A Rose by Any Other Name...

I've picked up an interesting trait when working on my Halloween props. Each of them (that are vaguely humanoid at least) has to be named. I'm not sure why I do it.

I know the origin of my first named prop: Ded-Bob. Ded-Bob was a puppet that was controlled from behind using a harness and rods for the arm. The name comes from a show Mary and I saw years back at the Michigan Renaissance Festival, in Holly MI. That Ded-Bob was a smart-mouthed puppet. The name must have stuck in my memory and popped out when I started working on my project. Since I needed an easy "title" for the project, I applied it, and there we go.

The next prop to be named with my FCG. FCG is a "Flying Crank Ghost", basically a figure being animated by an overhead crank pulling on ropes that are attached to the arms and head of the figure. I used barber's mannequin head I'd gotten from the local Barber school (they gave me a whole trash bag full of them) that was female. My wife had a friend named Sarah at the time and I started using that name in regards to the FCG before I realized the possible connection...

Since that time, they've been joined by Ded-Fred, Witch Hazel, Eddie, Bert, Ernie, Billy, Phil, Charlotte, Homer, Little Jimmy, Bucky, Moe, Larry, Curly, et al. I think naming them tends to make me think of them as individual works,  not not just "the FCG" or "paper mache pumpkin #4". I don't really start a project anymore without thinking of a good name.

At this point, I'm working on a couple of "Weeping Angel" statues, one passively weeping, the other lungeing. I think they will be Angelica and Lilith...

Not dead

Still not dead. I have a couple of projects in the works that I will write up.

For now, fun with photography: A European street from the 1960's with a simulated tilt-focus lens:

Come and Gone

November is here, the hectic days are come and gone. Time to relax...

Yeah right. :-)

I got most of the stuff broken down and hauled down to the basement, with a noticable exception being my witch and my fence. Mostly because I'm lazy, but also because that fence just looks so damn good!

The boarded up windows was a big hit, lots of people commented on them. Said it made the house look creepy even in the daylight. As this was a last minute project, I'm glad I went forward on it.

Phil made his début this year and got a very good reaction. Mostly he just kinda sat there, doing his thing, but at one point in the evening, a group of young girls came up. One of them stood a little too close to the edge of the side walk, right at the apex of Phil's reach. She didn't notice him until the tip of his finger touched her ankle, at which point she jumped out of her skin!

I was very satisfied how well my witch worked, considering all the problems in years past.

The dangers of drinking and broom riding...

PTotD - Candles