Me and the hubby in costume

Michel as Alex from Clockwork Orange.

Me as a drunk Zombie....before I fixed the make-up. Not as god as my costume last year, but it was made in less than 30 minutes.

Final (rough) shots of the busts

Final pics of the Bust

These pics are a wee bit overexposed, but the final finish was accomplished by dry brushing antique gold metal pait onto the textured form. Besides the paper mache clay texture, I added a rough wash of paper mache glueépaste to the model to give it a very rough look.

I really wish I had some side profiles to these....

 

These were both given to people I respect and love. The bust at the top with the collar was given to Darryl, a bartender who has always been there to help me out. The night I brought it in, he loved it and made sure everyone knew it was hand crafted and that he loved the both of them. The night of the show, we ran into a few problems and Darryl rose to the occasion and helped me more than I would ever have hoped. In respect to his efforts, I offered whichever one he liked the best to be his in appreciation.

The other bust was given to Nicol, a dear friend who loved itès work equaly as much and appreciated the work it took.

I should probably mention this is a faut of mine, always GIVING my stuff away when there is a profit to be made, but I accept this fault as part of who and what I am. I have never given a piece to anyone who did not recognize the work, love and resourcefullness it took. Additionally, I would never give anything I made to someone who I would not expect to enjoy it and appreciate it for what it is.

Stage Set

Rough Shot

A while back, I posted an image of vampire power loss....thought it was a good idea. Here we are a year later and it's come back as a video!


http://vampirepowersucks.com/Default.aspx

Mummified Fairy

The other day I came across a Mummified Fairy Tutorial. 

My friend Nicol and I went absolutely ape-shit crazy thinking about how creepy it was. So, I stopped by the Dollar Store on the way home and picked up the supplies I needed and it turned out great!! So much so that I ended up giving it to her, cause, well, she really loved it.

Sorry there are no process pics, but if you go to the tutorial, you will see almost exactly what I did anyways.

Haunted Tree Stump

So this project was one I've been debating for a while. I was in a creative mood and not feeling like bringing down the recycling. So, i taped 3 2L bottles together twice and interlocked them into a tall form. Then I wrapped a piece of cardboard around them to make a cylinder.

I added strip paper mache and added toilet paper tubes for old branches.

I then added the paper mache clay to beef up the structure.

When the clay was added, I used a butter knife to shape the bark.

LOVED how this part worked out.....nice and clean. After this, I started to add colour.

 

Shot with the hand to give you an idea of the scale.....about 2 x 2l pop bottles high I would say.

Haunted Busts

So, yet another inspiration from Stolloeen.  The haunted busts struck me from the first time I saw them and I was determined to make some for myself.

I started off with some skull heads from the dollar store (to save on time) glued to old liquor bottles.

 

I cut out a basic form I wanted from cardboard, masked it up with masking tape and tweaked the design a bit.

 

At this point, I had a few toilet paper rolls available to me, so I cut them in half, taped them up again and made them into the base for a cape type form.

 

 Here you can see the shoulder plates that were added.

Here is a pic of the boys together after I added the paper mache clay (oooOOOoo so much fun to figure out.....). On a side note, DO NOT let paper mache clay sit at room temperature overnight....the smell is ungodly. Also in this pic you can notice the rib cage and sternum added under the collar.

Finalized Pumpkins

So, here's some pics of the stages of the pumpkins. They are currently on display at the Office of the Dartmouth General Foundation.

This is my favourite one...my roomie has deemed it the 'Cancer Pumpkin'.

Here's a texture shot.......mmmmmmtexture.

Top shot of them as they dried.....the greener ones have a more 'undead' look to them.

This was the second to last stage. I had brushed them with a glue/water/orange paint mix. The orange was added so I knew where I had covered. With the surface already being white, the glue was hard to see, so a heavy tint that would help in the shading was added. They were then sprayed white for highlight ideas and then green for the tops, and then a quick airbrush of a yucky black to give a little contour base.

Pumpkin Update

These are the most recent photos of the pumpkins I've been making. Done with the paper mache portion, I've now covered them with paper clay and begun moulding them to their final forms. I'm very impressed on how easy it is to use and how well it holds its shape. The only question now is how well it will dry to the form and whether or not it will pull off or dry as a large piece and potentially crack off.

Once they are primed, I plan to paint them simple and natural with my airbrush as a practice.

New Tool to my growing Armada of Creation (Registered Trademark Pending)

So here's the new baby to the armada......just wait and see It's a Paasche VL3, sold as a kit and bought from a woodworker in Antigonish County. Originally sells for about $200-$250 Canadian, I got the whole deal for $64, postage in. Haven't sparked her up yet, but it's just a matter of a day......muhahahaha