We present to you our Covington Map of the Occult and the Arcane.
This project began thirteen months ago as a simple ley-line survey, but refused to be contained.
It spiraled into over a thousand hours of measuring creepy alleys, tracing crumbling Victorian maps, squinting at mildewed books, interviewing baleful-eyed grandmothers, and drawing and redrawing so so so many buildings.
It contains our best effort to document all the haunted mansions, ghoul attacks, and phantom streetcars. It outlines safe places to hide during outbreaks of nefarious magic, and lists almost every downtown shop, restaurant, and bar.
It also documents the devastating effects of deindustrialization and suburbanization, and shares some of our favorite tales from the history of our beloved city.
We had hoped to do a giant print run, and offer them as promotions. Unfortunately, the American map printing and folding industries collapsed this year, and the handful of printers that remain now limit themselves almost exclusively to government contracts.
We thus contracted a local printer to produce a limited edition of just fifty, and we folded them ourselves.
Each is unique, hand sealed, and numbered. They will be available for sale beginning this week.
We’re quite proud of them.
Sometimes, when we need cheering up, we think about skeletons.
How crazy are they?
Each of us is carrying around a bunch of calcium crystals that both allow our muscles to work and provide armor for our important squishy bits.
But they aren’t just regular crystals. They’re alive, and can heal themselves, and they even make our blood.
Yeah. Skeletons. Pretty cool.
As everyone knows, we also love candles.
You can imagine our delight when we discovered candles that have their own skeletons.
Shown here is a (vampire) bat, but we also have a black cat and a purple reindeer.
Our prices are the same as Amazon, and for that we’ll wrap it, and give you the satisfaction of not giving money to a billionaire. Everyone wins.
We’ll be open this Saturday (11/16) from 12-5PM, and Sunday (11/17) from 12-4PM.
Thank you to everyone who came to visit us for @blinkcincinnati.
We had been nervous, and had all manner of contingency plans in case things got too rowdy.
While we’re a little sad we didn’t get to release the Austrian basilisk, we are absolutely delighted at how wonderful all our visitors were.
At some point we stopped counting, but we think that close to four thousand people made their way through the shop over the weekend. For a place that feels crowded with thirty, that is insane.
It was definitely right on the edge of overwhelming at times, and you have our gratitude for playing along as we became increasingly unhinged.
However, the building didn’t burn down, nobody poured beer on an antique, and only one vial of ink was overturned. People were civil to us and to each other, and almost everyone respected the spirit of what we do.
Thank you.
We also want to thank our wonderful neighbors who helped make Pike Street such an amazing place to visit: @easttovest, @ripplewinebar, @hotelcovington, @the_glass_monkey, @coda.co, @thehannaford, @hometowncov, @braxtonbrewco, and of course @covingtonkygov.
Let’s do it again in a couple of years.
We took an ASMR break from our BLINK preparations to make a holiday snack - banana bread coffee cake with streusel skulls. The recipe is below, and we won’t judge if you add more skulls.
If you visit us during @blinkcincinnati make sure you swing by the south side of Hierophany House on Seventh Street. Peering through the doors may reveal a glimpse of a candlelit wizard’s study.
As a reminder, we’ll be open Saturday and Sunday from 12-4pm with regular service, and 7-1030pm Thurs through Sunday with whatever the BLINK crowds will allow.
BLINK safely and download the @blonkcincy app
Skull idea from @jessiejanedaye, and original recipe from @stephaniesweettreats (minimally modified.)
Streusel Skull Topping
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
Filling
3 tbsp. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground warming spice blend (cinnamon, cloves, anise, ginger, allspice to taste)
Banana Bread
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
2 lg eggs
1/4 c vanilla skyr yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 med overripe bananas, mashed
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground spice blend
Allow all ingredients to come to room temp before beginning, and refrigerate your skulls before demoulding. Bake at 350 for 35-45 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
It has been said that while God made language, the Devil gets all the credit for math.
That seems like a joke until we remember that “Prime Day” is upon us once again. It’s less funny when we’re being told to celebrate a “holiday” invented by a corporate behemoth hellbent on destroying small businesses and enslaving us all to Mammon.
Maybe it really is our souls that we are being told to mortgage?
For what it’s worth, if you’re feeling the need to splurge, we’d encourage you to go buy something from a vintage store; or, better yet, to go take a walk or play a game with some friends.
And if you need something to play it with? Well, we’ll happily peddle you these shiny math rocks. The price? Don’t worry about it. Just sign here, the credit terms are very reasonable.
We’ll be open this Thursday (7/18) 6-8PM, Saturday (7/20) from 2-5PM, and Sunday (7/21) from 12-4PM.
