New Favorite Store

There are only a few storefronts for "Reynolds Advanced Materials" in the U.S. but we are lucky enough to have one close to home and paid a visit there this last week to obtain casting materials for some new skill learning. The store is at the front of a good size warehouse. It is well laid out with all the different mold making and casting materials and examples of the kind of castings you can make with that particular material. We were instantly in love...

Check them out and obtain one of their free catalogs if you don't already do this stuff and want to take your artistic endeavors to a fun new level!

So this week we dabbled at making some medallions for the doors of this year's mausoleum facade.

Our original is a lute hole cover for a guitar placed in a glass food container.

We mixed the two parts of their brand name "Mold Star 16" mold making material 50/50. Just pour the amount you want of each part into two separate plastic cups, then when you are ready, pour one cup into the other, stir and pour. Tap the mold against your table a few times to get any trapped air bubbles to rise to the surface. Don't forget to spray your mold container with some sort of release agent. Anything to help the dried rubber mold back out of the container. We didn't on this one and did a lot of cursing to get the rubber mold back out of the glass container. Later we used spray olive oil from the kitchen which seemed to work well.

'Mold Star 16" takes 30 minutes to cure.

Once it's cured your ready to poor your cast material. We used brand name "Smooth Cast 305" which is a white liquid plastic. Again measure out in separate cups 50/50, pour one cup into the other, stir thoroughly and pour into your mold. Tap the mold on the table to get any bubbles to rise to the surface. "Smooth Cast 305" hardens in 15 minutes so don't waste time pouring it before the hardening process begins.

The medallions needed some crosses so they were also cast in plastic and super glued to the medallion. Medallions ready for their faux metal finish!

We're still experimenting with making 3D items with detail on all sides. It's a bit more advanced but Belinda found lots of You Tube assistance.

The door of our Mausoleum will be faux metal of some sort so we also needed bolt heads to glue to the actual wood or styrofoam constructed doors. This photo does not do justice to the amount of detail you can get. We learned to cast them in our class at the Halloween Extreme convention, so we already had the mold. The cross finials are still a work in progress. Once they get a rust technique for the final finish I think they will look okay.

A little pre-season crafting to get us warmed up for this years new props at Shingle Creek Manor!

Halloween Extreme in Orlando

In a previous blog post I talked about how we were unable to attend the Transworld Haunters Convention this year for various reasons, not the least of which was the overall cost for out of state travel, room, and board. This year though, for the first time, Transworld, Netherworld and Spooky Empire combined to form a "Halloween Extreme" convention right here in Orlando in conjunction with the annual Spooky Mahem Convention. Between how-to classes, costumed characters, and a pretty good size vendor hall, it was a very busy three days of Halloween madness. If you weren't exhausted from that, there was a Zombie Walk, an after hours Zombie Prom, a prop building competiton, a prop contest and a costume contest. Overall it was an excellent weekend for us. We learned a lot, spent more money on props than we should have, and met plenty of fellow haunters. If you get the chance to attend this convention in the future, jump on it! I'd be surprised if you were disappointed!

Entry to the vendor room

This poor guy was skewered on a pike on the opposite side of the door. Though the detail to this face was amazing.

One of the masks on display by co-sponsor Netherworld. Just in case you need a little horror inspiration.

Photo op from Netherworld built by Distortions Unlimited

Not all the props were horror related, Dino Rentos had some huge mystical  or Fairytale type creations.

 

Dino Rentos

 Four of the previous contestants from Science Channels "Face Off" TV series were up for a Q&A session. I saw at least one of them doing some face painting if you needed to get zombified.

 

Plenty of people in some top notch costumes were around for photographing.

Some classes were hands on and required a nominal fee for materials. This was a fun mold making class with instructor Mike Layton from Scary Studios

 Netherworld has a new shop opening online. We gave these vintage replicas a second and third look. Alas, all our money was spent...

Spooky Mayhem was right down the hall with more rooms of vendors and characters. While it isn't really our thing because it's mostly about the Hollywood or movie side of  horror, some of the costumes people wore were amazing, like this one from "Beetlejuice".  I know a fellow blogger who is all about anything Tim Burton that would have appreciated this costume.

Belinda is always making new friends. This guy was a bit clingy though...

"Making Monsters" - Coming Back for a New Season!

The last few years we have really enjoyed some of the Halloween television programming, and it's become part of our Fall season traditions to make sure we tune in to them. Included in our most favorites is  "Making Monsters" on the Travel Channel. Ed and Marsha Edmonds, are owners of "Distortions Unlimited", long time makers of masks and props for the Halloween industry. This seasonal reality series features the mayhem of running the business, and features some of the colorful characters that work there. It's entertaining to watch them put together a new creature from concept to setting it up at it's final destination.

One of the highlights of the Halloween Extreme trade show this weekend was meeting the owners Ed and Marsha. They were a really friendly couple. They showed a program from last season and did a short Q&A session later that night. I think meeting them was "THE" highlight of the weekend for Belinda! All of this might have resulted in a new prop for Shingle Creek Manor but I'll save that for a future blog entry.

According to Ed Edmunds, "Making Monsters" is back again this season!

Ed Edmunds, Marsha Edmunds, and Belinda - 2013 Halloween Extreme

Distortions Unlimited

Halloween Extreme!

So the Transworld trade show didn't happen for us this year as I'd planned in our Halloween goals for the year. Turns out we had a choice between a new central air and heat unit for the house or Transworld. It's Florida, guess which one we chose...

But then, just when I'd written off any Halloween trade shows, Transworld opens a whole new show here in central Florida, 30 minutes from home, Halloween Extreme! Got our advanced tickets and hopefully we'll have a weekend of haunting how to classes, looking at the props from vendors (maybe a small purchase or two), and meeting some celebrity's. I know Ed and Marsha Edmunds from "Making Monsters" and owner of Distortions Unlimited is making a presentation on Saturday night. Should be an inspiring weekend!

Stick This in Your Machine and Smoke it! - Master Fog Giveaway

Master Fog is giving away one Antari M-8 Fog machine and a gallon of their Code 6 fog juice as promotion to the Master Fog Facebook page. Just go to their FB page, "Like" it, "Share" it, and Promote it. Their goal is 1000 likes.

Have never used their fog juice but the prices on their website look competitive. Just in case your really into your fog, you can even buy a 55 gallon drum of their Code 6 fog juice for $1099.95 with a free delivery!

Craigslist Creepiness

Found this little beauty on Craigslist yesterday. It was listed as a "yard ornament". Question - What kind of person looks at this creepy thing and says, "ooh that would make an excellent addition to my landscaping!"? the Addams Family?

Pretty sure it's a relic stolen from some ancient graveyard or at least that it has an evil curse... Ok maybe it was a Walmart sale at some point, but still, "creepiness included"! Minus some painting to match the statue to the pillar, this is a ready made prop! Score!

Weather-vane

Something ominous about a house with a weather-vane. Maybe because it's from a bygone era, a primitive science of telling the winds direction, or maybe because it's normally only seen on the old Victorian style homes, although I think a lot of barns in the North still have them. Either way it's a year-round Halloween feel to your home that doesn't just look like a neglected Halloween decoration that wasn't put away for the season.

 I spied this one at the "Dead End" haunt during our "Behind the Screams" tour of Halloween Horror Nights this past season.  It's actually manufactured as a Grim Reaper riding with his scythe. If you look close the artist that added it to the house removed the scythe and now it's just a cloaked rider. Nice touch I think.