An Unorthodox Halloween – Page 46

“It’s never going to work!”

It’s been a busy couple weeks.

My son’s birthday, a party in boiling temperatures, and various plans falling through have all led to me not having time to work on anything.

So, finally having made my way back to the bowels of the shed, I pulled out failure 2 from the laboratory.

Next to the Jacob’s ladder, my second biggest annoyance was my…well, let’s call it the tank assembly.

It was a last minute addition. Modelled on a mixture of some very real science experiment videos that are a tad disturbing, with elements of The Brain that Wouldn’t Die thrown in just for fun. (YES, that’s a 3 star movie that has served as a major influence on my laboratory setup. Only the best.)

Well, half of the thing had to be scuttled as the silicone I had plugging some holes in the plumbing to pump the serum from the tanks to Bob on the table did not dry fully and blew a leak. Then, various other things went wrong, and it was generally bland, IMO.

So, we’ve begun the fixing of that.

Some cosmetic bells and whistles to the doors.

From Lab

All these will eventually light up.

First is an old post office box door.

From Lab

We’ll do the same trickery on it’s window I did for the control panel:

And, some tubes obtained from my brother.

From Lab

We’ll have them lighting up as well from behind.

I want to get some dials nobs and guages installed as well, but have yet to locate any I really like.

Next up on the Lab projects include fixing the lighting, scrapping/redoing the generator, and a few modifications to Bob.

And, in case you’ve missed out…Here’s The Brain that Wouldn’t Die in it’s entirety. I’m sure you can see how it’s influenced my own lab design.

However, while I’m out there working on this thing. Some girl I do not immediately recognize rides up on her bicycle. “What are you doing?”

I look around. “What?”

“What are you doing there?”

“Oh, this is just my little experiment.”

“What is it?”

“I’m trying to bring the dead back to life.” Said completely straight faced and serious.

“Who”

“The dead. You know..” pointing to Bob back in the garage.

“It’s never going to work!” now looking at me very nervously.

“Oh, give me a few months to work on it, then we’ll see.”

Weekend wrap up

Busy weekend.

First of all, we proceeded to embark on a major upgrade of last year’s Jacob’s Ladder.

Not only did that one get wet and fail to work for the show, it was a little rough, and lacked some polish.

With my brother handing me a number of neon sign transformers, a new one was a no brainer.

This one is 7.5-8′ tall. 5′ ladder. Nice, copper, on a discarded telephone stand. The entire thing can now be dismantled for transport to keep the critical pieces dry should it be raining this year.

The stand needs some paint, and maybe some other touches still.

From 2010 Buildup

Then, our little demon collection doubled in size.

From 2010 Buildup

And, finally, we got around to some more work on the Stele. #1 got a good start on the front portion, though it collapsed while drying, we’ll have to fix some of that. #2 got the sides up.

From 2010 Buildup

Of course, what would the weekend of the 4th be without a little celebration

Vacation

Well, we took a short vacation last weekend.

I fully intended to be posting here about some more low light photography here. Packed my new remote for the camera just to go get some moonlit shoreline shots…and forgot the tripod.

So, you’ll just have to settle for some randomness. I did not take the camera to the beach for fear of it getting sandy, so not as many pics as I would have liked in general, either.

For some reason I was apparently in the mood for profile shots…

From Pentax

The sunlight was at a brutal angle as well. Still, pretty blue water backdrop.

From Pentax

Messing around, wishing I had a proper macro lens…my love of bugs may be rekindled in a new way then…

The ant mound..

From Pentax

As close as I can get, until I find me a Macro lens.

From Pentax

Don’t you just want to dig for the queen? (red harvester ants, if you’ve ever bought an ant farm, these were most likely the guys that came in it)

From Pentax

Little portrait work.

From Pentax

Candids.

From Pentax

So, with vacation over, and other excitement this last weekend, weather looking up finally, let’s hope I can buckle down and get some things worked on SOMETIME this summer…

Looking for a knife.

A part of my crazy plan for the year is featuring a massive departure from the previous years, and shifting to a more traditional (well, as traditional as I get) Halloween display.

And, I want Pumpkins.

Lots of them.

And, given that my wrists tend to cramp up after a few…I need to enlist aid in carving them. And hope to, from all age groups.

That means I need to find a means safe for the little ones to carve. And, I have what I personally consider the best pumpkin knife ever.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Yes, that’s actually rust on the blade. Bought YEARS ago, I thought it was rather silly at first. But, years of use later, letting my own kids use this thing, I’ve come to regard it as the sing best pumpkin knife ever made. So dull it makes a butter knife look sharp, thus safe for children, yet it hacks apart pumpkins with ease and precision. Sturdy, unlike the present little saw doodads that come in the silly carving kits, so it doesn’t bend at the slightest pressure…

I simply must have more.

Anyone have any ideas where I might obtain them?

Demons by dusk.

So.

You travel around here in Utah for any length of time, and sooner or later you will come by a witch, a devil, a demon. It seems all shapeless rock formations in Utah are named thus. Witches, Devils, Demons. For a long time I was curious just what those Mormon Pioneers were thinking with naming such rock formations.

Then, I began to look for Spider Woman. The Navajo believe that to seek Spider Woman is to find her, as the threads she weaves touch everything. And here, it was, as well. Spider Woman, creator of these Witches spread about Utah.

From 2010 Buildup

Simple rock and earth formations.

To make the long story short, it is told thus:

One day, the evil creatures of the nether regions, tired of living in the dark and dank, decided to dig up to the surface and take over everything above and below the earth. They dug and the ground trembled and rumbled. The people knew they needed otherworldly assistance, and sent a medicine man to visit Spider Woman. Seeing the plight of the people, and knowing this to be a pure man, she agreed to help, and sent this shaman to visit the god of the North.

When the shaman returned to confront the demons, Spider Woman came down and let out her web, holding them in place. The Shaman then called to the Northern god, who let out ice upon the land, freezing all these demons. When spring came, the Ice had been replaced by earth and rock, and all the demons still stand struggling to free themselves to this day.

I had intended to create some stone formations for some time, and had been pondering just how to go about it. But, random stone columns littering the lawn is one of those things that really doesn’t reach out and grab your attention. Especially when you do not know this story. So, they have been on the lower end of the priority scale for some time.

Then, I was watching South Pacific. There, in one of the scenes, there was, in the background, these wood/stone pillars with masks on them. Something clicked. Why not place faces on these stone demons?

Monster mud to the rescue.

From 2010 Buildup

What do you do when a base is not fully dry yet? Why, rope the thing to the car to it don’t tip over.

From 2010 Buildup

And, all lit…Demons by dusk.

From 2010 Buildup

Now, for reasons too complicated to relate here, I couldn’t bring these into the garage for fear they would get ruined…and, I didn’t want to fear for wind blowing them over…so, they are presently staked out front for the neighbors to ponder over.

From 2010 Buildup

They need to have a good dry brushing on top of this base, but I’m presently debating just WHAT to do that with.

They would make fabulous pieces for the black light area, so fluorescing paint is a potential here. Yet, they would make a lovely alternate to some other things I was planning on, with more traditional lighting as well.

Need to whip up some more monster mud and make some more friends…