Category: Spider Woman

More Stele work.

Busy day. Got quite a bit added to the Stele.

Early morning work:

From 2010 Buildup

Just enough to add on the new form for the rest of the top, and the eyes.

Afternoon, after that had a chance to dry, we finished off the top.

It was at this point I had a momentary flash of an OLD design I had drawn up for a giant snake, coupled with a number of ghost stories about a hidden tribe of natives that worship a giant snake in the area, and how I always wanted to do that when I read it back around the age of 14 or so….

They sure did look snakey.

From 2010 Buildup

Anyhow, pressing forward with the Charr plan, we followed the same basic build process I used on Charr to add some teeth.

From 2010 Buildup

And, a little placeholder for the lower jaw, since I had a little extra mache left over tonight.

From 2010 Buildup

For those of you keeping score at home, presently this project has taken up 2 mini fire bowls, 1 of the fire bowl boxes, and a whole lot of paper mache.

I’m hoping to find a couple stands for these things on the cheap (though I can make them if needed). I need 2-4′ more height added to them. Both for looks, and, more importantly, to keep from any accidental brushing of the fire by costumes, and keep it well away from grabby little wee one hands.

Stele update and question.

Got some more work done on my Stele.

From 2010 Buildup

With the sidewalls and beginning of the heads done, they are beginning to look like an actual statue.

From 2010 Buildup

Now there is a question with how to proceed with the face.

A traditional stele look, to make these appear as statues carved of stone. Classical, fitting.

Or, a more Halloween twist, with hollowed out, carved, and lit from the inside, more akin to a Jack O lantern. Unorthodox, Halloween.

Opinions?

Charr Stele.

Last year, we said good bye to one of my favored pieces in the yard.

The totems.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Originally constructed as a new entrance for 2006, it was always fun to watch the younger kids stand and decide whether they dared pass between them or not.

However, they had become wet in 2008, as it rained most of Halloween night. And, they did not stand up to storage while wet very well. So, they were removed in order to make room for Charr.

From Year of the Charr

And, I think those who came through the yard last year will agree. Charr is definitely one of the more impressive pieces we have these days. What’s more, it was made with a mind towards our new overall theme of switching towards Spider Woman.

Well, in researching on Spider Woman, I come across Mayan Stele from one of her temples.

From 2010 Buildup

Now, Jaguar is all fine and good for Mayan religion. However, we are creating our own here, and CHARR shall be taking their place in symbology. So, I decided to make some Charr stele to stand at the entrance to my temple, as the totems once stood as our entrance…

Now, in keeping with Charr, we needed FIRE for our Stella. And thus, when these things went on super duper no one wants such a silly thing clearance last year for $20 (down from $75), I procured 2.

From 2010 Buildup

Now then, to begin their transformation into my Stele.

From 2010 Buildup
From 2010 Buildup

More to come once this part dries….

Baby Cousin Bob.

So, we had talked of making THEM a little while back.

Well, since then, I made 2 copies of the body form out of paper mache, and it was time to test out and see if my idea for these things was going to have any merit at all.

See. When you are going about making the yard into a tribute to Spider Woman, you must have to assume the SPIDER portion is going to be making some bit of statement.

From the Steve mummies going to be draped in webs, I wanted something more sinister. Some VICTIMS. More recent victims.

Now, there’s lots of ways to make spider victims out there. And, they involve hanging webbed up corpses in various positions an occasionally animating them.

That would be fine for yards with roofs, or trees to hang things from. NOT for a yard that is one big flat patch o nothin. No, we needed something else.

Back to that olde source of inspiration for me, Guild Wars, for inspiration….and perhaps a new entry to the annual contest…

From 2010 Buildup

The plan was simple. Mutilate some Christmas animated deer. And make little Trick or Treaters to be my victims all done up.

So, Monday night, I went and made a quick test to see how this motor setup is going to work. And, after fiddling with the counterweight a bit, I indeed got it moving just fine. However, before I could grab a video camera, the weight fell off. (what did I really expect from a rock and some quick duct tape?)

And, since I REALLY was not interested in making it look good monday night, just testing the motor, I was frankly ashamed to take a photo of the crappy lookin thing.

But, with rain coming in, it was time to clean it up tonight. And, I snapped a quick one before I did. Yes, it looks like crap. Those are the stretchy webs I have no skill in the least at. The real things, I have a web gun and a web spinner we’ll be using in conjunction to actually make look decent.

From 2010 Buildup

Yes…it looks terrible. And unlike ANYTHING, really.

However.

I come in from cleaning up to find something interesting.

“You break baby cousin Bob!”

From 2010 Buildup

(EVERY skeleton is Bob…since we made…Bob.)

STEVE!

Going way back to last January, I’ve been planning a shift of our theme towards my own version of Spider Woman.

Now, one of the features of Spider Woman was that she decorated her lair with her victims. Just how this was to be is entirely open to enterpretation.

And, I’ve been researching on some decoration with the deceased for quite some time.

From the Bone Cathedral…

From 2010 Buildup

To Aztec ruins…

From 2010 Buildup

To the Catacombs…

From 2010 Buildup

…And yet, I keep coming back to the Chachapoyas. People of the clouds…just how did they reach their cliff dwellings? Perhaps with assistance from Spider Woman? Perhaps this also influenced their mummification techniques? They sure look like they were bundled up by a spider…

From 2010 Buildup

Besides, if they’re good enough inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark, why not my little yard?

A little lessons learned from Bob, and Fred, and it should be possible to emulate a Chachapoyan mummy rather cheaply. But, what’s this Steve business?

Well…