When It's Technical Stuff, We Call On "Mr. Scott" For The Answers

Every few posts I mention the fact of how many new friends we've made on this escalating Halloween journey  that is "Shingle Creek Manor". There are a whole lot of folks that go all out for Halloween and they love nothing more than spending time during the year talking shop with people of like minds. Every once in awhile though, we meet some "non-Halloween" people whose passion for their art inspire and motivate us to keep working and improving on what we do. Such is the case with Scott Fensterer.

Scott Fensterer and Belinda at his "Face Off"season premier party

We met Scott about a year or so ago working at the 'Reynold's Advance Materials' store in Orlando.
It didn't take many store visits and a class or two to realize this guy really knows his stuff! As an added bonus, he doesn't just go through the motions of doing his job, he's really passionate about what he does. Though his passion is not strictly Halloween make-up and special effects (we forgive him), his acquired skills at character make-up recently won him a place on the current SyFy Network season of "Face Off"!

It was our honor to be included in his "Face Off" season 9 premier party and get to see our new friend accomplish one of his major career goals. This last Tuesday night we watched episode four and got to see him win his first challenge! We are so happy to see our friend on this wild ride and wish him the best of luck!

"Dork Pig"

Wanted a wild boar prop for the Florida swamp look of our planned walk thru haunt. This was my first time sculpting and using WED clay. Belinda got his eyes looking good for me and you can always count on your spouse to be your sharpest critic.

Due to some strange and goofy looking variations while trying to sculpt and mold the lower teeth, he got dubbed "Dork Pig". Named after the hilarious Bill Engvall comedy set "Dorkfish". Check it out on Youtube if you haven't seen it before, funny stuff!

Next step is making a mold. Not looking forward to this part...

First Halloween Retail Sighting 2015

Generally the At Home Store is the first to get it's "Halloween"retail" goodies out in our area.  Others, such as Michael's and Hobby Lobby get some "Fall" stuff out in July, but I'm not sure I've seen any Halloween stuff out this early except from the At Home Store.

This year "Cracker Barrel" wins the first Halloween retail sighting for 2015!

Fun Mail Day

Not much haunt or Halloween prop making been going on. Florida has been exceptionally hot so far this Summer. That kind of hot that just saps the energy, and inclination to do anything constructive, right out of you. Well, that's my excuse anyways, " it's too hot". "
It's like Africa hot, Tarzan couldn't take this kind of heat" ( Biloxi Blues-1988).

Aside from the heat, ( did I mention it's been hot?) it was however a fun mail day! The Mail Person brought us some Halloween stuff! We got our final Distortions Unlimted, "Monster of the Month", and the last of the parts we needed for our " corpsed skull with glowing eyes" project for the Florida Haunter's Social at the end of the month!

Admittedly, this was the least favorite of the " monsters" we got from Distortions over the last 9 months, but for people into the retro 1950's alien monsters, it's a fun piece. Besides, a least favorite mask in the mail is better than a bill any day.

The skull with electronic eyes is one of the "make and take" classes taught by William "Dr. Terror Eyes" Ramsay. The parts needed, vendors, and instructions are available on the Florida Haunters Facebook page for those inclined to build one that don't live in Florida or are not attending the annual Florida haunter's Social in Ocala, FL.

Corpsed skull with glowing eyes from William Ramsay

We have a couple of fun comitments the end of this month that I hope to post about but other that, just trying to stay out of the heat. Who would have expected a Summer in Florida to be hot?!

2014 Haunter's Video Awards

Another exciting year for Shingle Creek Manor! Two awards from the 2014 Haunters Video Awards was a bit unexpected and overwhelming but we're grateful none the less. Thank you to Chris and Jeff Davis of Davis Graveyard, and of course all the judges, for their work putting this together again this year.

More Hearse Envy

Still can't say as owning a hearse would be one of life's dreams (unless maybe it was really vintage, like pre-50's) but this does seem to be the year I've come across some beautiful classic hearses.

"Bonepeicker with a beautiful mural across the front and the rear door.

While walking through the parking lot at "Halloween Extreme", I came across "Bonepicker" a Cadillac Hearse owned by horror author Owl Goingback . Seems appropriate if your a horror author to drive a hearse, and this one should turn some heads.

Halloween Extreme 2015 - Mystery Box Challenge

"Halloween Extreme" returned this year, along with  the "Spooky May-hem" Convention in Orlando. Kind of nice to have a convention close to home especially since Transworld pretty well wiped out our "mad money" for the year.

I won't say there was anything at "Halloween Extreme" that I haven't seen at other haunter conventions, but  I did get to spend time once again meeting a whole bunch of people with similar Halloween and haunter passions.

One of the more fun things, that I didn't get to watch at the last Halloween Extreme, was the "Mystery Box Challenge" sponsored by Ghostride Productions . I was pretty sure I'd be out of my league from the photos we saw of the teams frantically working on their props at the previous Halloween Extreme. After watching this year... I was right.

The Mystery Box Challenge consisted of a maximum of three people to a team. Each team was given some identical materials that had to be included in building a Halloween prop. This year it was half of a face, half a skull, half a brain some turkey feathers... you get the idea. Those materials had to be included in the finished piece. The rest of the materials were available to be pulled out of a huge pile of random junk. The teams had 30 minutes to make their work of art.

This years winning prop "Remnants of Jack Sparrow" from Team "Moe's Halloween"

Each team came up with a name and then picked a last minute name for their finished prop. First place was $200, second place was $50 and third place was $25. Most of the people who entered I knew from the Florida Haunters so it was a bit extra fun watching friends in panicked action.

Second Place was "Reluctant Vine Creature" from Team "Eerie Acres Cemetery"

In the end, last year's Mystery Box Challenge winners, Ant and Lleana Petrone of "Eerie Acres Cemetery" , were unseated by Maureen Perez's team "Moe's Halloween" Both winning props and the other four team props were pretty darned impressive, especially when you consider it was accomplished in 30 minutes.