju Witch

Porch window with a giant lizard in a witch hat standing over a city scape while conjuring ghosts from a giant cauldron.

Too busy with school this year. A planned scene with a forest full of black cats around a cauldron only produced the cauldron in time. So I recycled the giant lizard and buildings from the “Kaiju Costume Party”, added a kaiju-sized witch hat, and a stream of ghosts emerging from the cauldron.

March 12, 2023March 12, 2023 by FC Categories: Home Decorations, Kaiju

Halloween 2018 – Pirate Pugs

porch windows with a ship being attacked by a giant octopus in the background and a lifeboat full of pugs dressed as pirates in the foreground.

This display gradually built up over the month of October; starting with the ocean and moon, then the pirate ship, then a few tentacles, then the whole giant octopus. The final scene featured a lifeboat in the foreground filled with pugs dressed as pirates.

porch window with a full moon rising over the sea

porch window with the full moon rising over the sea and a pirate ship

rough line paining on cardboard of pugs in pirate costumes

rough line paining on cardboard of pugs in pirate costumes and tentacles

March 11, 2023March 11, 2023 by FC Categories: Home Decorations, Pirate Pugs

Updating Halloweens 2018-22

Programming note: Updates to this blog fell off during a stint in a graduate program.I managed to decorate the porch each year, but documentation of the process and the final result was just one step too far. Starting to post images of those intervening years over the next few weeks.

March 8, 2023March 11, 2023 by FC Categories: Updates