Of pinatas and skulls

Had a revelation with the paper mache glue…

Apparantly it can ferment. It didn’t mold, but it had something going on there…

Our dryer currently exhausts into the garage till we can get the duct going out back cleaned. I was keeping the pinata and glue in there, and with the dryer going all day, I cam home to notice it bubbling…that can’t be good…

I was presented with a most unique smell when I unwrapped it. Not BAD, really, just…odd. I decided to err on the safe side, and dumped the rest.

Made a new batch last night, and now the entire pinata is 7 layers thick, strong, durable. Time to add on the string, and finally, add on the spikes to make the ‘star’ pattern.

At least it’s something new…not another Darth Pinata:

And, in honor of the movie, and just to generally have some fun, I started a mold to make some full size Crystal Skulls. Figured I’ld give a few away, maybe keep one. It’ll be a more complicated mold than previous ones, so I’ll add it to the tutorial once it’s done as well.

Well, showtime starts in a few hours. I’ll be back with a review when I can. And yes, pics are coming this weekend.

Fire!

Ah…finally. A proper FIRE.

Stopped by Target last night, for I had been informed their gas firebowl had been knocked down 50%. We get there, and after tracking down the actual way to purchase the dang thing, (Target, you really need a better means of purchasing the big stuff)we were informed that they had none left. But, we were welcome to take the floor model and get ANOTHER 20% off.

Uh. YEAH! So, we walked out of Target with this $250 firebowl for $100.

Filling up the propane tank, and it lights right up, Jen and I sat around it under the gazebo talking late into the evening as the storms rolled in overhead. Something that will more than likely become a normal occurance. This thing will be getting quite the workout over the summer. Cooking smores, hot dogs, just giving atmosphere, whatever.

But, come Halloween, I now have a means to make a proper fire to dance around. It looked great from the far end of the yard. And, it provided me a chance to look at my stuff in firelight, make sure it’s looking good for the big night.

The shrunken heads look SO darn good under firelight. It’s just plain down right creepy.

My mask…I’m not happy with right now. I tried to paint it this weekend. Wanted it to be monochrome, but was avoiding the white/grey/black of the last 2 years. And, a co-worker who always comically names my masks has deemed this one “Shrek”. Green seemed to be a good choice. The idea was to have black on the low lying areas and the raised portions gradually move to a green. Didn’t work well, the whole thing is just green right now. And, in the firelight looked like utter crap to me as I couldn’t make out any of the details.

Jen’s saying that’s mostly due to my trouble seeing shades of colors to begin with and it looks fine. I don’t know what to do. Looking into getting an airbrush. Hopefully to touch up and get the original idea of black around the low lying areas to come out. And, even when painted completely, we’re only roughly 1/2 done with the thing. Plenty of surprises left on this mask. I know I’ve been neglecting my picture duties…promise some will get snapped soon.

And, with the fire pit. May as well try the green fire…

A little spray bottle makes a nice green puff that lingers just a bit. Jen has pictures of that. We’ll have to get them up when I can.

Soaking paper, letting it dry, and tossing it on didn’t do much. Next, gotta try some wood chips. Some way or another, I’ll be getting something I can toss on to add a little theatrics with some green fire.

And, pretty sure the new neighbors have moved in…

Either they had company last night, or it’s some kind of group purchase of the place. Someone was out working the BBQ anyway. Didn’t recognize them, but it was dark. Hmmm…Proper way to greet them…A gift of skulls? Maybe I should start working on Fred?

1st year they sleep…

So, I got a call from Jen at work last Thursday. My plants had arrived.

Getting home, I see this cardboard box. A dirty, half disintigrated with water, crushed, and battered box. This is going well…

Ripping it open, I am greated with a plastic shopping bag, obviously the source of the water, as it had leaked some in transit. out of this bag I pull my 4 plants. What looked like 4 soggy, brown, balls of mushy sticks with bare roots attached. I should have gotten pictures, but was more worried about getting them in the ground. Not at all encouraged.

I dig 4 holes, and quickly slap these suckers in, and water them down. To my surprise, and pleasure, the next day all 4 clumps showed signs of life. And in a way unique, to me, anyway. Not that I’m a plant expert. This grass has a cane structure, like corn. Here, little sprouts started coming up from the center of the dead stumps from what must have been last year’s growth. It’s been really rather interesting to watch. The growth has been clipping along at a rather surprising rate, to me. Didn’t know plants moved so fast. I’ll have to get a picture up.

And, in looking around for information on the best care of these things,(more making sure my plans for them will not go killing them) I stumbled on what may end up being a better method to rot some clothes. May as well give it a whirl and see if it outperforms the simple burial method.

But, I also stumbled on this rule of thumb for these ornamental grasses.

1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, 3rd year they leap.

Sounds like a tag line for a bad horror movie. PERFECT.

Anyway, basically don’t expect the clumps to get much bigger this year. They’ll grow a bit next, and it’ll be the 3rd year before we see real growth in the size of the clumps.

Power Grab Paper Mache?

We’re taking a little semi-break from Halloween. Or rather, Jen had asked me to make ANOTHER pinata. This time for a church activity.

Now, my mind sees little wee ones whacking at a big ole devil shaped pinata with sticks shaped of crosses…however, I’m well aware most may not share my sense of humor on the subject. So, I settled on a traditional star pinata.

And, as long as I was making this, I may as well try out my new idea for Paper Mache.

First, there are a couple popular paper mache recipes:

Ye olde flour and water: Mix flour and water together to the consistancy you want. Easy, cheap, effective. Not that strong.

Ye olde cooked flour and water: Mix flour and MORE water, bring to boil and simmer down to consistancy you want. Same as above, but ensures no lumps.

Glue and water: Can’t get more easy. Slightly stronger than the flour/water, but does not flatten down as well, and prone to cracking.

Power Grab and water: Strong and flexible, does not stay suspended in the water well, needs constant agitation, does not flatten well.

So, I set out to combine the strength of Power Grab and the better properties of the flour pastes. And so, came up with…

The UnOrthOdOx Power Grab Paper Mache

Need: 1 tube all purpose Power Grab
2 cups Flour
Water
Salt
pot you don’t mind possibly ruining.

Measure 6 cups of water into the pot and bring it to a boil.
While it’s heating up, in another bowl measure 5 cups water, 2 cups flour, some salt to prevent mold, and 1 tube power grab. I used a whisk I bought at the local good will store.

Now, add the contents into the boiling water, stirring constantly till it reaches the desired consistancy. Think pancake batter. (About 3-5 min) Let cool before using.

*Optional* If the smell bothers you, add in some cinnamon to the mixture to mask it somewhat.

This stuff, has been a joy to work with so far.

With only 3 layers, it was strong enough to remove from the molds, and hold it’s shape while applying more layers. And, with only 3 layers, it could withstand me squeezing on it with flattened hands. But, it did tear in a spot when Jen put that pressure more on her fingertips. Not a problem for the pinata at this point, and valuable information for future halloween uses.

Once I get a fair few more layers on, I’ll be curious just how many kids will have to wail away at this thing before it breaks.

Now, as for the warning on the pot. I bought a junker pot just for these kinds of things. Boiling newspapers, making wierd experiments, etc. And, while it was in poor shape to begin with, we managed to take off more of it’s teflon while cleaning the glue off.

More yardwork…

Got confirmation my plants have shipped from Michigan, and will “arrive before the weekend”.

So, cautiously optimistic about this whole process. And, assuming everything arrives in good shape, have to give thanks to EZplant.com. So, what the heck is with the planting for Halloween? And clearly not pumpkins?

Well, I’m getting quite tired of the price of corn stalks. And, yet, I missed them last year. We don’t have the room to plant CORN, and so we set out to find something of a similar look I can chop down each year to make my own pseudo-cornstalks.

And, we came up with this stuff. Tall enough, will regrow every year, easy maintanence, drought tolerant, not needing any feeding or wierd care, acts as a wind break to help protect things I might want to leave outside, and once it’s established I can get rid of the concrete border, and just let the lawn grow around it. In fact, get enough of it, and I might just seperate it, planting more bunches on the other side of that walkway to make a nice backdrop for some scarecrows.

Then I picked up some of this stuff here, locally. Up to 6′ tall itself, should provide thatching for various projects, if nothing else.

It will really likely be NEXT year before we really know how well this will work.