The Haunted Mansion: A Sign

So I have been diligently working on my Haunted Mansion Sign for my living room.  Can't buy it, so I must make it.  I had started by hand forming the 'leaves' :

but frankly this looked childish and like a 4 yr old made it.  I wanted something that looked a little more professional.  So I trashed what I had started and decided to start over.  The true sign has little leaves down the sides, but 1. I didn't have anything to cut them out with, and 2. this is my sign damnit.  I decided to create my own ideal of what the sign should look like.  No easy feat considering I wanted to keep it looking like the original a bit.

I managed to find a snowflake cookie cutter in my cupboards that fit the bill of what I wanted for the sides.  I rolled out the clay and got to work.  an hour later I had 80 little pieces all stuck together...So I swished them all together, and curved them just so.  Then I got to work on the other side.  80 more pieces later, and I was done with that! woohoo right? 

Then I had to figure out how I was going to do the skull on the bottom.  I decided less like the original, and more simplistic.  As it is, most people won't notice the difference once it all gets painted anyways.  I set to work creating the skull, and then the snakes that go around him.  I attached it all together, and finally had something looking like the Haunted Mansion sign I wanted.  I remember to add the weird ribbon pieces on the sides, and then sculpted the big ribbons for the top.  These were especially daunting because they have to rise, and curve, and flow, and look like billowing ribbons.  Then I had to add snakes to that as well. 

The final step in this whole thing is the Demon head at the top.  I have been thinking about him for 2 days now, and I'm not sure how in the heck I'm gonna get him done.  he's got so many details, and I have so little patience.  I will try though.  I have over 2 full packages of model magic clay left, and the stuff seems to do what I want with it. 

Last but certainly not least is the lettering in the center.  It needed to be raised above the cardboard this whole project is currently sitting on.  So I added a layer of the model magic to the center, and cut out all the lettering for the sign.  it's all currently just resting on it, and the only picture I seem to have posted online is this:

Any questions or comments so far?  I'll post finished pictures in the next few days...



Playing with a fog machine

So yesterday I got my fog juice from Froggy's.  I have to start off by saying that I had been referred to them by the lovely people on halloweenforum.com.  The people who use this stuff all swear by it.  I wanted to be one of those people too, so I ordered a gallon... 1 gallon will last me the entire season, since I only use it for a few hours 1-2 nights a year.   

Just so you have a comparison, here is a video of the Fitco Fog Juice I had left over from previous years.  This stuff is junk... and has 0 hangtime.  It didn't even fog up an AREA of our shop after about 10 cycles.

I decided to take some video of my experience with froggysfog yesterday.  Mind you we were just messing around in the shop and my brother goes "lets put it in the bathroom and see how dense it really is."  So I put it in the bathroom and turn on the fogger, and we run it through 2 cycles (that's 2 times of pushing the button til it stops to recharge).  Then we opened the door.  Here is the video of what happened: (you can ignore my attempt at sounding like a snooty reviewer... I was serious about the review..just not how I said it.. hehe)

The fog Juice had EXCELLENT hang time.  My friend Devlin had seen the smoke billowing out of our shop from down the way and thought it might have been a fire.  The fog not only hung around for what seemed like days, but when the wind hit it (we have a HUGE breeze that rolls through the shop), it just started swirling and looking creepy.  My next step is to attempt a crude chiller, so I can see what it does on the ground. 

So far I am really impressed with froggy's Swamp Juice Fog, and I can say this with certainty..  I will never rely on another brand of fog juice again.  Thank you froggysfog.com

Projects updates...

My potentially beautiful DVD Cabinets are still in the not so beautiful state of unmade.  I am constantly being told that there isn't the right saw blades on the machines, etc..  I'm honestly getting frustrated by it.  Why would you BUY THE MATERIALS if you have no intention of building it for me.  Seriously.  It's like a constant irritation every time I walk out there and see them sitting there doing nothing.  3 months now.

I understand they got busy... I tried to get Timmay to help me, and was told emphatically NO by my dad.  I don't get it.

So I have been working on other projects for my home.  I need to get on them.. =)  I have been working on the Haunted Mansion sign for the Living Room.  Not sure yet where it will go, but it's coming along nicely. 

This is the start of the sides of the sign.  I am printing the letters out today.  Yay Photoshop!  I'm gonna finish the other side of the side tonight, and maybe start work on the top and bottom.  I'm making it out of Model Magic Clay from Crayola.  I've added a link to what I am using.  It's lighter than regular clay, and for something like what I'm doing, it's perfect.  Hanging heavy things on a wall doesn't usually end up working out well in an earthquake prone place like Southern California. I am building it to be about 12x18 overall.  What you see in the picture is about 12 inches long so far.Anyways, I got a good deal on this stuff at Michael's.  Normally it's $19.99 for a 2lb tub of it, but with a 50% off coupon, I got it for $10.00.  Very nice score in my opinion.  And by the way, 2lbs of this stuff goes a LONG way.  That picture I posted used about 1/8th of 1 of the 4 packages of stuff inside. 

The finished project will look something similar to this:

So that's all I have time for right now.  I'll update more about the new pics I used to replace what would have been the stretching room portraits, and my own smaller version I'm working on..

So many projects, so little time!!