Last day to Enter!

Today is the last day you can enter to win some of my hand made jack-o-lanterns. Go to this post for details!

And just to let you know that I've been busy, I'll include pics of my hanging jackos. I think they''ll make a nice addition to any Halloween Tree, don't you?

Again-pics are copyrighted, so please ask permission before you use them!

"They rounded the far side of the house and stopped. For there was the Tree. And it was such a tree as they had never seen in all their lives. It stood in the middle of a vast yard behind the terribly strange house. And this tree rose up some one hundred feet in the air, taller than the high roofs and full and round and well branched, and covered all over with rich assortments of red and brown and yellow autumn leaves."

"But," whispered Tom, "oh, look. What's up in that tree!"

For the Tree was hung with a variety of pumpkins of every size and shape and a number of tints and hues of smoky yellow or bright orange.

"A pumpkin tree," someone said. "No," said Tom. The wind blew among the high branches amd tossed their bright burdens, softly.

"A Halloween Tree," said Tom.

And he was right.

I wanted to give my contest winner the chance to have one of the very first jacko pots I've made, before I start to sell the rest of them. They'll be posted to eBay on Friday. I've also decided to have two winners, with the first name drawn out of the hat getting first pick, and the second name out receives the second jacko.

Good luck, all!

While We're Talking About Inspiration

What could be more inspirational than watching Bram Stoker's Dracula? Yes, we all know that Mr. Monotone (a.k.a. Keanu Reeves) should have never been allowed within 20 miles of the sets of this film, but, be that as it may...
The sets, the costuming, Gary Oldman's and Anthony Hopkins' performances, the atmosphere, man! Beautiful! (As an aside, and very strangely, both an ex-boyfriend and an ex-husband worked on this film, in two different departments. Truly chilling!) If you haven't seen this, you should. Here's the trailer:

What woman wouldn't want to be told that a man "crossed oceans of time to find you?" Especially one who looks as hot as Gary Oldman did in that amazing gray suit, top hat and Pince Nez glasses. (And the "I am your servant," comment didn't hurt, either.)I have to add that the score of the movie itself was a pulse, another character in the movie. One of the interesting things about Dracula, the book, versus Dracula, the movie, is the fact that, in the book, Dracula was only a presence throughout the bulk of the book. As has been noted before, a movie about Dracula without seeing Dracula is... Freaking boring.Thus, the love story. It's interesting that Mina chooses Jonathan Harker, rather than Dracula, as her husband. Jonathan seems to me to be a not-so-bright replacement. Perhaps this was the seed of the sexy vampire idea. The idea of the vamire as the seductor is a will-o-the-wisp in the book. It is merely a suggestion, something easily missed in the rest of the story.As he seduces and finally takes Lucy, Mina's friend since childhood, he says, "I condemn you to living death. To eternal hunger for living blood." At last, his teeth fasten on Lucy's throat, and we know the throat he's really craving is Mina's. Next we see Lucy, she's in a glass coffin, like Snow White. And at the very end, Mina defends her master, her eternal lover. In the snow, Quincey's blood is a red gibbering grin. And Van Helsing says, "We've all become God's madmen. All of us."

How could a haunter be uninspired by this?

Floating Candelabra

Anyone who has been to the Haunted Mansion will remember the floating candelabra in the long hallway. I look at that and am really impressed with the simplicity and the flow of the motion, as well as the "ooh-ahh" effect it has on people. You can just vaguely see the Haunted Mansion illusion at around the 2:58 mark, as well as a very young Donny Osmond and Kurt Russell.


There's a better view of it here, at the very beginning:

I was running through the Garage of Evil and ran across Ghost Songs' tutorial on the floating candelabra illusion. It has been updated for this year to make it easier to build. (I love folks who keep thinking of how to make things better, even after the project is finished.) While I'm out of time for that prop this year, I think that will be a good one for next year's theme!

Bell, Book and Candle

This time of year, we haunters are busy. Up early on weekends to beat the heat for awhile and to get in the maximum amount of build time. At the end of the day, we're tired, but the mind still craves Halloween. Through the DVD collection we pore, until we come up with a favorite we want to see right now. This is one of mine. Enjoy!

Here's a clip:

Kim Novak was so very elegant! Jimmy Stewart was his very best in this film, in my opinion.

If you haven't had a chance to pick up this movie, do. It's family-friendly, though nothing explodes in it and your kids may be bored as a result. Elsa Lanchester of Bride of Frankenstein fame has a fun part as the ditsy, witchy aunt with a fuzzy idea of personal property ownership. Jack Lemmon was fun to watch as the bongo-playing brother.

Pumpkin Army

A sampling of my jacko pots I'll be selling on eBay shortly. I also fooled around a little with a skull and ghost design, so let me know what you think!

Remember, two pumpkins not pictured are part of my giveaway on the day of the new moon, and time is running short if you want to enter and haven't gotten around to it, yet.

And, a friendly reminder that all these images are copyrighted by yours truly. If you want to use them, please ask!

Betcha Haven't Seen This in Awhile!

I'm off to my CalHaunts NorCal meet today for the "Bride of Articulation" build. I'm really looking forward to it. I missed last month's make and take because of Grandma's 100th birthday, so I'm jonesing for a meeting.

Hope your weekend is full of prop-building!

I Finally Figured Out

what "64 bit" means! I am so excited I figured it out on my very ownsome!

It means I can't effing get 75% of the programs I love/need to run on my new computer!

Wow. I am so relieved and proud I translated that without any help from anybody.

Is it October yet? Can I get my bloody Windows 7 upgrade that had better freaking work with what I need before I scrap everything and go Apple?

Gnng.

By the way, if you need motors, etc. for any of your props, seriously consider using Monster Guts. I had a little problem with one of their products, and they were kind enough to do some over-the-phone troubleshooting. No hassle, just a great attitude!

I wish they would take over Microsoft.

Tombstones in Winter

Beautiful photography, and great studies of tombstones.
Source.
Source.

The Tell-Tale Heart

I had a record-an actual LP, no less- as a child. Vincent Price reading ghost stories. Gave me nightmares, and I loved every minute of it. He's the one who introduced me to this story.




I would love to find that album now!

As an aside, a couple of weeks ago I was at the gym. Since we just signed up, we get three training sessions "free," and the guy training me was a Halloween enthusiast. We were talking about the whole Michael Jackson silliness going on when "Thriller" came on the gym's stereo system. I commented that the best thing was that Vincent Price did the voice-over work.

Blank stare.

He looked at me like I had randomly introduced a different topic.

I stared back.

"Vincent Price. You know who Vincent Price is, don't you?"

"No."

"How old are you?" He told me. I considered dropping a weight on his foot for making me feel so damn old.

Then I explained who Vincent Price was and told him to go home and do his homework. Imagine: a Halloween enthusiast who doesn't know who Vincent Price is.

If you are one of these poor unfortunates please don't tell me. I don't want to know. Just go here or here and find out, o.k.? Must I educate everyone?

Sheesh!

Yard Stuff

We've been going through another hot spell here-100+ degrees-so I've been paying attention to the watering schedule a little more than usual. The pumpkins were planted at the end of May, since last year they weren't ready at Halloween. I saved the seeds from some pumpkins I bought at the store, so though I have six different varieties, I can only tell you the names of two or three of them. I bought some seeds, too: Wyatt's Wonder, Jack, and Howden. I have mini pumpkins, a tall, oblong varitey, and a medium-sized round type. Here they are, in progress!

A side-trip to the front yard to prune roses gave me a bit of a start. I caught a glimpse of color in the tree, and took a closer look:
Yup. Fall is absolutely on its way.

I feel like I have to apologize for the posts being so short lately. Every day, I've been out in the studio, working on projects, and the days zip by like a streaker on a football field. I'm not a fast builder, so everything seems to take more time than I think it will. School starts for me on the 22nd, so even less time will be available. I have an actual academic class added to my art class, so there will actually be some serious study going on! I need to keep my "A" average up!