A Bad Day Haunting...

...or just talking and thinking about haunting, is better than a good day at work. And today wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was a very good day, spent talking and thinking about haunts and Halloween.

Got to hang out with my buddy Noah Fentz who operates the award-winning home haunt The Creepy House Next Door and have our own mini make-and-take. We actually worked in The Creepy House, well upstairs from the haunt, anyway.

While I was corpsing my groundbreaker, Noah worked on a wig head he's putting together for a step-by-step tutorial. I don't think I'm telling stories out of school by mentioning it since he does have on his site a section devoted to it, only that it says the tutorial is coming soon. And it is. I was there. He's working on it!

I also got to pour my first plaster of Paris skull casting. Actually, Noah showed me how to do it using one of his latex molds. He did the first half of the pour, I did the second, and then he showed me how to separate the mold from the cast. Very cool. That is now my next goal, to make my own latex mold so I can cast skulls regularly. The result is the picture above. Once it firmly sets in a few days, I'll sand it and paint it for use this Halloween.

A fun lunch, excellent discussion about haunting and the haunters we know, and an all around good day hanging out with good people. Here's to more days like this.

A Stiff Arm Block

I've been working on my latest groundbreaker, mache-ing the arms into their proper position. It took a little longer than I anticipated because while the left arm is twisted back behind it helping to lift the corpse out of the ground, the right arm is stretched out in front of it, reaching forward to grasp at any passersby.

Because the arm does reach forward I wanted to make sure it was sturdy enough that it wouldn't droop over time or worse break off. Also, because I am thinking about storage afterwards, I thought to make the arm removable and figured a PVC joint (the arm itself is mache-covered PVC) would be best.

I quickly discovered that since I didn't plan for this ahead of time soon enough, the shoulder where it would join would eventually weaken. So this arm will be "welded" into the rest of the body to make it secure. Next time, however, since I'm building more of the infrastructure of my groundbreakers with PVC I'll incorporate the appropriate joints into the framework from the beginning rather than trying to stick it on as an afterthought.

But the underlying mache is now complete and following a coat of spar varnish to protect the mache from the elements, the corpsification will begin. Feels good getting back into the groove.

The Cobwebs Have Cleared

From my brain anyway. It was a long slog through winter without any motivation to do any Halloween work, but going to the local Make & Take and meeting with my haunting peeps got me going again. I started in earnest again on Thursday, though, making a hand for a groundbreaker I had started last November. Then I began with the second layer of mache on the torso yesterday and today.

But I couldn't let the nice weather today pass by without going outside so I used the time to clean out my garage. A few woodworking projects I had done over the winter -- with the garage door closed -- covered everything in a fine layer of sawdust (it was only fine because I'm sure I inhaled all the rest...I really got to get me a dust collection system in there).

I found my shiatsu massager I had gotten at one of the M&T's last summer so I've got to look around for a project for that. But with a clean workbench again, plenty of space to move around in (other than the big, honkin' industrial size radial arm saw I picked up the other week), and I'm ready to be a prop-building fool again.

Now I just have to straighten out my basement workshop...again.

Now What?!

As I was in my yard today adding some details to my display -- I went to the local swamp (actually an overgrown, abandoned roadway) and pulled up some vines to wrap around my columns and fence -- a car pulled up in front of the house and the woman driving complimented me on the display.

I graciously accepted the compliments but she began to explain that she ran an entertainment company and they were putting on a haunted house in Hoboken. It was really a series of haunted tents, and what she does is drive around to try and steal ideas from home haunters. She said she really liked my display and wanted to know where I had gotten my various props. When I told her I built most of them, she was more than effusive in her praise.

Then she asked me if I could build her a groundbreaker! She would pay me for it! But it would need to be done before October 29 when the event was to take place. Oh, and how much would I charge?

I had no freakin' clue. I've only been doing this for a year and while I think my groundbreakers and corpses are fine for my little yard display, are they really "professional" haunt quality? I don't think so, but neither am I one to dismiss an opportunity either, particularly since I enjoy doing this stuff and I'm doing it every day anyway.

She said she was just starting out in the entertainment business and she had done this particular haunt last year and they liked it enough to ask her to come back. But she wanted to up the effort this time around to try and branch out and perhaps do it for more places. Of course I was thinking to myself, well, nothing like waiting till the last minute...but she said she would be willing to have me join her in her business. I'm guessing as Chief Prop Maker.

I figured I could make the props and even if she never came through I'd at least have another prop for my own display.

So, would anyone care to suggest what a groundbreaker would go for? Oh, and then after she left, she came back five minutes later asking if I could make a reaper too! Would it take long? Oh boy. Now what am I gonna do?