Hauntcast

My Madame Leota project got a (comical) shout out on this month's Hauntcast podcast. Check it out!

It's about an hour into "Hauntcast 14 :: Happy Horrordays"

From Concept to Reality: The Lab and the Wheelbarrow

I always think it's interesting to see how a scene or prop develops from the original sketch to the final product.

***

[Cackle]

Not like I need another witch (especially considering there won't be a haunt next year), but she'll be animatronic (of course that justifies it!). We're talking moving eyes, eyebrows, lips, eyelids, articulated hands...yeah, it's gonna be awesome.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake...

Attack of the 2009 Photos!

I didn't actually take any pictures this year (again...) but I've been taking stills from the 2+ hours of HD video I shot.

Here's the first batch...I'll be getting the video up in a few weeks

Devils Chariot's Wheelbarrow Zombie

3-Axis Zombie Completed

Let's get you up to date with this guy...
I finished sculpting and prepared the mold walls...

...and started layering on the plaster

First the front half, then remove the dividing wall, coat with vaseline, back half, then separate them...

Then I made a core...

and finally did a pull in foam latex...

Lastly (at least, until I decide whether he'll get some sparse grey hair), ol' Zombie got an airbrush job with rubber cement paints

Not too shabby for a last minute job

Aftermath

How many stakes does it take to haunt a yard?
This many:

Decommissioned: 1 virus-ridden laptop (I call it the Schlaptop), 1 dead-bulb projector

Happily, replacements were found at the last minute.

Regrettably, I didn't get very many pictures of the haunt at all this year. The good news, however, is that I got over 2 hours of HD video. The bad news is that I got over 2 hours of HD video...yay editing...

2009 was an incredible success. I'll be posting all the projects that were completed in that last frantic month and the final haunt video over the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Another Zombie Update

Almost ready for moldmaking

Zombie Update

Whoa!

The great folks at Home Haunt News asked me to do an interview last week, and it's already up on the site! And guess what else? I got the cover photo!

You can check it out at http://www.homehauntnews.com/archive/.  Go to the September Issue and click on which version you want to read (I prefer the PDF so I can scroll through it).

Coming Soon: 3-Axis Zombie Skin!

Yup. Even though Frankie's not done, I've begun work on another foam latex creature skin for my 3-axis skulls.

It's still in the roughing out the basic forms stage, but it will resemble that half-sculpt I did last week. Here's a side by side:

Zombie Sculpt in Progress

3-axis Zombie skin, anyone?

3-Axis Frankenstein Progress Update

Well, I got my best pull so far this afternoon.

Here it is straight out of the mold:

and after a little bit of snipping (the final product will be trimmed much cleaner-- I just wanted to see how this would look):

Here's the three I've done so far...none will make the final cut for my haunt, but it's getting close:

^that one on the far left I used to test paint colors (which I haven't figured out yet) and hair punching (which I will not be doing)

Incidentally, I found out that he looks rather dashing on a bucky skull, even though it was sculpted on a lindberg initially:

(you're just going to have to believe me that there's a bucky under there...yes I mounted it on a blucky body, but what's a cheapskate haunter to do?)