The Flickr Halfmoons Image Generatr

An early Halloween postcard featuring a jack-o'-lantern on top of a barrel. A black cat is peering around the side of the barrel as a little girl sits in front of it.

The girl is holding her hands over her eyes. Perhaps she's scared of the face looking out from inside the jack-o'-lantern. Or maybe she's perplexed over how that kid's head could be inside the pumpkin yet his arms seem to be behind the barrel.

The handwritten name and brief message on the other side of this postcard (no address, stamp, or postmark) is: "Elizabeth Paine. From grandma."

Printed on the verso is "Halloween Series No. 5," which indicates that this card is part of a postcard series attributed to E. Nash. I spotted three other copies of this card offered for sale online, and each one was postmarked in 1911.

A ticket for a Halloween party at a country club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1937. Landis Art Press (formerly Pluck Art Printery) printed the ticket.

The moon-face-with-thunderbolts character (for lack of a better name) at top left and right was part of a Protean Ornaments series designed by Charles E. Heyer for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, patent no. D0018285, dated May 1, 1888 (see A Database of American Typeface Design Patents, 1842-1899).

Landis Art Press also used the moon face with thunderbolts on other Halloween tickets. See, for instance, the following:

-- Sophomore Barn Party Ticket, East Petersburg, Pa., October 27, 1920
-- Hell'o'een Masked Dance Ticket, Lancaster, Pa., October 29, 1920
-- Halloween Masquerade Ball Ticket, Queen of Sheba Temple No. 137, Lancaster, Pa., October 31, 1940

Hallowe'en Party

Saturday, October 30, 1937

Hiemenz' Country Club Heights
Club House -- New Holland Ave.

Donation : : : : : $1.00

'Eccentric mushrooms by Su_G' in cushion/ pillow mockups (c/o Spoonflower & Roostery)

My entry in the Spoonflower 'Mushrooms' Design Challenge.
Hand-drawn + line art.
© Su Schaefer 2020


The link for voting was www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=561 - open for one week only. There were 966 entries in this contest (hundreds more than the last contest). Many lovely designs made it an enjoyable - if lengthy - vote.


[Eccentric mushrooms by Su_G_cushion_mockups]

Early 60's Chevrolet Impala with the half moon headlight covers makes her look a little sleepy.

Eight years after Alice Graybill and her sisters held their Halloween party at 718 North Plum Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the 1920 United States Federal Census recorded that the Graybills still lived at the same address. Alice was 31 years old in 1920, and she worked as a weaver in a silk mill. The census listed Alice as the owner of the home and the head of the household.

There were six family members living at the house on Plum Street that year:

-- Alice W. Graybill, 31, single, head of the house, weaver, silk mill
-- Susan W. Graybill, 29, sister, weaver, silk mill
-- Ada W. Graybill, 27, sister, cleaner, silk mill
-- Weidler Graybill, 25, brother, machinist, machine shop
-- Marie Graybill, 15, sister, winder, silk mill
-- Grace Graybill, 12, sister, no occupation listed

So at the time of their Halloween party in 1912, Alice and her sisters would have been about 23, 21, 19, 7, and 4 years old (perhaps they allowed brother Weidler at age 17 to attend, too).

Alice eventually married, and as Alice Graybill Harrington (1888-1969) she lived to the age of 80.

For some other early twentieth-century Halloween invitations, see:

-- Witches Watch Halloween Party Invitation, October 31, 1914
-- A Halloween Masquerade Invitation! October 23, 1920
-- Greetings for Halloween—Invitation for Revelry on Mystic Halloween, 1923

Yourself and friend are cordially invited to attend
A Hallowe'en Party

to be given at the home of
Alice Graybill and sisters

On Thursday evening, October the thirty-first
nineteen hundred and twelve

No. 718 North Plum Street, Lancaster, Pa.

R.S.V.P.

A Halloween dance ticket printed by Landis Art Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who used the same decorative half moons on other tickets. See, for instance, Sophomore Barn Party Ticket, East Petersburg, October 27, 1920 and Hell'o'een Masked Dance Ticket, Lancaster, Pa., October 29, 1920.

Masquerade Ball

Will be given by the Anniversary Committee of Queen of Sheba Temple No. 137 on Thursday, October 31, 1940 in new Elk's Auditorium, 452 South Duke Street, Lancaster, Pa.

Music by Duke Norman. Prizes awarded. Best dressed. Most comic.

Admission 55 cents.

David Bachman Landis of Landis Art Press (formerly Pluck Art Printery) printed this Halloween party ticket for the sophomore class of a local high school or college. Perhaps it was for students at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and they may have taken the special 7:00 p.m. streetcar from Lancaster to East Petersburg, which is located about six miles away. Or possibly it was for a group in East Petersburg itself.

Compare this ticket with two others that Landis that printed, one for a dance held two days later--Hell'o'een Masked Dance Ticket, Lancaster, Pa., October 29, 1920--and another for a dance that took place two years later--Black Cat Dance Ticket, Lancaster, Pa., October 27, 1922.

Soph. Barn Party

East Petersburg, October 27, 1920.

Special car leaves square 7:00 p.m.

Price per couple, $.150 [$1.50?].

"What the boys did to the cow."

A comic Halloween postcard published by Julius Bien & Co. in 1908.

This postcard was addressed on the other side to Miss Lille Collins, 122 Dickerson Street, Newark, N.J., and postmarked in Smyrna, Delaware, on October 30, 1911. Message: "Love to all, E.R.C."

For another card from the same publisher, see What the Pig Thought of the Ghost on Halloween.

Design Challenge entry: 'Hot Orange Frankl by Su_G' in cushions (mockup c/o Roostery)

Inspired by Paul T Frankl's man's cabinet, c. 1938, this version in hot orange & black, with silver & half metallic titanium white on the half moons. My entry in Spoonflower's Color-Blocking Shapes Design Challenge. Original: Oil on canvas.
© Su Schaefer 2019

See ’Hot Orange Frankl by Su_G' as fabric @ Spoonflower.

[Hot Orange Frankl by Su_G_cushions_mockup]

"What if the stork had dropped George Washington in some other country! HBG."

Artist H. B. Griggs poses a question of alternate history in this early Washington's Birthday postcard.

An early twentieth-century postcard with a Corncob Jack-o'-Lantern Scarecrow smoking a corncob pipe.

For another corny creature, see I'm All Ears.

See also Black Cat Dance Ticket, Lancaster, Pa., October 27, 1922 for another Halloween dance held in Hiemenz's Auditorium.

Hell'o'een Masked Dance

Hiemenz Auditorium, Friday, Oct. 29.

Kiphorn's Orchestra. Admission, 60 cts.

"All Hallowe'en Greetings."

A postcard addressed to Dessie Cable, 31 Linden Ave., Sewickley, Pa., and postmarked on Oct. 29, 1910, in Johnstown, Pa.

Handwritten message: "Hello Dessie, How's the weather there? We have snow and it's very cold. My address is 935 Bedford St. Moved again. Rose. Ans. soon."

'Mud, dust and rain (African) by Su_G' in a table runner mockup (c/o Roostery)

This design was inspired by the turn of the 19th century raffia textiles of the multi-ethnic Kuba peoples of Zaire in equatorial Africa. Someone suggested it deserved a prettier name, but I like 'Mud, dust and rain' because that is what makes things grow.
© Su Schaefer 2014

I think this design could make good table wear because I suspect it would make it hard to see food stains.

See 'Mud, dust and rain (African) by Su_G' as fabric @ Spoonflower or 'Mud, dust and rain (African) by Su_G' as that table runner @ Roostery.

[Mud, dust and rain (African) by Su_G_table runner_mockup]

A witch holds her broomstick tightly as she rides in the back seat of a watermelon car driven by a wide-eyed veggie creature. A black cat sits next to her, and a bat flies above.

A date of "Oct. 31st, 1908" is written on the other side of this postcard, which was published by the British firm of Raphael Tuck & Sons and issued as part of its popular Halloween series 150.

Photo by Christena Dowsett, World Concern

Ahmed, father of 12 children, stands in a field of "half moons" used to slow flood waters during rain. Seeds are planted in the ditches to grow grass for animals to eat.

Two years ago Ahmed had a bustling herd of over 400 goats. In the last two years, as the drought has gotten worse, that number has dwindled to just 4.

"What the pig tho't of the ghost."

A humorous Halloween postcard published by Julius Bien & Co. in 1908.

Originally posted on Ipernity: What the Pig Thought of the Ghost on Halloween.

My friend @zeye asked me how I would do this nail look - between half moons & tips. I use paper ring-hole reinforcement stickers on each nail to guide a neat curve. (Useful for french manicures too!) #notd #ilovenailpolish #nailpolish #halfmoons #nailsofinstagram #nailsinc

10 Likes on Instagram

1 Comments on Instagram:

zeye: perfect! loved this❤❤❤much better than mine😄