Little Known Fact:

Female werewolves have French manicures.

I make silly stuff at work sometimes.

DIY Google Glasses

Because I try to remain on the cutting edge of technology, I made my own pair of Google Glasses this week.

It's still in the prototype phase.

A Well Organized Prop Department

Light saber, check. Dust broom, check. Fencing sword, check. Sledge hammer, check. Dust pan, check. Audio cable, check. Electric cord, check.

Building a UFO: Part Three

I finished the engines. Making stuff by cobbling together random parts is always fun for me. They're eventually going to get lights, so I drilled holes through the pieces that needed them so I can run electric cords inside.  Here's their anatomy...

I decided to attach them coming out of two of the ringed foam baseball details I added in Part Two. The saucer seemed to have a nice balance that way. I drilled holes in them so I could simply slip the PVC ends in (and also be able to run light cords through from the back).

At this point, I don't think I'm going to add a third engine as last year's attempt had. I like the clean look the ship has now. A large center fin might be cool, but I'm still debating that.

I couldn't help but quickly spray paint the UFO in a classic silver color to get an idea of what the finished prop might look like. Not sure if I like it this bright. Now I'm thinking it should be more of a gun metal grey.

Much more to do. Next in Part Four I'm cleaning up glue blobs and other imperfections. Then adding a lot more smaller details giving the ship some personality and character. I might start the final painting as well if all goes quickly.

Building a UFO - An Ed Wood/Bob Burns Sci-Fi Buzz Moment

After I noted the similarity between the look of my Halloween UFO prop so far and the flying Saucers from Ed Wood's cult classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, I remembered a fun moment from when I worked on Sci-Fi Buzz on the Sy Fy Channel back in the mid 90's. Thought I'd share.

Legendary Sci-Fi historian and prop collector, Bob Burns, was a regular guest on the show often bringing in a few pieces from his basement museum to talk about. On one episode he brought the original flying saucers from Wood's Plan 9.

Bob's Plan 9 saucer as pictured in the March 2008 issue of Los Angeles Magazine.

Up until that day I believed the myth that they were just cheap, homemade, paper plate created props. But thanks to Bob, I learned that they were actually off-the-shelf Lindberg Model Company Flying Saucer kits available back in Ed Wood's day.

Original model box art

The director wanted to shoot a fun bump shot with Bob teasing the next segment as the saucers flew around his head. With Bob's permission, I carefully hung them with fish line from a broom stick and floated them up and down as he did something funny like trying to swat them away like flies.

Once we cut, Bob turned to me and said

"I think that's the first time they've flown since Ed made the movie." 

Building a UFO: Part Two

Just before I got started rebuilding the old unfinished UFO (see Part One), I stopped and thought, maybe this Halloween project should be one I actually spend money on? Maybe go and get decent materials to make it what I really dream it could be? Then I came to my senses. Where's the fun in that? Not to mention my ever growing hoard of junk to make stuff out of seriously needs to be decreased. So, be warned, I'm REALLY making this one up as I go.

First thing I did was to beef up the saucer a bit. Using double stick foam tape I attached an old dryer hose around the edge. Then glued in place and filled gaps with Liquid Nails.

I might replace this hose with a large foam pipe insulation tube or pool toy noodle.

Once the Liquid Nails set up, I painted the dryer hose to get rid of the reflection and glare so I could see if I filled in the gap between it and the wood enough.

Next I added some larger details to the saucer with plastic rings from old outdoor path lights and foam baseballs cut in half (left over from the prop bats I made for Geeks vs Zombies).

I still liked the cockpit from the first attempt last year (a plastic planter cut down) and kept it. I detailed the edges with some foam pipe insulation tube at the bottom and a thinner fountain pump hose along the top.

Glue blobs will be cleaned up later.

I'm planning to hinge the dome so I can have either an open or closed cockpit.

At this point before I added any more details, I roughly painted the entire saucer so I could get a better sense of it as a whole so far. Without being distracted by it's individual parts and pieces.

No, it won't be pink when finished. It just happened to be
 the first random color I grabbed from my paint stash.

From here (and in Part Three) I'm going to figure out the engines and other details. I don't now if I'll add too much more though, I really like the classic 50's B-movie/Ed Wood simplicity of it right now.

One of Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space flying saucers.
Contrary to popular belief, these were actually store bought plastic models
and not painted paper plates or pie-tins.

59 Days 'til Halloween - Building a UFO: Part One

If you've followed this blog for awhile, you know I've been wanting to place a crashed flying saucer on the roof for years. Believe it or not, I worked it into my evolving Halloween display backstory a long time ago, but more about that down the line. 

Last year, with the help of niece Devin and my brother's girlfriend Leah, we actually started to build it. Unfortunately, during some heavy rains, the fiancee and I discovered our roof was leaking and needed serious repair. Not the best time to place props up there. So I abandoned the UFO project.

This year, with the roof all fixed and still plenty of build time, it's my primary new prop project and have dedicated Labor Day weekend to it's creation.

When we last left off almost 12 months ago, it had a good start with a fun retro-future feel.

Today, having been shoved into a corner and forgotten about, it's looking pretty beat up.

Part two soon (later tonight probably). In the meantime... watch the skies!

62 Days 'til Halloween: PETCO for Props

I've learned over the years that great props can be found in the most unexpected places. I'm not talking about garage sales and dumpsters, I'm talking about stores you've driven by hundreds of times but never once thought to look in.

PETCO (or any pet store for that matter) is one such place. Aquarium decorations have come a long way since those tiny bubbling deep sea divers and treasure chests. Here are some cool ones I just saw that are great for Halloween. They're not the cheapest things in the world, but the sculpt and paint on them are fantastic. And if incorporated into a lawn display, since made for underwater use, you know they'll hold up well outdoors year after year. Any one of these alone are great additions to a curiosity cabinet.

Please excuse being poor camera phone images.

I can't stop imagining these with rings in their
mouths as cauldron handles for a cannibal island theme.

That large one is a Hippo skull. I want to slap a "Prehistoric Saber Toothed Rat"
label on it and hope none of my Trick or Treaters are Paleontologists.

They also have rigid plastic grass tufts and plants, great for tombstone base detailing etc. that would last for more than a few years.

 
I was surprised to discover a whole aisle full Halloween themed pet toys. Made me smile.

Bat Cage Prop

What witch, warlock, wizard or weirdo like me wouldn't want to have a wee bat as a pet? Since the local animal shelter doesn't have any to adopt, I decided to make my own.

I was inspired to make this prop by the great Disney artist Marc Davis, based on his unused concept sketch for the Haunted Mansion.

My version doesn't come close to having the personality Davis' has, but it was really easy to make with cheap materials and took no time at all. Here's how mine came together.

First, I prepped the bat for hanging around. The one I used was a better than average plastic toy found at Michaels. His outstretched wings wouldn't fit inside the cage (plus they didn't have a relaxed look), so I folded them over and super glued. A couple of binder clips held them in place until the glue set up.

I made the bat's perch out of a cut pencil and some wire, then painted black. Once dry, the bat was super glued to the perch.

The bones inside the cage were made out of Crayola Model Magic. Not anatomically accurate, but they sell the idea. Once dry I gave them a wash of dark brown acrylic.

The cage itself was found at Home Goods last year, and already had a great Gothic look. I filled the base with some moss and added the bones. An "S" hook was hot glued inside the top dome of the cage to easily hang the perched bat from.

Making a Zombie Bashing Baseball Bat Prop Arsenal

A few weeks back, when I was illustrating the poster for the play GEEKS VS ZOMBIES. The show needed faux baseball bat props for some characters to bash zombies with. Time was short and like most independent small theatre productions, so was the budget. I offered to make them from some kind of inexpensive kid's toy bat.

They had to be realistic looking, standard sized and safe enough to use in stage combat. The show needed at least 6 (4 for the lead actors, and 2 more standing by as back ups). But more if affordable just in case.

Searching for off the shelf T-ball foam bats was a given, but I felt like Goldilocks shopping. Some were too soft, some were too hard, some were too fat, some were too thin, etc., etc. All were also odd colors and would of required faux finishing (not impossible to do, but it would of added extra time to do right).

But then I found one at Cost Plus, which was just right... good foam thickness from end to end and already wood grained. Plus very budget friendly being under $10.00 each, and would only need a few more bucks in materials to make perfect.

Although the bats were really short (24"), I was easily able to customize and make longer since they only had a hollow plastic tube inside.

Here's how I did it. Quick disclaimer: These were made for the play's particular need and used by actors in rehearsed, choreographed, and controlled fight scenes. If you create a bat like this, I don't claim it to be completely safe enough to freely go around knocking your friends in the head with. Use common sense.

From there, they just needed to be splattered with reddish-brown paint to look well used and blood soaked. Here's a before and after photo.

For more info about GEEKS VS ZOMBIES (which opens tonight!) visit Seat Of Your Pants Productions or facebook.com/soypproductions

Halloween 2015 Plans

I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but one New Year's resolution was NOT posting about any new Halloween yard ideas for 2015 unless they were well under way being created. I've become fed up with myself having posted a 1001 ideas and sketches in the past that never became reality.

Having said that, I think this new cartoon posted on my web comic Para-Abnormal qualifies as a Halloween idea I'm safe to share for next October. I've already pulled materials from the garage hoard and started making.

As of right now, this prop seems possible to make with what I have. But I reserve the right to abandon at any time and exclaim "What a stupid idea!" should I find myself debating whether to spend money on or buy food.

Creative Inspiration: Studio Prop Dept. Photos from 1937

Wonderful photos by Margaret Bourke-White inside the Warner Brothers and Paramount Prop Depts. back in 1937. Found these (and more) on the LIFE magazine gallery site.

Break-away club and prop filled pockets.

Old time practical effects - unicorn horn for a horse, turtle on wheels to move, knife stabbing gags.

Martha Raye marionette.

Mosquito prop on thread of human hair to make fly.

Spinning faux spider webs.