props

A creature of darkness tired of working for death. He sought an existence the opposite of the world he knew.

But what is it? How to attain it? The living held the secret. So he studied their literature and observed their courting behaviour. He understood he needed a fiancee to shower in gifts (including the key to his heart). And in order for her to love him, he started gathering all the human elements of love: lips for love's first kiss; an ear where sweet nothings are whispered; a tongue that professes love; a nose to breathe in pheromones; fingers that caress; eyes to stare longingly; a brain for daydreams and romantic thoughts; a heart to give to her, and an extra in case the first should "break".

He found a house in a quiet neighbourhood which conveniently had a wife living in it. In his limited understanding of human custom, he grasped she couldn't marry him if she already had a husband unless he was given something called "divorce papers". He created a crude version with a simple statement and added his own wax initial (a gesture to make it official) though by that time, the marriage was technically over since the man no longer lived (better to be safe than sorry, he thought, apparently divorce indicates an ending to love while death has strange lingering romantic thoughts surrounding it).  

Here she is!

Isn't she perty?

Finally got to finish her today and I've written up the second part of the how-to with some close up images for you to get a good look at the subtle changes that make a huge effect. 

I can't wait to get her dressed up for Halloween. 

Before I did my Rip Van Winkle routine and dropped into slumber for days as my body wrestled with a virus, I had time (and energy) to work on another piece from buycostumes.com. This time it was a radio.

I liked the old fashioned shape of it, and the idea that a skull presses out against the black screen of the speaker. 

While not for me, some people might like the feature that when you turn it on, lights flash red and blue. The skull moves forward, pressing against the screen, and then there is a recording of a voice speaking spooky sayings.

For my display, I turned the radio off just when the skull was sticking out the furthest, freezing him in place. 

The drawback to the radio is it comes in a light milk chocolate colour, almost like toffee (see images below).

The colour draws attention to the fact it's made of plastic, and since there is no contrasting colour on the main body of the piece, you can't see all the great grain detailing on the face of the radio. 

The brass look of the buttons are fine, and the colour of the mesh at the top half of the radio is perfect.

I grabbed black, white and brown acrylics, and a can of black spray paint.

For this Misgivings Day Weekend, why not make one of these? It's super simple to make. And I mean, who doesn't need a Skull Candle Holder?

Closer to Halloween, I will be adding webbing (using a webgun), but for now here's the (almost) finished image. All you need is a skull (the ones from the dollar store work great), PVC pipe (or you could use a paper towel roll or tall can), hot glue gun, paint, and whatever you want to attach your skull to (I used fake books).

Most of the skulls you find at the dollar store look like they are from the the dollar store. But if the shape of the skull is good, then you can easily spruce it up with some paint.

When I first bought the foam skull, it was yellow (see the side-by-side image below). I took some watered down black paint (a wash) and added more shadows around the jaw, the eyes...basically anywhere there was a contour.

It was the start to every haunter's nightmare.

Toronto finally got some serious rain today. So much rain, in fact, that many places around the city had serious flooding. Luckily, in my area, I didn't go outside to find my car submerged like some poor folks did.

Blissfully unaware of what awaited me in the basement, I headed downstairs to retrieve a box from the storage room which houses all of my Halloween props, decorations and even some supplies. I was distracted by my remarkable ability to actually walk down the stairs (albeit very carefully and clutching both rail and wall as I gingerly manoeuvred the injured ankle). I was smiling at the partial return of mobility. I was happy for the first time in a long day of ridiculous mishaps. I wasn't expecting the universe to play one more joke on me before bedtime.

I felt it before I saw it.

Barefoot on the cold tile. Two steps in.

*squish*