October 9th, 2010
Completed three new character heads built for this year’s display, the creatures are called “Wardens” and are the result of possessed pumpkins evolving into something sinister, something evil, something big.
My display really needed something creepy to balance the goofy props I’ve been building lately so the pumpkins got some Wardens.
The bodies are still in the construction phase and should be complete by the end of next week.
Fingers crossed.
October 8th, 2010
This is the final post of “The Life of Charlie”, the experiment where I put one of my sealed papier mache pumpkins outside to withstand the elements and see how it goes.
The good news is that Charlie survived without a trace of damage due to moisture, this information should give you a little confidence when displaying your hard work outside.
Charlie is still outside, but now he has a little bit of company as he joins 22 other pumpkins for a pre-Halloween display on our front porch.
He’s happy to have some company and even happier that a good coat of Spar Urethane kept him safe and sound.
Thanks Charlie and have a great Halloween!
October 7th, 2010
Finally painted five pumpkins that were created for a Great Lakes FrightFest demonstration last spring, these pumpkins were painted with an airbrush, sealed, then washed with black paint.
The final coat of black paint was wiped from the surface with a damp cloth leaving only traces of the paint in recessed areas.
The coat of sealant protected the paint applied by the airbrush.
The resulting pumpkins are a little brighter but still have a lot of visible texture due to the addition of the black paint.
October 4th, 2010
Finally getting some projects completed for our Halloween Display 2010, these three large pumpkins stand almost three feet tall and are a mash up of several different projects.
The pumpkins used the trash bag method, the cardboard strip method and the face techniques use for DEMONIKUS.
The tutorial will be available after Halloween, for now I need to keep checking projects off the list.
Build On!
September 26th, 2010
Introducing NOCTURNUS, my eight legged entry for Davis Graveyard SpiderFest 2010.
This is a big fella, his body and head are 19 inches long and 10 inches wide and with the legs attached he measures 41 inches long and 36 inches wide.
The legs were designed to be detachable for shipping and storage purposes plus it allows the legs to be angled in whatever direction to achieve some very different looks.
The color scheme is simply black and white, I had played around with some different colors but felt the black and white suited him best.
When creating this piece I paid special attention to how it would look from all different angles because the spider will be hung from a tree and chances are it will turn in the wind and all sides will at some point be visible.
When taking these photographs I was pleased that NOCTURNUS was interesting from any angle.
Tomorrow I will coat him with some Spar Urethane to protect him from the rain then get him shipped mid-week so the can be part of Davis Graveyard SpiderFest 2010.
September 23rd, 2010
Completed a collection of 13 Tortured Pumpkins, these poor innocent souls have been subjected to extreme brutality by unseen forces and are sure to add a touch of agony to your Halloween display.
The pumpkins are made with a combination of pumpkin building techniques posted on this site but also contain a few twists guaranteed to make Jack O’ Lanterns cringe in fear everywhere.
Get the how-to here.
September 19th, 2010
So what do 13 tortured pumpkins waiting for their final paint look like?
The pumpkins have been base coated with flat black latex paint then dry brushed with flat white latex.
The next step involves colorizing with some various color of oil stains…this is sort of experimental, something I’ve never done before.
If you are really a keen reader you notice that there are actually 14 pumpkins in the picture, the 14th pumpkin was made as a guinea pig, an experimental pumpkin on which I can play around with the color.
Lucky pumpkin!
September 15th, 2010
An update on the Davis Graveyard Spider for SpiderFest 2010…let me just say that I “changed gears”…yes the pun is intended.
A week or so ago I posted some teaser photos of my spider and as the clues suggested it was going to be a steampunk skeleton spider.
My original concept was to make a mechanical body with skeletal legs and head and as sometimes happens the concept wasn’t working and it was time for plan B.
The biggest problem I was having were the head and body proportions plus I really didn’t care for the angle of the legs.
The deciding factor to change my direction was that the spider wasn’t creepy.
The Davis Graveyard is sort of a spooky elegance and the steampunk spider was going in an opposite direction.
So here’s the new spider complete with a big bulbous body, a skull like head and eight large removable legs to accommodate shipping and storage.
There is still a fair amount of work to be done but I like the direction and think he now has a creep factor worthy of his destination.
I hope they like him.
September 14th, 2010
Here is a peek at some new items for my Etsy store, they are called “Tortured Pumpkins.”
These guys are stuck in eternal agricultural agony because life in the STOLLOWEEN pumpkin patch isn’t exactly easy.
Nailed, chained, stapled, stitched, shackled and bound in barbed wire these 13 new pumpkins are living Halloween horror 24/7.
The pumpkins are made from papier mache and should be in my Etsy store early next week.
September 10th, 2010
The Undead Pumpkin is now finished and he has a name.
Meet Gourdon Rotsworth.
A new tutorial has been posting showing the steps involved in making this evil pumpkin that will be lurking in his new home at The Never Moor.
Here are the instructions.
