its yours take it Canada

Originally uploaded by : relish.

Found Photo Collage for art thingy.

Gaping hole halloween costume

Originally uploaded by evanbooth.

Evan Booth created the basic costume I’ll be doing this year in 06. Super old school! He did a great job obviously. Thanks to Akreska for pointing out the link.

It’s always super helpful to see what other people have done and especially when they provide a idea of the constuction. EVan was helpful enough to provide a look into the components of his costume. Basically the idea is the same as mine, however I am elaborating it for more realism.

The main alteration is that I am doubling up on the units, so that the illusion works from both the front and back. I also really have my heart set on spy cams for their smallness, although I like that he used what he had readily available with the digital camera. I hadn’t even considered that.

I notice there is no battery supply for his LCD DVD because it is a self contained unit, my screens are separated from the DVD player so they need their own power supplies. The advantage to this though, is that the screens are really thin without the rest of the player attached. This will help to keep them as flat as possible against my body, and make it easier to camouflage them into the costume. The power supplies can be tucked in hip pockets that will be put of sight.

I’ll also be adding a sculptural element, by creating a protruding shotgun wound around the screens. This will add needed gore and depth. Also, I think I may wrap the lenses of the cameras with a bit of foam or fabric, so that there is an added depth to their display ( i may need to draw that to clarify).
I like the shoulder straps, I think that I might do something with an added waist strap.
Anyways, excellent resource, excellent costume. Props.

I’m about a day away from purchasing a gallon of flex foam for a variety of costume projects. I’ve also had 44 pounds of clay donated to my cause by my favorite second mother. There is some madness in the works alright!

I get a lot questions from people who are unsure how to approach the techniques I’ve demonstrated on this site. I also know that other Halloween resources that link to here often try and find work arounds to recreate some of the costumes without sculpting and casting. I am totally behind the ingenuity people demonstrate in sourcing out other materials to do the job. But I do want to explain though, why I believe clay sculpture with casting is the way to go. Or, you could just watch the special features on any horror movie DVD. Same difference.

The custom fit and detail that a clay model sculpture will provide you with is unparalleled. Clay is very easy to work with, you can change things as you go and immediately see the specific dimensions of your final piece. This allows you to build your prop to fit your body exactly. Also, the style you sculpt with will add another level of customization to your costume. Details really are important.

People who don’t know where to start when using clay for props can use preexisting forms as “bases”, and use the clay to build on to them. For example, if you want to make Kuato (which I hope to do this year) you might start with an old baby doll, and use clay to change the features to a more disfigured look. Hallywood did a great job here. A foam model would fit so nice over that animatronic skeleton.

Another thing to keep in mind is attachment issues. That is, “How will the prop attach to my body or costume?” By thinking about this in advance, you can build directly onto your model the means for attaching the final piece to your costume. Using flex foam, you can set things into it while it’s curing. Like straps, dowels, velcro whatever. It’s much easier than trying to attach those things after the fact.

I guess the part that frightens most people off is the actual plaster casting step that I use. You can use silicone and other stuff for this part, but I’m super cheap and plaster of paris costs like nothing. But regardless, it is not a difficult thing to do. Really, it’s not. I swear.
You just have to think, “Can I do this mold in one part or two?”. Is it something flat-ish and small: a one part mold.
Or is it something bigger, & more 3-D: a two-part mold. Easy.

Get some god damn liquid foam, it rules. Also, you now have mold you can re-use and make multiples of your wicked creation to sell on ebay or whatever. $$$!

I swear, the time and cost trying to source out super specific props and accessories can almost always be made faster and cheaper at home. Plus it’s way more fun and it’ll look way better.
Guaranfuckinteed!

costume_sketch

Originally uploaded by nicemag.

I accidentally deleted the original post for this.. Here is a sketch depicting the idea I have for the costume. The illusion is a rear entry gun wound that creates a hole tin the body that you can look through. The details are inspired by “Evil Ash” from Army of Darkness and the main idea from Death Becomes Her. Here’s the Flickr set.

I may have a professional interest in video, but I can’t even begin to compete with this dynamic duo! Fred & Sharon have inspired me to go back to school and brush up on my skills. Maybe one day I can run my own successful movie business too!

via Dlisted

I’m obsessed with nature documentaries done by the BBC. I used my Halloween prize at Amazon this past year to get the Planet Earth box set, and I’ve also acquired the Blue Planet series as well. I love Sir David Attenborough.

I had this dream the other night that I was in this library in the future, and any subject you were interested in was searchable on computers to this video database that David Attenborough had created. So you would type in: Intersexed sea creatures, and Sir Attenborough would pop up and explain what this was all about and how it relates to humanity.

In lieu of my dream database actually existing, I’m going to try and collect everything possible he has made. The next collection will be Life of Mammals, I saw the Meat Eaters episode and it was awesome.
Here’s my amazon wish list, if you’re wondering what to get me for my birthday.

David Attenborough’s #1 moment - an amazing Lyre Bird that can imitate all sorts of sounds, natural and man made:

My online documentary watching pastime took a giant kick in the balls last week with the end of Stage6. Stage6 was my go-to source for streaming movies, shows and docs. But like all things to good to be true, it’s over. Now it’s crappy Google video or youtube I guess. Veoh might take over some of the need, I was using it when I started using Stage 6 originally, but the benefits of streaming won me over and I abandoned Veoh. In truth, it doesn’t take that long to download and I think they are supporting divX now.

I did find a great documentary about the Aquatic Ape hypothesis on youtube last night. The quality is poor but watchable.
Aquatic Ape Part 1

Super interesting ideas, great argument and potential. Anthropologists are haters, and it would be great if they did the science to either prove or dismiss the idea; that humans might have spent some time in the water during our evolutionary history.
And of course, here it is presented by Sir David Attenborough, I recommend part 2:
Scars of Evolution.

This is what you think about when it’s minus -50C.

Backyard Fires
Biking down mainstreet
Water taxi
Music cooler
Beaconia beach
Bike baskets
Upper deck furby
Rooftops!

procession 2

Originally uploaded by nicemag.

New oil paintings, for an Art Party at the Cre8ery this Saturday.
Inspired by several dreams, of a procession of creepy blonde girls with pink pope-like hats. The mounted animal heads are a theme carried over from a larger painting I’ve been working on.

I can’t stay away from the costumes. I think I need another reason besides Halloween to do this stuff. So on the weekend, one of my friends was talking about the movie Death Becomes Her, and we all agreed that it’s a great flick. I started thinking about the crazy scene where Meryl Streep blasts a hole in Goldie Hawn with a shotgun. I thought that this would be a great challenge! I want to make this:

This project will combine my love of gruesomeness and nerdy video stuff. I have to order stuff equipment on ebay, to start testing. This should be a really interesting project to make. I’m going to keep my lips sealed on my plans until I can actually start working on it. yea project!

I had forgotten to mention that I wrote a full How- To on my Kali costume on the Instructables site.
Kali Instructable link

There are some interesting comments in the thread. Some very polarizing opinions. I suppose a little controversy is always good, at least it gets people talking.
I’m not too sure what I’m going to do with my time now. I’ve been thinking about doing some straight up canvases, I think it may be time to switch it up a bit.