Ground Control to Astronot.

Good Morning Frightners!

I just came across this in my morning interweb travels. It's a piece by Bob Conge AKA Plaseebo.  He does a lot of cool custom toys and sculpts for various art shows. Feel free to check out his site www.plaseebo.net

All in all I always love anything that involves some skulls!! Kick Ass!

October Toys

Hey Frightners,

I'm poking around the web tonight and one of my usual stops is Etsy.com. I love just sifting through the endless pages of cool and unique items on Etsy and sometimes I find some really neat gems. Tonight I came across October Toys.

October Toys is the duo of George & Ayleen Gaspar. They make some really cool and unique figures that blur the line between sculpture and play things. I particularly like their Pumpkin Skulls and Dunny Skull Heads which are pictured below.

Again, check out their Etsy store HERE and you can also like them on Facebook HERE.

Zombie Business Man & Dog

Hey Frightners,

I often feel like a zombie while waking up in the morning to the same old routine and heading out to work so when I saw this cool paper toy of a zombie business man and his dog I was able to relate to it.

It's a cool little piece of art created by Jennifer Rouse which you can view and download at Superpunch.blogspot.com which is a great blog that covers all sorts of main stream art and media.

You can also access the paper art files of both the zombie man and dog directly from Jennifer's Flickr site. She has some other cool paper monsters and characters as well so definitely take a look around while your there. Grrr Arrrr!

Hauntcast!

The Six Creepiest Places on Earth!

Hey Frightners!

So while poking around the internet for some of the newest fright news I came across this article on the 6 creepiest places on earth over on Cracked.com You can read the article HERE but one place I wanted to point out was the one rated number 6 Isla de las Munecas.

I heard of the island of dolls on the season 3 episode of Destination Truth called Island of Dolls/Lusca. Josh Gates and his crew head out to Mexico City in the last of the old Aztec canals, there lies Isla de las Munecas which is overrun by thousands of haunted dolls. The episode is one of the better ones in which they find a lot of cool things pointing to the island being haunted but I suppose any remote island that is full of creepy old dolls would scary the bejesus out of me!

The legend goes that  small girl drowned in the canals near the island and not long after her death the one and only inhabitant of the island Don Julian Santa Berrera found the girls doll floating in the water. Soon after that he began collecting dolls and hanging them all over the island so the ghost of the girl would have them to play with....creepy!

Apparently Julian passed away in 2001 by drowning in the same canal as the girl he was trying to appease all those years which freaks me out but some think it may have been the dolls who drove him to do it...we will never know.

All in all it's a weird story but only one of the six creepiest listed on the cracked article so make sure you check it out. The next time you see a doll room in the haunt you will never think about it the same I am sure!

Carnival Diablo.

Hi Frightners!

It's one of those two post kind of days! So as you already know my Haunt this year will feature a Circus theme and sideshow of sorts so I have consistently been digging for inspiration and have to send a shout out to my friend and fellow haunt blogger GhoulishCop of Devilseve for the interesting website he sent a long to me Carnival Diablo.

Carnival Diablo (as described from their website) is an authentic Carnival Sideshow Extravaganza steeped in the Victorian mysticism of the 19th Century. They promise to deliver a show that is a full on sensory assault with opulant sideshow backdrops and Victorian costumes that complete the setting thrust even the largest audiences down the rabbit hole through the looking glass.

They are currently on tour in Canada so if you are from there or looking to visit feel free to look them up! The show does look interesting, the costumes are cool and there really seems to be a great deal of thought that has been put into it so please check out the website and enjoy a few pictures of the show below.

Again thanks to GhoulishCop for the heads up!

Haunting in Progress!

Hello Frightners!

Sorry for the lack os posts this past week but I have been working hard on my first ever segment for Hauntcast! I'm excited to get the first one under my belt and hope you all enjoy the new content that the July show will feature.

Seeing how I am venturing into the world of radio podcasts I decided to take the plunge and buy myself a recording mic to ensure the best quality I could for the show and any other voiceover work I may do for my haunt this year.

I purchased a Samson C01U USB Sudio Condenser Mic along with Cake Studio Software. I already have Audacity and Garageband but figured what the heck why not see what Cake had to offer too!

The Samson mic is super easy to use. It is pretty much plug and play all for except adjusting some audio levels on the computer and within the recording program.

Below are a few quick pics of the mic as I am still in the progress of recording the segment and ensuring it kicks ass for the show!!

Remember to check out the Hauntcast Website for all new content, links, downloads and the ever cool Grossery Store! and be sure to download the July episode to see what's new with the show!

Stay Frightful...or Scary...your choice!

Grimlock is Headed to Hauntcast!

Hello Frightners!

So I have been dying to let the cat out of the bag and finally I have been given the thumbs up to do so. Frightguy (AKA Grimlock) is coming to Hauntcast for an all new segment airing this July!

I am very excited to be a part of the Scream Team and hope to do both them an you proud as my segment will air for the first time in episode 32 of Hauntcast. Now I cannot give any secrets away just yet as to what I will be talking about so you will just have to tune in and listen but I can tell you that it will be informative and I am not the only new segment that will be airing on the show so be sure to tune in!!!

You can go to the HAUNTCAST website to download the new show and access the entire Hauntcast archive or you can head on over to iTunes and download from there but please be sure to stop by the site and check it out as it has been given a facelift recently and has much more content for us haunters to enjoy!

I'll be talking to you frightners soon!! And I guess I should get used to say this.....

Stay Scary!!!

Grimlock~

http://hauntcast.net/

City Inspiration.

Hey Frightners!

So the other day I was walking around the city on my lunch break and every now and again I will see something worth taking a picture of that is inspiring for the haunt and this cool skull door handle really stuck out to me! Even the whole door as a whole was pretty freaking cool!

I believe the building was actually a local gym. Hey, sign me up to any gym that has cool skull door handles any day! " I pick them up and put them down!" It's that kind of attention to detail that I love in any design.

I haven't done all that much this weekend in the way of prop making and continued progress on my clown head sculpt and pumpkin was put on pause only because it's been a busy fathers day weekend and it was my wife's birthday as well but this week it should be right back to work so as always I am looking forward to sharing. It should be a pretty busy week and there is a special project that needs major attention that I hope to share with everyone soon but until there is more to share I have to say stay frightful guys and ghouls! Hope your weekends were productive!

Clown Mache - More Progress

Hey Frightners!

Well I'm giving it my best efforts so far to keep the push on and go full steam ahead working on my props for this year. One of my main goals was to complete a full bodied midget circus clown to be one of my center pieces this year. With all the great mache pieces I have seen over the last few years I really wanted to challenge myself to make a really nice piece and so far I have been happy with my little clown guy and he has indeed proven to be a challenge for me.

I have done fairly simple mache projects before but with this prop I really wanted to do my best to sculpt the piece using various paper cutouts and mache techniques. I'm close to being able to just focus on the details and that is where it should start to really get fun and take shape.

Tonight is night three of my forward progress. I now have built up forehead because before he had none. I have also gone and added a tongue on the inside of his mouth. I played with the idea of having the tongue hanging out of his mouth but my wife and I decided to keep the tongue where it is for now and add the teeth, if it looks as if it will be cooler with the tongue hanging out I could still go in and do that.

I have sculpted the teeth with sculpy and did the same to make the ears. In one of the pictures below you can see me holding up the ears to his head, I think they really make him look so much more interesting don't you? As I write this I am actually baking the ears and hope to have them and the teeth in place by tomorrow night though I may not have time to work on him the remainder of the this week so it might not get done till this weekend.

Overall, I just want to continue to share my progress with you Frightners! He still has a long way to go and I find it best not to rush a prop just for the sake of having something done. If I can give any advice on prop making it's this...take your time! You will feel so much better having taken your time to complete something the way you had envisioned it. It's better to have one amazing prop then ten so-so ones right?!

Well enjoy these pictures. I hope to have more progress pictures by the weekend. I also have my first mache pumpkin almost fully mached and my twisted toy box is close to completion so I am feeling good! I hope everyones props are coming along and if your reading and you haven't started on any yet then what are you waiting for!! Get to it!!

Stay Frightful!

Clown Mache update.

Hey Frightners!

So I stopped putting it off and finally got back to working on my mini clown prop. This is one of the most involved mache projects I have done yet and there is still a lot of work to do.

When I last left off with this guy I only had half a face fleshed out but today I added a full mouth. I molded the top half and bottom half of the mouth & jaw out of poster board. I used masking tape to shape the mouth the way I wanted it and once I had it all in place how I liked I added mache over top.

I still have at least one more round of mache to do on the mouthand then I am going to work on extending the forehead since he really doesn't have one right now. I also want to bulk out the chin more since it is a bit to sharp right now.

Eventually once the forehead and mouth are fully fleshed out and mached I will use paper clay to add in all the detail like lips, ridges in the forehead etc. I have the teeth all sculpted out of sculpy already and the ears are sculpted as well. Still a lot to be done but I'm happy to have gotten back to work on this guy. I even took some time to work on a mache pumpkin..lets hope it gets done too haha!

Time to really start pushing to get some props complete and checked off the list. Lots to do and time sure does go by fast!

Reference Day 2

Hey Frightners,

Well I am just procrastinating here because I should be working on some of my mache and sculpted projects for the haunt right now. I have everything set and ready to go but just can't get motivated to start so I am poking around the net for more reference pictures and some other cool Halloween related art.

I've never really gone onto devianart all that much but I do find there is some great stuff on there by some very talented artists. Here are a few cool pictures that I came across today that I think you Frightners may like. Enjoy!

http://beloved-creature.deviantart.com/art/Hollow-Head-44306023?offset=70

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=halloween#/d30ol19

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=halloween#/d739br

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=halloween&order=9&offset=96#/d6zjrr

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=halloween&order=9&offset=168#/d1nktol

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=zombie&order=9&offset=48#/d1qu150

Rainy Day Reference Hunt.

Hey Frightners.

Well it's been a gloomy day here in NJ, the kind of rainy day that makes you just want to curl up on the couch and watch movies all day and pretty much that is what I am doing right now, just watching Goonies one of my favorite movies of all time!

Now I haven't just sat around today. I unfortunately had to miss out on the NJ/PA Make and Take today due to some early morning errands but I did get out this afternoon to do some reference research and got a few helpful books that I'd like to share with you.

Now as you probably know by now I am adding a carnival section to my haunt this year. I will have my graveyard scene, a haunted mansion room and then a carnival that my guests can explore at will but the carnival is new to me so I wanted to do as much research as I could on traveling carnivals and sideshows.

I went to my local Barnes and Noble and got two books that I think will be a big help. The first is called " The Circus Book"  1870-1950, written by Dominique Jando. This is a wonderful book detailing every aspect of the traveling circuses from the mid 1900's to the mid 1900's. The pictures are just awesome and I am happy to have got it not just as a reference book but as a nice book to add to my collection of art books for my home office. I am sure I will be pulling inspiration from this book for years to come.

The second book I picked up was called " Ballyhoo: Sideshow Freaks, Jabbers and Blade Box Queens. Written by : A.W. Stencell. A.W. is a former sideshow circus owner and the stories and photos in this book are all his own. Mr. Stencell gives an in-depth look at the inner workings of a sideshow and I'd say this book is a must have for any circus or sideshow lover.

I'm looking forward to really diving into these book and am hoping the provide me some good ideas that I can try to add to my haunt this year. I did get back to work on my Twisted Toybox prop today. I added some molding to the sides, attached the hinges and lid to the box and am now trying to finish up the artwork for the panels. Hopefully next week I will have the panel art complete and then it is just a matter of installing them and then working on the motor mechanism to make the lid open and close on it's own. I'm excited about finishing this prop and look forward to sharing the final pictures and videos of it. Now back to reading my new books!

Stay Frightful!

Love'n Me Some Toys!

Hi Frightners!

So some of you may know already that I LOVE TOYS! I seriously am a Toys-R-Us kid and I never want to grow up!

I've worked in the toy industry as a designer for most of my professional career so I suppose it goes with the territory that I have such a passion for toys. Anyone who has seen my Blogtv episodes has probably seen some of my collection as toys decorate my home office. They are both cool to look at and a source of inspiration while I work on my art and various other projects.

I am always keeping an eye out for new cool and unique toys and because I am a haunt fanatic I am always  looking extra hard for some cool monster toys as well. I tend to love the independent toy companies more than anything. There are a lot of small companies out there that are making some really cool stuff. I suppose these companies aim at the collectors more than the mainstream markets but none the less I think the following monster toys are ones we could all appreciate!

The first company is The Monster Workshop. These guys and ghouls are from the UK and make some amazing..I'll say it again...AMAZING monster items!

They have a quite a few items such as their Monsters that you can purchase (AKA Adopt) from their Adoption Store. Most of these furry guys are hand crafted and in limited edition. They are fairly large in size, have great detail and are simply unique. Take a look at this guy, his name is Knutt. 

The next group of products come from their Taxidermy line. They make Monster Paws, Handbags and yes of course  30" x 40" Monster Area rugs - 

Finally, their newest additions to the store are their puppets. Now I could actually see these guys getting put to use in a haunt and am currently debating getting one myself. Here is the link for their puppets, PUPPETS HERE and here is a video of Mr. Cyclops in action. You can view the rest of the puppet video on their site.

The next company I'd like to feature is Schmancy Toys. They have currently released a plus series of what they call Zomberries. These are funny little fruit characters that feature embroidered seeds, needle-felted mold, eye sockets, eyeballs, brains and blood oh my!

These little guys come in all shapes and sizes ranging from 4" tall or 2.5" tall. It's a very limited run so I suggest that if you like any of them you grab them while you can. Here are a few of my favorites - 

Finally, here is a cool little guy from from Jason Frailey Studio. His name is Fibian, the Frog Boy.

Fibian hasn't been released yet for purchase and is still a work in project but I loved the design of him and it gives me tons of ideas for haunt projects. The concept of Fibian was a joint team effort from Matt from Onell Design and Marty from The God Beast. Check out these guys websites for some more cool stuff!

So I hope you frightners enjoyed a cool look at some neat monster toys. I always say inspiration can come from anywhere and for me, toys are close to the top of my list for things that can inspire great haunt ideas!

Stay Frightful!