Madame Leota's Aftermath

Yesterday's Madame Leota build with Mr. Chicken (and Stacy and Robert as  fantastic grips, best boys, and girls Friday-er---) went really well. 


I can honestly say I never could have done this on my own. That young gun knew how to line everything up and gave me pointers on tweaking the sculptured head based on my life cast. Mr. Chicken threw out a multitude of amazing gems of wisdom on this build, and I know those who tuned in got a lot out of it!


Since we had some down time during which his computer did some incomprehensible but amazing stuff to the image, I pulled a quick interview out of him, and was really glad I did. Talk about an interesting guy! If you go to ShellHawk's Nest Live BlogTV page and scroll down, you can watch a few snippets we caught. Of course, it never occurred to me to film the end result! *head smack* 


In any case, a great time was had by all, and I'm so glad some of you could swing by to see the occasionally entertaining build!


Well, off to the studio to glaze what came out of the kiln today!

Today is the Day

Click on the pic to see Mr.Chicken's prop in action

Just one last reminder that Mr.Chicken and I will be live on BlogTV doing a Madame Leota prop build at 1:00PM Pacific time.


I'm so jazzed about this, it totally makes up for the lack of sleep I've been suffering through for the last several weeks! (Frankly, I won't need to put dark circles under my eyes with makeup for this shoot! They're already quite visible!)


So head over to ShellHawk's Nest Live BlogTV channel if you decide to join us. We're just--dying--to have you!

Mr. Chicken Live!

Click on the pic to see Mr. Chicken's Madame Leota in action

The planning for my Madame Leota prop is ongoing. Mr. Chicken and I have been furiously emailing back and forth, tossing ideas around like they were water balloons! We've consulted with a couple of our CalHaunts NorCal folks to bounce ideas off of them. I found a Gemmy Spirit Ball on eBay, and did smite mine enemy in the last 10 seconds of bidding, thus winning the prize for the haunt! (There was a happy dance, too!)

If you're interested in watching, tune in to ShellHawk's Nest Live BlogTV channel this Sunday, the 14th, at 1:00 PM Pacific Time. Since we'll be building, we won't be doing a whole lot of chatting unless I can get a volunteer to type while we work.

I seriously cannot wait! Mr. Chicken is such a rock star in the haunt world! If you haven't seen his effects, check out his Puttin' on the Ritz setup he did for his haunt on YouTube, straight out of Young Frankenstein. The guy really knows his stuff!

Did I mention I can't wait?

Madame Leota, Mr. Chicken, and ShellHawk, All in One Room on BlogTV

I've mentioned recently that Mr. Chicken was gracious enough to agree to help me with my Madame Leota effect that I planned for this year for my haunt. I emailed him yesterday to ask if he would be interested in making it a BlogTV event, and he thought it would be fun! (Hooray for all of us!)


So on Sunday, August 14th, we'll be doing a live make and take from Mr. Chicken's mad laboratory on the ShellHawk's Nest Live Channel on BlogTV. I'll announce the time once he and I touch base and nail that down, which should be fairly soon. I can't tell you how excited I am about this!


In other news, remember to enter the Sweet-Hot Giveaway I'm doing right now! There're hot sauce and yummy-smelling perfume oils to be won!

BlogTV Thanks

Well, I did my first BlogTV show last night, armed with my blue raspberry martini. Big thanks go out to Fright Guy, The Bloodshed Brothers, and Chris Baker for co-hosting and making the show almost halfway intelligent.
For those not able to make it, we had two home haunt celebs join us to chat: Mr. Chicken and Spider Rider, both of whom are gracious enough to be helping me with a new prop and revamping an old one. Chris Davis of Davis Graveyard checked in for some fun, too, and debated the value of blue drinks vs. wine. 


We had two new TV stars appear, as well: Christmas Ape and Samhain. Neither of them has much comment, although Ape thinks Jeromy looks pretty hot in his little blue dress. (Credit for the pic goes to Jody Bossert of Haunted Night.)
I'll get some new pics of Sam up shortly. I have to say, it was pretty wild being gone for a week and coming back to see how much he'd grown in just that short time! He didn't seem to mind being on TV, and didn't demand his own trailer and makeup people, unlike Ape, who can be a little full of himself sometimes. Ape, by the way, has new Facebook pics from the Shasta trip, if you want to check them out.


I took the opportunity to show off the latest creations out of the kiln, so if you missed that part, you'll just have to wait until I put pics up for the Etsy store! (Big thanks to DixieDawn for her mini-ghost purchases!)
O.k. kids, it's time for me to get back to making Hallowe'en!

It's My Face!

You really have to make this year the year you found or join a haunt club. You really do!

Today I'm heading off to Hayward (a two hour drive, might I add) so I can get a silicone life cast done of my face. Why my face? Am I that vain, that I want to have my face all over my haunt this year?

No. Everyone I know are parents who have activities with their kids this weekend. If I want to do a Madame Leota effect, it's my face or nothing. And I really want to add one this year.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post pictures. Have a great weekend!

CalHaunts Nor Cal Rock Star: Mr. Chicken

You really need to move to Northern California, because we have (almost!) all the best haunters here.

O.k., maybe not, but we surely do have a bunch of crazy-talented folks in the CalHaunts Norcal Chapter Haunt Club. Brent Ross of DC Cemetery, Perfessor Evil of Haunt Project, and a bunch of others, including one of my haunt heroes, Mr. Chicken.


Other folks have posted about him before-most recently, The Frog Queen. I had it in mind to post about him, but with one thing and another, hadn't gotten around to it until now-mostly because of the Frog Queen's good example and because I got to meet him at last Saturday's CalHaunts meeting. He's a genuinely nice person and, like most haunters, is very free with his haunt knowledge.

Anyhow, for those of you not aware of him, he is one of those guys who not only knows his animatronics, but has the artistic talent needed to make his props look realistic. He does molding and casting, too. He did a great how-to for his Madame Leota prop.

I am fantastically jealous of this guy!

Click on the image to see his haunt.