I have a dirty secret. I probably shouldn’t even admit it here, but I just woke up and my judgment is impaired: I did not buy the MAKE: Halloween Special Edition when it came out back in 2007. Am I fired? Is this thing still on?

Shameful, I know. And most embarrassing when the opportunity to cover the Make: Halloween Contest 2009 beat was presented to me back in September. “You can blog about all your favorite projects from the Halloween Special Issue, too,” they said. And I was like, “Uh huh, yup, sure will. Got a list of those right here.”

So, long story short, my copy just showed up in the mail and I read it for the first time. It’s great! Among my favorite projects is Edwin Wise’s pneumatic spider-web shooter (.pdf) , which turns an ordinary hot glue gun into a faux cobweb-sprayer. It never would’ve occurred to me to marry a glue gun to an air compressor, and now I’ve got all kinds of derivative ideas bouncing around in my head. Which, I should’ve remembered, is why I read MAKE in the first place.

From MAKE magazine:

DIY HALLOWEEN from MAKE & CRAFT!

DIY HALLOWEEN from the editors of MAKE and CRAFT brings you 40-plus DIY projects for the holiday that’s made for makers. From the craftiest costumes to amazing animated props and the latest in computer-controlled haunted house effects.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.