Zombie dolls are creepy new craze that just won’t die! Artist
creates 'undead babies' with vampire-like teeth and piercing red eyes
Bean Shanine, 32, dedicates up to eight hours a day creating the babies
Reborn dolls are often used by mothers who cannot have children
The dolls sell for $1,500 (£930) to collectors in the UK and all over the world
Each doll needs 30 layers of paint and is then baked after every layer
By
Jill Reilly PUBLISHED:
31 December 2012
An eccentric artist is making a
living out of the dead - by creating incredibly spooky zombie dolls
which are proving a hit around the world. From
vampire-like teeth to pale skin and piercing red eyes, creative Bean
Shanine, 32, dedicates up to eight hours a day bringing to 'life' her
zombie babies. Reborn dolls
are often used by mothers who cannot have children, but Ms Shanine
insists she receives almost entirely positive comments from people on
the internet about her creations.
Her dolls have become so popular that
Sharon Osbourne, wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne, was recently given one on
a US chat show - with the former X Factor judge describing it as 'very
very well made... but slightly disturbing'. The
mother-of-four, who lives in Washington, USA, made her first monster
baby in 2010 as a gift for a friend who takes part in an annual zombie
walk in Vancouver, Canada. But
she soon turned her new hobby into a business - The Twisted Bean Stalk
Nursery - and sells the creepy creations for as much as $1,500 (£930) to
collectors in the UK and all over the world. She
said: 'Before I gave it to my friend I put it on eBay as a test just to
see what would happen with a ridiculously high price to make sure it
wouldn't sell.
'Loads of people started asking when I
would make another one as it was so good. I don't think anyone else was
really making Reborn zombies and vampires at the time. 'I
don't know exactly why I make zombies and vampires because I'm not a
dark person at all. They're just different, there wasn't any at the time
and the feedback was awesome. 'I have made more than 50 Reborn dolls and have sold every single one of them I have ever listed. The thing which sets me aside from artists who make monster babies is that mine are genuine Reborn dolls.
'They are realistic and very tastefully done - no blood or guts - just real babies with fangs and glowing eyes. Yes they are creepy but they're really cute at the same time.
'These are expensive to make. People think the $650 starting price is high but it costs hundreds for supplies and big collectors will pay over $1500 if they really want one.
'It's like buying a painting from one of your favourite artists - they are all one of a kind. They are not toys and not suitable for young children to play with either.
'I would say a lot of work goes into making a doll look life-like and real than goes into making the dolls look scary.
'Each doll needs about 30 layers of paint and then you have to bake the doll after every single layer.
'After they are painted, you have to
assemble them, add any finishing touches and root hair. If the hair is
rooted that takes about eight hours or painting the hair takes about
six. 'A lot of time and care goes into each one of my little monster creations.' And even her own children don't find the bizarre playthings scary.
Freaky Baby Monster Dolls Will Make You Never Want to Have Kids
November 18th, 2012by: Technabob
If there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that you can find some really odd stuff if you dig around deep enough over on Etsy. For instance, while I was searching for some zombie-related items, I came across this monstrosity.
These creeptastic, realistic baby dolls are made by Washington state artist Bean Shanine of
Blythe dolls: too scary for children, loved by adults
Huma Qureshi
guardian.co.uk,
Original
Blythe dolls sell for thousands and their adult collectors love to
dress them up and photograph them. Ahead of BlythCon UK on Saturday,
Huma Qureshi finds out why
This weekend 230 people, mostly women, will gather in a hotel in
Manchester for a 40th birthday party. The birthday party happens to be
for a doll: Blythe.
If
you don't know Blythe by name, you may know her by sight. She is
instantly recognisable by her big, lollipop head and huge, vaguely
manga-style eyes which sometimes change colour; her expression is
slightly forlorn. She mostly sports geek-chic hair - a heavy fringe,
sometimes dyed different colours - and wears vintage-styled outfits.
Blythe is basically a mini version of Zooey Deschanel and Katy Perry combined. Except she's a doll.
Saturday's
event is the annual, all-day Blythe Convention for fans, taking place
in the UK for the third consecutive year. There will be stands selling
the latest Blythe outfits and masterclasses on "how to sew a dress for
Blythe in under an hour." Later there will be a big birthday cake,
competitions and raffles, with all proceeds going to charity. Tickets
for BlytheCon, as it is known, sold out within weeks of going on sale.
"There
is a large Blythe community in the UK," says Sam Holland, a university
research fellow from Leeds who is co-organising this year's convention.
"It's a surprisingly social thing to do - mostly, though not always,
grown women getting together, sharing a creative hobby. It's an unusual
hobby, yes, and there can be a lot of nerdiness around it. But it's
really no different from any other hobby."
Blythe is big business,
although it didn't start out that way. The dolls were first made in
America in 1972 (hence the 40th birthday) by now-defunct toy
manufacturer Kenner,
but they never caught on. The big head and the big eyes made the dolls
too scary for little children to play with, and Blythe was ditched after
just one year.
But nearly 30 years later, a Blythe renaissance occurred. Gina Garan,
a TV producer in New York, was given an old Blythe doll by a friend.
She fell in love with it and started hunting down Kenner originals on
eBay.
Garan, an amateur photographer, started taking pictures of
her Blythe dolls, styled up as if in in a fashion magazine. In 2000, her
photo collection was snapped up and published in a book called This is
Blythe. Over 100,000 copies of it have sold since.
A year later a Japanese company, Takara, began to produce new versions of Blythe. This time her popularity soared, and not just in Japan - thanks to Garan's book and website, the Blythe craze was well and truly under way.
There
are now Blythe conventions all over the world, including New York,
Barcelona and Berlin, where thousands of Blythe fans congregate every
year. In the UK, there are also smaller 'Blythe Meets' taking place
regionally and regularly. Blythe has even featured in advertising campaigns for Sony and Alexander McQueen.
For most Blythe fans, it's not so much about playing with the dolls but more about photographing them. There's a huge Blythe community on Flickr,
where amateur photographers share inspiration and set each other
challenges (one challenge involved taking a photo of your Blythe in a
new outfit and setting every day for a year). At BlytheCon this weekend
there will be a Flickr wall, where collectors can meet their online
friends in person for the first time.
Julieanne Kay, who is in her
40s and lives in Manchester where she runs her own business, owns six
Blythe dolls. She bought her first one 10 years ago. "The first time I
saw Blythe, I thought she'd just be amazing to photograph. I've always
been very into my photography, and Blythe is very endearing and very
photogenic. It's quite a creative process, thinking of how to photograph
them and set the scene."
"Blythe
is a great muse," agrees Fiona Berger, 53, a Briton who now lives in
Norway. She is travelling back to the UK for BlytheCon with her daughter
and says she is "addicted" to Blythe - she owns 277 dolls, including
three original Kenners. "She's so versatile, she can be whatever you
want her to be - cute, mysterious, sophisticated or nerdy. Taking photos
of Blythe is a great way to share the hobby with others online, and
that's a real part of the appeal."
It's not just photography that draws Blythe fans in - there's an entire world of Blythe fashion and craft to explore too. Etsy is flooded with Blythe accessories, from tiny handbags and shoes to smock dresses, headbands and thick framed spectacles.
"There's
so much talent in the Blythe community, it's hard not to be inspired by
it," says Jess Lowndes, a 24-year-old software developer who owns 11
Blythe dolls. She's taken up knitting and crochet since discovering
Blythe eight years ago. "I can appreciate the time and effort that goes
into making such detailed things at such a small scale."
Blythe dolls are, however, an expensive hobby. Original 1972 models can easily fetch over £1,000 on eBay,
while even recent Takara versions can cost anything from £60 to over
£200. Even the tiny clothes come at a considerable cost. Are they worth
their price tag?
"It's a lot of money to pay for a doll," concedes
Holland, who owns six Blythes. Her first doll, which she bought in
2010, cost £220. "There's a very busy international retail market - some
people are prepared to pay thousands, which is amazing. It is kind of
weird, when you think about it. But then you could say it's also weird
how people pay loads of money to watch a load of men chasing a leather
ball around a field."
Holland, who specialises in gender and
subculture in her research, says it tends to be professional women
buying Blythe, purely because they want to. "These aren't desperate
women with 14 cats, these are intelligent women with careers and
children who have a hobby," she says.
For many Blythe fans,
owning and photographing the dolls and getting to know other collectors
online is a welcome and often rare escape from reality. Holland bought
her first Blythe because she desperately wanted a distraction from her
job; something that was creative and would inspire her artistically in
her spare time.
Lowndes, who is about to start her PhD, doesn't
think she'll ever grow tired of Blythe. "One of the nicest things about
her is that she's there when you need her to be. She's an excellent way
to de-stress," she says. "I can go through patches when real life means
I'm too busy to do 'doll stuff' but when I'm free again, I can pick her
up and it's like we were never apart."
Hey Kids Chucky is Back! Now It’s Time to Run as Curse of Chucky Begins Production
September 5, 2012 by Chris D
Ever since I was a kid, those life like “Good Guy” dolls have always
given me the creeps. Not only do they look like they can pop open their
eyes and come to life in a second, but man I get the shivers up and down
my spine when I see them.
The cause of those shivers was courtesy of a movie called “Child’s
Play.” The film is about a serial murderer who inhabits a doll in order
to escape death and the police by using black magic (voodoo.) He goes
around killing people all while trying to possess a young boy named Andy
for years. Even though Chucky keeps getting killed he always finds a
way back and the killing starts all over again.
Brad Dourif (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) will once again
return as the voice of Chucky as well as Don Mancini who has penned the
five previous films. Mancini will also be sitting in the director’s
chair. The movie will be released sometime in 2014. Production begins
today in Winnipeg.
What you can expect:
Nica (Fiona Dourif) is grieving over the gruesome suicide of her
mother when her domineering older sister Barb (Danielle Bisutti) arrives
with her young family in tow to help settle their mother’s affairs. As
the sisters butt heads over Nica’s plans for the future, Barb’s young
daughter comforts herself with a grinning, red-haired talking doll named
Chucky (voiced again by Brad Dourif) that recently arrived mysteriously
in the mail. But as a string of brutal murders begins to terrorize the
household, Nica suspects the doll may hold the key to the bloodshed.
What she doesn’t know is that Chucky has a personal score to settle.
He’s determined to finish a job he started more than 20 years earlier,
and this time he’s going to see it through to the bloody and shocking
end.
Railroad baron Benjamin Ames Kimball spent two years (1897-1899) and the princely sum of $50,000 constructing this tormented-looking castle. The five-bedroom, three-bath, 3,980-square-foot pile of stone overlooks Lake Winnipesaukee in Gilford, N.H. In its glory, the 23.5-acre property was ringed with stone walls and English gardens. Today, it’s filled with ghosts, the owners say. Mary Jodoin toldThe Laconia (N.H.) Citizen, "There was doors opening and closing as well as seeing a figure in the living room." Her husband, David, tells of hearing sounds of horses near the old stables. That was enough for "Ghost Hunters," a Syfy Channel show, to film an episode on Kimball Castle. Townspeople are hoping a developer will rescue the $995,000 property and make it a five-star resort and
The House of Dark Shadows
This old home in Byron Center, Mich., south of Grand Rapids, was the "House of Dark Shadows" 40 years ago. The 154-year-old home — 4,416-square feet, with seven bedrooms and three bathrooms on 5.3 acres — was perfect for the role. But haunted-house impresario Jim Westra tangled repeatedly with authorities over permits and zoning. He eventually moved on, starting a new attraction, "The Haunted Mill," in nearby Greenville. Westra died in prison earlier this year at age 80, convicted of burning down the mill after trying unsuccessfully for years to sell it. His brother told The Grand Rapids Pressthat haunted houses were Westra’s way of supporting his real passion: nature and wild-life preservation. When the house, at 9320 South Division Ave., sold recently, the asking price was $365,000.
Bring on the Headless Horseman
The original American ghost story, set in 1790 in the village of North Tarrytown, N.Y., stars a skinny schoolmaster who is chased through the midnight countryside by a crazy, headless creep on horseback. The village changed its name to Sleepy Hollow in 1996. Buy this big five-bedroom, 3½-bath colonial house for $1.2 million and rise at midnight to hear ghostly galloping. A few blocks away are the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where the story’s author,Washington Irving, is buried, and the Old Dutch Church, where the Headless Horseman still resides.
House on Haunted Hill
It's not likely famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright had horror films in mind when he designed the Ennis house in 1923. Back then, the few scary movies — all silent, of course — included "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919) and the first vampire movie, "Nosferatu" (1922). Instead, this imposing 6,000-square-foot edifice (four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms on 0.85 acre) was notable as one of the first homes made of interlocking, precast concrete blocks. The intricate designs look a lot like Mayan architecture. But fate had other plans for this amazing home. It starred in movies (including "Blade Runner," "Rush Hour," "Black Rain," "The Glimmer Man," "The Karate Kid, Part III" and the 1975 classic, "The Day of the Locust"), and the exterior appeared in the horror classic "The House on Haunted Hill." No, not the 1999 remake with Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen and Taye Diggs. We're talking about the 1959 original. Vincent Price was a rich man who throws a party and offers his guests a small fortune to spend the night locked up in his haunted house. But you — you can spend every night in this place: $7.5 million gets you in. See more photos at theEnnis House Foundation website.
Ghosts of vigilante justice
Squint and you’ll see victims of vigilante justiceswinging from spectral ropes in Virginia City, Mont., "the most haunted place on Earth," asone believer puts it. The boardwalk, saloons and historic buildings all seem frozen in the 1870s. But the gold miners, gunslingers, tribesand Indian scouts (Calamity Jane lived in town for a while) are mostly gone. It’s primarilyghosts and tourists today. In the 2000 census, only 72 households remained. In the 1940s, Sue and Charles Bovey started buying and restoring dozens of old buildings, including this, one of the first "stick-built" homes in Montana Territory. The nicely restored two-bedroom, two-bath house ($249,000) was built in 1864. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places along with much of the rest of town.
‘Get out!’
One of the creepiest streets in America is Ocean Avenue in Amityville, N.Y. In 1974, at 112 Ocean Ave., Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr. shot six members of his family to death in their beds. What came next made Amityville a legend: A year later, George and Kathleen Lutz bought the house. They stayed just 28 days and fled, saying they’d been forced out by a demon. The Lutzes’ story was told in "The Amityville Horror." "Get owwwwwt!" the demon famously commands a priest attempting an exorcism. It’s supposedly all a giant hoax, but spend $890,000 and decide for yourself, down the street from where all the madness ensued. This stately six-bedroom, 3½-bath Victorian at 34 Ocean Ave. was built in 1905. The big lot (260 by 60 feet) has a kidney-shaped swimming pool, 260 feet of waterfront, two boat slips and a separate two-bedroom cottage. The murder house itself sold in August for $1.15 million.
Retire among spirits
Plunk down $1.2 million for a quiet life in this elegant, haunted bed-and-breakfast in Jerome, Ariz., which bills itself as "the largest ghost town in America." In the Roaring '20s, Jerome was a booming copper-mining town with 15,000 residents. Today, it’s a National Historic District with 50 to 100 live souls, mostly writers, artists, hermits and gift-shop proprietors. Unearthly residents go uncounted, but they’re here, too. The B&B is known as the old Surgeon’s House. It was a nurses’ residence for an adjacent hospital, then home to the chief surgeon. Ghosts of Jerome’s storied past haunt the home, according to this article on examiner.com. There’s a maid called Alice, a spectral couple who dance by moonlight and a dignified spirit who enters wearing a suit and carrying a doctor’s bag, then changes into pajamas before fading into thin air.
Sanctuary amid the paranormal
Find sanctuary from the ghosts of Bisbee, Ariz., in this 1915 home in the hills. It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a built-in buffet, wood floors, decks, skylights, a hot tub and fine views. It will set you back $225,000. Once the most cultured city between San Francisco and St. Louis, Bisbee today is a genuine Old West ghost town. You’ll believe it after taking the Old Bisbee Ghost Tour, spending a night in the haunted Copper Queen Hotel (more than 16 spiritual entities) or reading about Bisbeein The New York Times. The Southwest Ghost Hunters Association investigated nine haunted sites in Bisbee. Among them: the Queen Mine, where three miners were murdered in a labor dispute in the 1890s; the Bisbee Grand Hotel, with its two resident ghosts; and the legendary Cochise County Courthouse, haunted by a headless apparition wearing a judge's robe.
Spooky town
Haunted houses not creepy enough? How about a haunted town? The town is Cuchillo, N.M. Artist Josh Bond — owner of several properties here, including the 180-year-old adobe Old Cuchillo Bar & Hotel — asked theWest Coast Ghost and Paranormal Society to investigate mysterious whispers he’d heard. They collected 120 hours of video and audio recordings, which picked up unexplained growling, voices, clanking bottles and footsteps. They also smelled rose perfume and watched a shadowy black figure float from room to room. You're close to all this creepy action in a sweet adobe-style house in Truth or Consequences, N.M., 15 miles from Cuchillo. The house, built in 1932, is in the Hot Springs historic district. It has three bedrooms, 1½ bathrooms, refinished hardwood floors and mosaic tile in the kitchen, bathrooms and fireplace. The cost: $159,000.
Haunted barn
This ordinary-looking ranch home in Olympia, Wash., isn't haunted. But the big barn on the four-acre property is — occasionally, anyway.Haunted-house producer Kevin Noah, an electrician, has used the barn for a public "haunt" for several years. Not this year, though; Noah is taking a break and planning an even better show in 2011. Past spooky features included a bloody bathroom, flying vampires (on pneumatic lifts), a creepy clown that drops from the ceiling and bursts of air shooting suddenly from the darkness. One room was tilted, making it hard to walk in; another had moving walls that collapsed. The ranch house, built in 1984, has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and is listed for $320,000.
Bodies in the garden
This two-story Sacramento, Calif., Victorian has a truly ghastly history. It’s the former board-and-care home where landlady Dorthea Puente reportedly killed tenants and stole their Social Security checks. After seven bodies were unearthed in the yard in 1988, the home changed hands several times. After a foreclosure in June 2009, it sold at auction in late August for $215,000. New owners Barbara Holmes and Tom Williams fell in love with the home and were undaunted when they heard its history. "My husband is an unpublished mystery writer. He was totally intrigued," Holmes told The Sacramento Bee. Built in 1930, the 1,834-square-foot duplex has three bedrooms and a bath upstairs and two bedrooms and a bathroom downstair
Posted on 04 July 2010 by Marko_Galac Halloween is a thrill for everyone because it is the perfect opportunity to let loose and dress wild and to try some of best Tattoo Ideas. While some of the most popular costumes include witches, fairies and others, one classic favorite among many people is the zombie act with strange tattoo pics. Dressing up as a zombie gives the person a chance to experiment with ghastly images that can scare people off. Some of the pictures here are a perfect example of how ghastly a zombie act can get. The one with the baby’s hands tearing out of the pregnant woman’s stomach takes the cake in this category of photos. Remember to use lot of tomato ketchup and red paint to make your act look real. Walk down the street in one of these and you are sure to freak some people out of their wits. Doing this on a day apart from Halloween will have more of an effect that ever too.
usually, when i start a blog, i go ahead and search for all the elements to make my blog that much better, and i for some reason, forgot to do it on this blog.
could be, because its like my 22 blog (maybe 21st, cant remember) on here. and thats not saying from start and then deletion, thats from start too..current.
yes, i run that many blogs. all for myself, to hold information about different elements and things. like crafts, dolls, personal, etc.
so i went to look at this blog not long ago, and saw i didnt have the elements i have on other blogs i have online, so i added some.
background:
aptly titled: DARK & STORMY...fits my Undead Reborn Theme, lol
theres always others...i always find others i like too.
i really like these backgrounds.
i REALLY want to learn how to make my own. but the programs needed are quite expensive.
So you've watched Romero's Day of the Dead, read World War Z twice and are waiting for the third season of The Walking Dead. Clearly, you are prepared for the zombie apocalypse. Or are you?
When it comes to ravenous zombies, we all know you can't be too prepared. So if you have an extra $24,000 to shell out on a preparedness kit, Optics Planet's Z.E.R.O. just might be what are you
Short for Zombie Extermination, Research and Operations, the kit claims to offer everything you need to survive the advent of the undead hordes, like basic first aid equipment, batteries and a solar panel.
Z.E.R.O. also offers a cache of scientific equipment for amateur researchers hoping to cure walkers and inoculate survivors, including syringes, beakers and a microscope.
What about weapons? Well, you won't be disappointed. Yes, Z.E.R.O. is equipped with a very respectable zombie killing arsenal, boasting a custom holographic sight and biohazard reticle, a specially designed combat knife, tactical gloves with ridged knuckles and an OPMOD Battle Mug.
"We have a lot of stuff already that are related to zombies, and we thought it would be fun to put together a collection of all that stuff," Optics Planet rep Brian Weiss told CBS Atlanta.
"We wanted to raise awareness of what could people need in a survival situation, like with the weather we've been having lately... We want to get people thinking about what they could use."
