I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was going through a Headless Horseman phase. I just realized that I haven't read the original story by Washington Irving! I guess that will be on my new reading list.
There's a neat blog post here with a tutorial of how to do a rearing horse/horseman prop. And of course, you can go to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow blog to see another fantastic prop.
Discovered this haunt is located in Citrus Heights, California, which is close to me. I may have to catch this one.
I was disappointed to discover there wasn't a photo gallery for 2008.There are three haunts: a nautical haunt, a funhouse-type haunt, and my favorite, Podunk Hill-Billy Bob's Revenge. I expect that one must be quite frightening to folks like me who have been in the dental industry. (Think about it for a minute. You'll get it.) Fright Planet: World of Fear here.
Totally off-topic, I know, but I had to share this.
Many of you already know I live in gold/wine country in California. I've sung the praises of the big red wines (OLD Zinfandel vines that escaped the disease that wiped out Napa's vines) and the unpretentiousness of Amador wineries. Unlike Napa, you can still taste for free in Amador.
Be that as it may, there was once a time when Napa was not on anyone's map. When they didn't charge for tasting, when they were happy to see you coming up their driveways. The vintners there were taking a big risk, going up against the then-accepted superiority of French wines. Then someone came along, a Brit with a mission, as it were, and he shook up the wine world forever.
This movie has a stellar cast (Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman among others) and it tells the story of the historic 1976 "Judgement of Paris" in a fun, engaging way. If you are at all interested in wine, you need to rent this movie.
I found this at a garage sale for $8. It looked o.k., but I wanted to darken it up a bit. I also found these little gems at Goodwill. I'm not sure if that was real gold leaf or not, but I figured of it was at Goodwill, it probably wasn't. Here's a shot of them in mid-project. I overdid it with the sand, and I'll have to keep that in mind for my upcoming tombstone projects.
I try to keep in mind the fact that it will be dark and no one will notice, anyway. Here's the final pics of all three pieces. I'm going to have to build some capitals or something for the woman, something to show her off on. Overall, they didn't turn out badly.
The Queen Mary. A remarkable lady with a long history. Mr. ShellHawk and I stayed there on Halloween one year and had a blast! We should have crashed the wedding on board, but we got distracted by shiny things... and booze. You know how it goes.
Anyhoo... In a very past life, Mrs. ShellHawk was... Mrs. Someone Else, and my first father-in-law once told me he traveled across the Atlantic in the Queen Mary after his service was up in WWII. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to ask him more, but I was terribly young and missed the opportunity.
A very clever use of the "Pepper's Ghost" illusion.
I'd like to do something similar in my husband's home office this year, since the window is right next to the front door. A bit of a ghostly Mad Scientist thing, maybe. I don't know that I'll have the time, but we'll see.
Here's a short video tutorial, so you can get the drift of how it's done. Hate the background noise, but, whatever.
And here's a floating head illusion, which is the same idea.
I troll Goodwill for treasures frequently. The thing one has to remember about treasures, is: sometimes they're buried.
This treasure was buried under gold paint.Really ugly gold paint. At some point in life, someone thought this was either a great gift for that special someone, or someone just couldn't live without it. It was a place to hide a key. Subtle hiding place, eh? I wonder at the logic of it. At some point, they came to their senses and ditched it at Goodwill for the tax deduction.
Enter yours truly. First thought: "Wow. That is truly horrible." I pictured the ancient woman with the 25 cats who bought this thinking it was a subtle butter color, due to her mile-thick cataracts. It actually was in perfect condition before it fell out of my car and onto the driveway. I had to use some Gorilla Glue to put it mostly back together. Oh, well. Saved me work on the aging process.
I started to work on the paint a couple of days ago. I went to Home Depot and grabbed some spray paint and plastic primer and went to town on it. Two layers of primer, a layer of black plastic paint. I didn't like how shiny it turned out, so I trooped back to the store and bought some regular flat black spray paint to knock the gloss down. While I was there, I scored a gallon of exterior flat gray paint in the "oops" section for $5. Whee! I got some play sand to throw over it, too. I figure I'll use the rest for tombstones.
After the spray paint had time to set, I dry brushed they gray on and added a bit of sand. I discovered that technique didn't work very well, so only a bit of sand stuck. Next time I'll put the sand on while the first coat is still wet. Whatever. It'll be dark and no one but I will know, anyway.
So here's the finished project. I think he'll look fabulous in the graveyard this year, don't you? You can barely see the repair on his wing, and even the ding in his hair makes him look aged. What a great find!
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There are three haunts: a nautical haunt, a funhouse-type haunt, and my favorite, Podunk Hill-Billy Bob's Revenge. I expect that one must be quite frightening to folks like me who have been in the dental industry. (Think about it for a minute. You'll get it.)
Fright Planet: World of Fear here.
Totally off-topic, I know, but I had to share this.
I also found these little gems at Goodwill.
I'm not sure if that was real gold leaf or not, but I figured of it was at Goodwill, it probably wasn't.
Here's a shot of them in mid-project. I overdid it with the sand, and I'll have to keep that in mind for my upcoming tombstone projects.
Overall, they didn't turn out badly.
Want him? Go to Johanna Parker Design and follow directions. But I'll have you know, I plan to get Lucky, myself. (Get it? Har,har. Lucky!)
At some point in life, someone thought this was either a great gift for that special someone, or someone just couldn't live without it. It was a place to hide a key. Subtle hiding place, eh? I wonder at the logic of it. At some point, they came to their senses and ditched it at Goodwill for the tax deduction.
I think he'll look fabulous in the graveyard this year, don't you? You can barely see the repair on his wing, and even the ding in his hair makes him look aged. What a great find!
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