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bones Book Elsa Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers Toys Weird and wonderful gifts

More Weird and Wonderful Gift Ideas

Doll Arm and Trilobite Beads Necklace by the Dreaming Squid https://www.etsy.com/shop/DreamingSquid
Doll Arm and Trilobite Beads Necklace by the Dreaming Squid https://www.etsy.com/shop/DreamingSquid
Here are a few more suggestions from the denizens of Dailynightmare.com to make your holidays a little brighter. As with our earlier Weird and Wonderful Gift suggestions, the ideas below are fantastic opportunities to show off-the-beaten-path affection for the macabre-lover, horror fan, or creatively dark individual on your shopping list. If you don’t have enough time to bring your gift-giving fantasies to life before your self-imposed or calendar-based deadline next week, keep this list handy for the other gift-giving occasions that arise throughout the year.

Check out the Dreaming Squid Dollworks & Sundries on etsy. You’ll find lovely and original handmade art dolls for display as well as jewelry pieces that combine skeleton keys, doll parts and trilobite beads.

We are big fans of MakerWorks, the local maker-space which sports a host of resources, from woodshop and metal works to fabric design and laser cutters. Regularly scheduled classes and workshops teach new skills to users of all levels. A membership could be the perfect gift for someone on your list. Personally, we are very excited about the new Punch Card program which gives flexibly of use for a busy person.

You never know what you’ll find at Painted Lady Trashions at the fabulous local art resource, the Rust Belt Market in Ferndale. Are you looking for Ouija board necklaces, vintage gas masks, or a frog skeleton? Their curated curiosity cabinets display a fascinating collection of arty oddities. The Rust Belt is offering extended hours for the next few days; see their website for the details. Not within driving distance? Check out the Etsy Shop.

We’ve written previously about discovering 3DKitbash at the Detroit MakerFaire, and we highly recommend their Boneheads skull kits as well as their printable fashion doll Quin. They’ve added additional 3D printer plans for both lines since we met them, so check out their site. This is a forward-thinking business to keep an eye on.

Screamshaw.com is local business with a webstore that creates jewelry with laser etchings on bone. We liked what we have seen and brought home our own souvenir.

Studio FX 101 in Troy, Michigan is a metro-Detroit maker space that emphasizes design, art, and architecture. The Doktor and I enjoyed one of our weirdest date nights ever making face casts under the skillful tutelage of the workshop leaders. Their offerings also include classes in sculpture and candle making and they sell craft supplies as well. Follow them on Facebook or their website for details on upcoming classes and events.

Books from the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers (GLAHW) make great gifts. They have published seven annual anthologies in the last seven years, which are available for purchase through Amazon, including Erie Tales: Omnibus (Volume 1), Erie Tales: Omnibus (Volume 1) or Erie Tales Myths and Mayhem: Erie Tales VII: Myths and Mayhem. A membership in the group could be a great gift for an aspiring horror writer. GLAHW is a pretty wonderful organization of which we are proud to be members. In addition to supporting and promoting horror writers, GLAHW hosts an annual fundraising party to support local literacy efforts.

Finally, our books make a great gifts for the readers on your list as well. 13 Quick Shivers: from Dailynightmare.com and 22 More Quick Shivers: from the Dailynightmare.com (Volume 2) provide novel reading experiences for lovers of poetry, horror, and typography.

Gift giving is a common transaction that can be imbued with extra meaning when the gift shows the thoughtfulness of the giver in knowing and honoring the recipient. Although the largest gift-giving season of the year is upon us, showing affection or appreciation to a friend or loved one is not tied to the calendar. Keep these extraordinary Weird and Wonderful Gifts in mind for year-round occasions to come.

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Games Toys Weird and wonderful gifts

Weird and Wonderful Gifts: MONSTER expansion perfects “Ticket to Ride”

IMG_4099My son is a game-nerd and a bit of his zeal has rubbed off on me. But where William geeks out over rule-set elegance and game re-playability, I am truly a sucker for nifty game pieces and beautiful boards. And monsters. A game without a monster just isn’t much of a game.

That’s why I am so pleased with the Alvin And Dexter expansion to the classic game Ticket to Ride. I can’t believe TtR already celebrating it’s 10th anniversary, but if you haven’t yet played it, Ticket To Ride is a fun tabletop game where players compete to build cross-country rail lines. It has a great board and especially cool train car game pieces. But until this expansion, there were no monsters.

Alvin is a blaster-toting space alien and Dexter is a voracious giant lizard. The pieces for these non-player characters are beautifully sculpted and cast in beige resin that shows off their detail. I bought the expansion purely because I loved the figures, but when I realized what these critters bring to the game, I believe I could convince my son that the purchase was essential. In the stock version of Ticket to Ride, the competitive element is rather subdued. Sure, a player could block a key segment of rail when it becomes evident that a competitor is building a connecting route, but the game is woefully good natured. Alvin and Dexter shake things up on a much grander scale. I might be expecting too much from the monsters, but they seem to me to be the very best type of game expansion, the one that reimagines both the game and the strategies needed to win, which can be like playing a brand new game.

Games are perennially popular gifts because the best ones can give a family or group of friends hours of fun together. I’m excited to share this gift with William, so we can enjoy some fresh game play together. And maybe this time I’ll win. IMG_4094

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Art bones Toys

3DKitBash: Your Source for 3-D Skull Models

kitbash1You felt like a Mad Scientist, didn’t you, the day you got that 3-D printer, whether it was a MakerBot, a Cube or a home-brewed RepRap… but, admit it, the let-down set in as soon as you tried printing your own skulls. Brain bones are wickedly cool but also notoriously complex items to model. The devious geniuses at 3DKitBash have you covered with their high quality digital 3-D models, shown here printed in an oddly appropriate hunter’s orange.

KitBash3

Their “BoneHeads” collection features models of various skulls, including dragon, sabre-tooth and alligator, all rendered with lovingly organic-feeling texture. At least of couple of the models even have working jaws and I noticed one of the collections came with a femur model, handy for printing an actual skull and crossed bones. But any rec-room Dr. Frankenstein knows the demented potential for mix and match given 3-D files. 3DKitBash is already ahead of you. A human skull with the ram horns makes a quite effective demon skull but frankly, my favorite bit of kitbashing was their jackalope skull. Alas, I didn’t get a good photo of it but it’s prominently displayed on their website. Be sure to download the wall trophy base, when you buy a collection so you can display your skull… that is, unless you’re planning to insert it into the head of your next nightmare creature. Be sure to check out the “Free and Cheap” section to grab the “Monster Parts” collection.
Kitbash4
Elsa and I had a pleasant chat with Quincy Robinson and Natalie Mathis of 3DK at the Maker Faire Detroit this past weekend. Quincy was a professional toy designer before launching 3DK a little over a year ago with a remarkable 3D printable fashion doll named Quin. They’ve run a couple successful Kickstarter campaigns including one for a rather ingenious kit to test the calibration of your 3D printer. It’s exciting to find creative folks making cool stuff in the Midwest– 3DKitbash is based in Cinncinnati! And popular stuff too: their “3DK Launcher” toy, a free download from their site, has had over 22,000 downloads.

I get it, seriously I do. You’re an Evil Genius, so I know you *could* learn CAD software, wrangle your own scans, burn through a million test prints and come up with your own 3-D skull models. But wouldn’t you rather just print some first-rate skulls and get on with your other plans for World Domination? If so, 3DKitbash is your Igor.