Tag Archives: Barb Rondello-Bucher

Featured Artist Interview October 2016: PunkinPrims

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To find where Barbara of PunkinPrims sells her wares visit her on her artist page on HAB. 

Interview with Barbara Rondello-Bucher of PunkinPrims:

At what age did you discover your love of Halloween?

I have loved Halloween as long as I can remember! When I was very young, and that was a LONG time ago!, I had a bulletin board in my bedroom. I would cut out and decorate Jack O Lanterns and pin them on my board in the Fall. And of course, there was the CANDY! We used pillowcases and went out begging for hours. I just love the colors of Halloween and Fall. I don’t know what the draw is to them, but it feels just right inside.

What is your fondest Halloween memory?

Pouring all the candy on the floor with my brother and trading the pieces we didn’t like. Also he didn’t care about the pennies so I always traded candy for the pennies, which is surprising since I am a sugar addict!!

How do you celebrate Halloween?

I have as much Halloween decorations as I do Christmas and that’s A LOT! I get a little carried away. There are orange lights all over the place too! I don’t have kids but somehow, there ends up being at least 8 carved pumpkins on my porch and stoops. Hehe! I put on a cape and witch hat and pass out candy. I just love the whole season.
P.S. I have Thanksgiving decorations too….

When did you start creating in your medium and what training have you had?

I have no training at all. I have always been creative and a vintage “collector” so making little pumpkin folks out of old junk just came naturally. And honestly, the hunt for more junk is just as much fun as the creating. I can be at a garage sale and see an old funnel and think GREAT DRESS FOR A WITCH!

What was the inspiration to create what you create when did you know
you wanted to create Halloween?

I bought a huge box of clock gears at a garage sale years ago and they just looked like collars to me. Next thing you know I was making pumpkin and witch heads out of clay so the gears could be collars. It just took off from there.

Going to the Masquerade Ball

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Going to the Masquerade Ball-By Barb Rondello-Bucher

I have been on a roll with masks lately. One of my favorite folks I made I call Going to the Masquerade Ball. Which got me curious about these balls. So I found this article by Savannah Fox.

Dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, the Masquerade Ball began as part of Europe’s carnival season. Less high society and more cirque du célébration, villagers would gather in masks and costumes to take part in elaborate pageants and glamorous processions.
Quickly spreading across France like wildfire, some of the most notorious balls of the day would be held to celebrate Royal Entries: the grand occasion of welcoming kings and queens into their cities. In fact, so audacious were the masked balls that in 1393, Charles VI of France held the first ever “Bal des Ardents”. Translated as “Burning Men’s Ball”, the event transformed the more orthodoxly decadent costume ball into a night of intrigue and risk.

In celebration of the marriage of the queen’s lady in waiting, King Charles and five of his bravest courtiers dressed in masks and flax costumes and danced the night away as wildsmen of the woods. The only catch was that if your sashaying edged you too close to one of the many flaming torches that lined the dance floor, your look would be smoking–and not for the right reasons.

Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t until much later in the 16th century Renaissance period that masquerade balls became associated with Italy, but that never deterred masked members of the Venetian aristocracy from taking full advantage of a scandalous night of anonymity as if it were their own creation. Tied with the Venetian Carnival celebrations, the balls were rife with decadence, gluttony and a large amount of lust. Sadly their reign was rather short-lived, and after the fall of the Venetian Republic in the 18th Century, the masquerade balls began to shrink from the ballrooms of Venice until they were nothing more than a sequined memory.

See the full article by Savannah Fox here.

Barb Rondello-Bucher is proprietor of PunkinPrims. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and her whimsical kinfolk assemblage. Visit again next month for more from HAB members contributing to the Spooks Gazette.