The 2024 Highbury Cemetery T-Shirt

The limited run of Highbury Cemetery t-shirts for 2024 are done! Every year, I take the annual haunt logo and create a t-shirt graphic. I then hand print a very limited run of shirts that I give out as a thank you to everyone who helps set up, run, and then tear down the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt.

For this year, I ended up going in a completely different direction with the art in that instead of traditional silkscreening with ink, I decided I wanted to try printing with BLEACH! And the results are amazing!!

I followed the detailed instructions from Pigskins and Pigtails (which made it super easy! Thanks, Jennifer!), and got a unique series of one-of-kind shirts. Each had a different level of logo bleaching brightness followed by a random spray or spatter of extra bleach across the front and back. I'm REALLY happy with the way these turned out and REALLY excited to hand these out! I think these are some of the best shirts to come out of the Cemetery the past 21 years...

But the best part of all? It looks like I'll have an extra shirt or two left over. Soooo...

Who wants to have a contest for a chance to win one? An extra little Halloween treat for those that have been hanging out at the blog all October long?

Next week (after all of the madness), I'll post up a little something. Nothing too crazy. Win it and the shirt is yours! Cool? Let's do this!

  

Highbury Cemetery Logo, 2022

Welcome. Here we are again. October 1st...

IT'S OFFICIALLY THE HALLOWEEN SEASON! And it's time to kick off the annual Countdown to Halloween! An orange-and-black blitz of 31 posts in 31 days, all leading up to our high holiday of All Hallows Eve!! This is our 12th year celebrating all things creepy and cool with the Countdown to Halloween blog party, and we are still going strong. Can you feel that crisp, electric excitement in the air!!??

We've got a long list of blog posts all lined up and ready to go. A full month stuffed with tricks and treats, so be sure to check back daily because this party is going nonstop straight through the 31st! And you don't want to miss out on the good candy, do you??

So let's get this thing started, shall we!?

Each October, I like to start the festivities with the unveiling of my annual yard haunt logo. It's a great way to set the tone for the spooky season, and it gets me motivated to finish all the planned projects for the year's haunt.

Since 2003, I have created an increasingly defined and prominent Highbury Cemetery haunt logo for the season. The logo is used on posters, stickers, and a very small batch of t-shirts. Each year, the t-shirts are hand printed here at the Cemetery and then given out as a thank you to everyone who helps put on the yard haunt on Halloween night. A well deserved treat for all of the hard work that goes into this crazy thing every year.

So ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present the ghastly and gruesome logo for Highbury Cemetery, 2022:

As an added bonus, I'm going to be hanging out a bit more at the Highbury Cemetery Instagram page this October, so stop by for a continuous Halloween double shot straight to the candy corn.

Only 30 more days... Are you ready?

  

Highbury Cemetery Logo, 2019

Welcome. Here we are again. October 1st...

IT'S OFFICIALLY HALLOWEEN SEASON! And it's time to start our annual Countdown to Halloween! An orange-and-black blitz of 31 posts in 31 days, all leading up to our high holiday of All Hallows Eve!! This is our 9th year celebrating all things creepy and cool with the Countdown to Halloween blog party, and we are going stronger than ever. Can you feel that crisp, electric excitement in the air!!??

We've got a long list of blog posts all lined up and ready to go. A full month stuffed with tricks and treats, so be sure to check back daily because this party is going nonstop through the 31st! And you don't want to miss out on the good candy, do you??

So let's get this thing started, shall we!?

Every year, I like to kick off the October countdown with some art. Since 2003, I have created an increasingly defined and prominent Highbury Cemetery haunt logo for the season. The logo is used on posters, stickers, and a very small batch of t-shirts. Each year, the t-shirts are hand printed here at the Cemetery and then given out as a thank you to everyone who helps put on the yard haunt on Halloween night. 

The logo is the perfect way to get the October creative juices flowing and a perfect symbol to kick off the haunt season. I'm really happy with the way this year's logo turned out and I'm really excited to reveal it now. 

So ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present the ghastly and gruesome logo for Highbury Cemetery, 2019:

This year, Highbury Cemetery is in a new location and after 15 years, it sure felt weird typing the word "Copley" instead of the word "Akron."

But really, it all lends itself to a new, nervous excitement. Year 16 is a blank page and a brand new chapter. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to set up in this year's display or how many people will even show up in this new neighborhood, but either way, I'm ready to shock my unsuspecting neighbors on the big night with a display unlike anything they have ever seen around here! I only get one chance to announce the arrival of Highbury Cemetery, so I had better get it right!


So here we are again.

One down and 30 more to go. The days will go by fast, so let's be sure to make the most of them. (And if you get a minute, please check out all of the other crazy and cool blogs participating in this year's Countdown to Halloween! Every year, the celebration gets bigger!) I hope to see you tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that for some more Halloween madness and fun! The 2019 Halloween countdown has begun!!

  

Highbury Cemetery Logo, 2018

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,

voices whisper in the trees, '"Tonight is Halloween!"

- Dexter Kozen

Welcome to October!! The greatest month of all! It's finally time to start the Countdown to Halloween, our annual blog blitz of 31 posts (or probably more) in 31 days!

As in previous years, I always like to kick off the official Halloween countdown with some art and this year is no different.

Starting way back in 2003, I decided to start creating a yearly logo of sorts for my home haunt. It was a piece of art that was used for posters and t-shirt designs. The shirts would be printed in the Highbury Cemetery basement and then given out as a thank you to everyone that helped out with the haunt on Halloween night.

As the years progressed, the logo itself became more defined and prominent, and in 2013 became the official kickoff release for the haunt. After that, I decided to create a new logo each year and five years on, I'm proud to reveal the new version for 2018.

Ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present the ghastly and gruesome Highbury Cemetery logo for 2018:

Continuing with the organic, minimalist theme from last year, I went even simpler and bolder with this year's logo. And as an homage to Highbury Cemetery's 15th year of haunting, I went back and reused the original "head" art that was used in my first t-shirt design back in 2003. It's hard to believe that we have been doing this for that long, but it's been an incredible journey with many, many great memories along the way. And this logo gives a subtle nod to our humble beginnings and to all of the friends that have helped us get to where we are now.

And like in years prior, this art will also be used for our 2018 shirts. I've got a cool ink effect that I want to try out on these shirts and I'm hoping that it will turn out pretty cool. 

Keep your eyes peeled, as I'm hoping to have a few extra shirts that I intend to give away in a fun little contest as we get closer to the big night. 

But our October party is only just beginning! We have a ton of fun posts to get through, so sit back and enjoy this year's Countdown to Halloween (and while you're at it, hit the Countdown to Halloween link and check out all of the other bloggers who are participating this year, too!). Stop by the Cemetery daily as I'm going to be posting all kinds of Halloween madness to share with you all - and there's bound to be tricks and treats all along the way!

  

Epic.

I feel like this logo deserves its own synthwave soundtrack. Create your own epic version here.

  

Highbury Cemetery T-Shirt, 2016

The 2016 Highbury Cemetery t-shirts are done! Each year, I hand screen a small run of one-color shirts in the cemetery basement and then give them away to everyone who helps out on Halloween night as a thank you gift. Every year the shirt art is based on that year's haunt logo, and this year's shirt is by far the best...

I even printed one up for the newest member of the cemetery crew, and he couldn't wait to show it off with a couple of his friends! Beast Boy approves...

  


And with less than one week left until the big night, it's time to check the weather forecast.

We're still hanging on, but I'm hoping those Sunday showers are long gone by the time the 31st rolls around. Fingers crossed! Only 6 more days to go...

 

Highbury Cemetery T-Shirt, 2015

Based on the Highbury Cemetery 2015 logo, the new shirts are finally done! The new batch were just hand-printed in our basement and are ready for the grand unveiling! This year, I didn't want to do another "white ink on a dark shirt" combo, so I tried to get a bit more creative, with a bit of luck thrown in for good measure.

I had ordered the dark chocolate shirts without really thinking about what color to screen the logo, so I looked at what I had available. Outside of using white, my choice was pretty easy—orange!! It was one of the only other colors I had and it was an obvious choice for the season. Of course it may have also been a tongue-in-cheek nod to the updated colors of our horrible, awful, miserable football team, too. Wink, wink...

Before screening the art, I did some research on lighter colors printed on darker shirts and quickly realized that I had no way of printing an underbase of white in order to get the orange to pop and hold its brightness. It was at this point that I decided to roll the dice and see what we'd get if we printed the orange anyway.

And this time it paid off! As expected, the orange ink absorbed into the shirt. But when it dried, it was more of a dark burnt orange that looked AMAZING on the dark brown shirt. I was really happy with the subtle image. I always try to do something different from the usual haunt logo/shirt, and this time I was very pleased with the results.

As always, these shirts will be given out to all of the helpers that set up, run and tear down the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt on Halloween night. My time is very limited this year, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to run a contest to win one, but keep checking back. You never know when a free minute and a wild hair may pop up...

Halloween Weather Forecast Update:

Nuts. Please put the emphasis on "late" for those newly forecast showers... 5 more days to go!!

 

Highbury Cemetery 2014 Logo

October. Finally. It's here. It's here! And that means only one thing...

It's the Countdown to Halloween! 31 posts in 31 days, all leading up to the grand celebration of the year... All Hallow's Eve. Samhain. Hallowe'en.

Welcome, new guests to the madness of Highbury Cemetery, a blog about all things Halloween. Movies. Costumes. Music. Pumpkins. And most importantly, home haunting! 

I would also like to welcome back any and all previous visitors. I'm gearing up for another October full of posts in celebration of that most magical of days. Work in the garage has been at a feverish pace, pumping out a slew of new props for this year's version of the Cemetery. I've also got another bin full of goodies, just waiting to be shared on Freebie Fridays. The camera has been snapping away, documenting more local cemeteries to delight and inspire for Cemetery Sundays. And I'm even going to start a new segment called Throwback Thursdays. Just when we thought we did such a great job and had so much fun in 2013, 2014 looks set to blow it out of the water. So be sure to stop back daily and join the party. It's the best month of the year and I want to celebrate it with everyone! I may even have some contests in the coming weeks, where you'll be bound to win some cool Cemetery swag. But you'll need your thinking caps on!!


So let's get this party started! Every year, I like to whip up a little logo for my home haunt. It will be used for t-shirts, posters and stickers. I've been creating them for ten years running, and it's time to introduce the logo for 2014. Can't go wrong with some skulls and some splatters...

The Countdown Begins, 2013

Dusk advances on a fading twilight while a chill permeates crisp evening breezes. Falling, brittle leaves gather lifeless at the rooted bases of their cores' metamorphoses. Absent is the comforting sunlight of a warm summer's afternoon. The cold, withered tendrils of Autumn's touch begin their embrace to commence this transition...

This is October. This is the Countdown to Halloween.



Welcome to Highbury Cemetery's Countdown to Halloween, 2013. A month-long, daily celebration of all things Halloween, with posts galore spilling from the cemetery gates of our little home haunt. We'll have posts about props, project how-tos, music, art and everything else imaginable to honor the high holiday of All Hallow's Eve.

To kick off October properly, we're unveiling our new logo (celebrating the 10th year of our home haunt!). Something we create each year to be used on posters, t-shirts and whatever else we can think of to slap it on. Something to set the tone for the haunting season.

We present the new logo for Highbury Cemetery, 2013: