Halloween 2013: Cryptsbee

Meet Cryptsbee the Undead Clown. Another new Halloween yard prop idea sketch.

Halloween 2013 - The first new prop idea

New prop ideas for this year's yard have begun to form in my head (and get sketched). How many will actually happen when I've still got so many from the past unmade? We'll see.

Dear Mom

I know raising two sons was often maniacal. Thank you for teaching us that feeling abnormal sometimes, was a very normal feeling.

Creative Inspiration: Eric Hart

If you want to know everything and anything about being a professional prop maker (and discover countless tips and tricks making props) start following Eric Hart's Prop Agenda blog.

Wait, one more thing. He recently wrote a book - The Prop Building Guidebook.

I'm pretty sure it will become a paint stained, plaster dripped, dog-eared, and spine broken tome from constant reference to at my worktable within a few weeks.

Creative Inspiration: Ray Harryhausen

Poster image via www.badazzmofo.com

 As a kid, I knew the name Ray Harryhausen and his body of work by heart. I could recognize one of his creatures and tell you what movie it was from before I knew multiplication in math class, or even why we fought the Revolutionary War in history class. It's true.

I can only explain why this was so recalling being hypnotized by his work at a very young age. When any giant monster movie came on TV, I'd look for his name in the opening credits, like some mark of quality and worth watching.

One "monster kid" weekend afternoon, just as The Valley of Gwangi came on TV. My mom called my name from the other room needing help with some chore. I yelled back...

"Pleeeeease Mooooom, can I do it later?
I'm watching a Ray Harryhausen movie!"

By then, she knew how I loved his movies and let me be. But I suspect she also knew, which I didn't realize then, how he inspired my creativity and she allowed me to fuel it.

When I was around 8 years old, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad was in theatres. It was Harryhausen's newest movie. I begged my parent's to take me to see it. It turned out to be the first movie I remember my Dad and I going to see alone together. During the drive there, I discovered he was a Jason and the Argonauts fan. He told me all about the night he saw it in a NYC movie theater and how the skeleton fight was his favorite part.

Suddenly, our trip was no longer just a father taking his son to a kid's movie. We were now two Harryhausen fans going to see the newest monsters! 

Goodbye Mr. Harryhausen. Your work was an essential ingredient in my youth to make who I am today.

Hauntcast Could Do Better

Being a Halloween enthusiast, I listen to Hauntcast, a podcast/web-radio show just about Halloween decorating.

Subscribing was money well spent until the Season 5 premiere episode went online today.

Most of the show was exceptional, as always. But their monthly "Halloween Guru" interview segment featured some hack artist loser with more "UHHHHs" to say than anything guru-ish.

Just looking at the latest Hauntcast show ad art makes me nauseated seeing his ugly mug there...

Creative Inspiration - The Talking Heads

Game Changer

Thanks to various projects for work, my skills with tools I don't often use are improving. I'll never give up being a hot glue and foam core prop maker, but biscuit joiners and routers are opening all sorts of new creative idea doors in my head.

A Winter's Horror

As a long time fan of Jonathan Winters and all things Halloween, here's an appropriate clip to remember the comic genius by.

Star Wars Geek Moment At Work

Remember this commercial?



Well, little Darth Vader himself, Max Page, was a guest on Home & Family this past month. And my professionalism went out the window being a fan of his now classic VW Super Bowl ad.

Not only did I ask Max to autograph a toy light saber we had in props ...

 

But yeah, we got a photo together too ...

 

Watch the video of his visit on the show and hear about the good causes Max was promoting HERE.

IMacQuarium

A recent project for "Home and Family" was to turn an old computer into an aquarium. After hours of trial and error, I eventually created one. No goldfish were harmed in the process. Just diving into a project head first, making hundreds of mistakes, is the best way to learn new skills.

Making a Rooftop Reindeer

Last month I mentioned the chimney reindeer idea I had for the Home & Family show house. Well, he actually did get made, but sadly, it's taken me this long to post about.

Like many of my prop projects, they start with a sketch.

The actual prop build began with a support structure. I mounted a galvanized pipe on a plywood round. On top of the pipe I glued on styrofoam balls and blocked in his basic head shape.

Next, I covered him in good 'ol spray insulation foam.

I added his antlers. They were made from bent pieces of PVC pipe with lengths of thick wire taped on the ends as his antler points.

 Once the foam set up, I carved/sculpted everything into a decent reindeer shape. I also reinforced his antlers wrapping in layers of duct tape, and added small plastic balls to the tips to round them off, plus it gave them a little fun character. Using a sharpie I sketched in where his eyes and nose would be to get a sense of how he might look as I carved.

Using a couple of yards of craft fur, I stretched, pinned, cut and glued on his brown coat first.

 

 His white underbelly was next, also using craft fur. I carved his nose out of styrofoam and glued on.

I painted his antlers a brownish grey. His eyes were two halves of a split plastic round ornament painted black. I used black shoe laces glued on to accent his mouth and muzzle. His ears are heavy card stock cut to shape and sandwiched between glued on craft fur.

Once done, I screwed him onto the house's chimney, which being a TV set is fake and made of wood. I added Santa's bag next to him with a few presents. The antlers were strong enough to simply drape a line of Christmas lights on as if tangled in.

Getting him up onto the roof was an adventure unto itself, and a tale I'll tell another time...

From Bad To Good

As easy as your first step.

Dasher

Last Christmas, niece Devin's belief in Santa Claus was wavering. In her annual letter to him, she asked for a picture of one of his reindeer. Her parents suspected she wanted proof he exists.

Well, sure enough, on Christmas morning, Devin found a framed photo of Dasher under the tree, with a letter from old St. Nick himself that read

Dear Devin

Thank you for writing. You asked me for a picture of one of my reindeer, although they are very shy and dislike being photographed, I do have one photo of old Dasher as a young buck many years ago that I can give you.

When Dasher was still learning to fly, he would "dash" off in all directions, often landing in odd places. That's how he got his name. In this picture taken by Mrs. Claus, he landed on the workshop roof one day. It's always been one of my favorites. I hope you like it.

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Year.
-Santa

Connecticut