A Gorey Display

With us being very short-staffed, having wrapped up&nbsp;<a href=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/2013/10/07/star-wars-reads-day-2013/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”><em>Star Wars Reads Day</em></a>, and needing to take over four weekly ongoing storytimes over the next month or so, I needed to get a quick and dramatic display up at our Main Library.

I came up with the concept of having it be a headstone (and had even fabricated one using cardboard boxes, duct tape, and white craft paper), but then had one of those random inspirations that it should have a very Edward Gorey-esque feel. &nbsp;I emailed Mary my idea and then attached <a href=”http://bulletinboardideas.org/1097/vampire-library-symbol-halloween-display-inspiration/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>this post</a> for her to look at the modified Nat’l Library Symbol.

When I got to work next she had the symbol traced out, and she and Brittany had come up with several ideas for the name on the headstone. &nbsp;We went with the one that made me laugh the most (yes, I have a corny sense of humor). &nbsp;Mary absolutely rocked the painting. &nbsp;I then had her paint cross-hatching on a piece of copy paper, and I copied that paper. Using the copies, I papered the table. &nbsp;I “feathered” some of the paper to add grass to the back of the table and around the tombstone.

When I finished, I had less than five minutes to add books and take pictures (a self-imposed deadline since I really didn’t want to come back to this display – it was the end of the workday for me). &nbsp;I felt like a reality show contestant rushing through the aisles grabbing books (yes, normally I love cross-merchandising but the clock was ticking), and arranging them on the table. &nbsp;The display is a bit King and Koontz-heavy, but our library page had just been complaining about how tight it was in that area (voila! a bonus problem temporarily solved).

<img class=”alignnone wp-image-863″ title=”Our Gorey-inspired Halloween book display at the Main Library.” src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/gorey-uno.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”620″>

I’m very pleased with the display: it’s clean and very dramatic. &nbsp;I kept throwing ideas out (like adding figures), but wisely Mary reminded me of time and scale. The only regret I have is that I didn’t think of the Gorey idea until after I had made the headstone. &nbsp;I would have definitely made it look more like one of the headstones from the beginning of&nbsp;<em>PBS’ Mystery</em>.

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