Enter The Mad Lab (If You Dare)

I was thrilled to learn that DEMONIKUS, the piece I created for the June 2010 Mad Lab ended up winning this month’s contest.

The Mad Lab is a truly wonderful concept where each month you are challenged to create a spooky prop using the month’s SEI or “Specific Everyday Item.”

This last contest marked my eleventh entry into The Lab and my fourth win .

My heart goes out to Marsha, aka Jekyll and Hyde for creating this site because in doing so I have been pushed to create some of my most popular creations including my pumpkins, gargoyles and haunted busts.

The prizes offered every month are cool but the true satisfaction is forcing yourself to conjure up a concept and meet a deadline.

If you need a boost to your mojo or just need an excuse to quit procrastinating then visit The Mad Lab and let your creative juices run rampant.

Visit the site July 1st for a new challenge, I will see you there and we can do battle together!

Note: The above photo shows ten of my entries into The Mad Contest.

Dragon In The Woods

We’ve been amusing ourselves lately doing some geocaching, a hobby we have enjoyed for the last four years or so and while trekking through The Chippewa Nature Center came across this fallen tree that looked remarkably like a dragon.

The tree featured a well defined head, legs and several branches that formed the wings, a very “Lord of the Rings” find in an otherwise ordinary day.

Sort of nature’s version of a Halloween prop.

June Mad Lab

Finished my entry into the June 2010 Mad Lab contest, the complete tutorial can be found here.

Rusted Whimsy

Yes I’m posting something cute, run for cover because the world must be coming to an end.

During a trek downtown to look at the turtle sculptures I spotted these very cool metal sculptures in the window of a local gallery.

The gallery was closed so I had to take the photos through the window so pardon the glare.

Totally Turtles

Every summer our downtown are comes alive with a variety of sculptures created by local artists, each year has a theme and this year it is turtles.

The family ventured downtown this past Monday to take a gander at the shelled wonders. Participating artists had their choice of painting a preformed fiberglass sculpture or make something totally unique and as in years past my favorites are the original sculptures.

A few shots of our downtown area.

A few shots of the turtles.

One of my favorite paint schemes...various animal patterns.

This gal was a lot of fun.

This guy was awesome, made from wood and featuring a birdbath...the knot in the wood became the eyes....clever.





Metal sculpture.

DEMONIKUS

It’s been quite a while since I’ve visited The Mad Lab monthly prop building contest and the beginning of June I really felt the need for a creative challenge, something to break my “been there, done that” feeling that has plagued me since I completed Buster Gravesley.

The challenge for June is to create something scary from a hat, any kind of hat is acceptable and you are free to do what you will with the hat. My concept involves turning an old plastic hardhat into a demonic type of cow skull that I will call “Demonikus.”

The following pictures are sort of self explanatory as I took the hard hat, cut eye holes, added some cardboard to define the shape and sculpted with papier mache clay.

I’m quite pleased with the progress on this piece this exercise in creative freedom really filled the bill….I’m recharged and ready to build like a bat from hell … and what could be better than that?

You can see more photos on the STOLLOWEEN page on Facebook.

A Pumpkin Story

On Saturday June 5th I presented an hour long papier mache pumpkin demonstration for attendees of the 10th annual Great Lakes FrightFest.

My demonstration included showing all the steps necessary in making pumpkins using my trash bag method as well as a new technique using cardboard strips to create the pumpkin armature.

The turnout was great and the audience was gracious enough to forgive my tendency to ramble and forget things.

Great Lakes FrightFest is a very special event and as always I’m honored to involved even if it’s a very small part.

Good friends, good food, good drinks and good memories!

GLFF Randomness

On June 4th, 5th and 6th we attended the 10th annual Great Lakes FrightFest hosted by Brian and Karen Taylor at Totem Pole Park in Petersburg, MI.

This was our forth year attending this event and I swear the event just keeps getting better. Haunters are some of the nicest people in the world and this weekend always proves the point.

This year there was quite a bit of new and exciting events including; a ride through the campgrounds vortex tunnel, evil midway, fire performers and as I’m sure you saw on the news quite a few tornadoes that caused considerable damage and loss of life in the miles surrounding the campground. Luckily no one at the campground was hurt and the damage at the park was minimal.

This great event would not be possible without the hospitality and generosity of the part owners Carl and Joyce Laming. Here are some miscellaneous photos from the weekends, as you can see there is Halloween goodness everywhere you look and that is not a bad thing!