Unfortunately not with things to show here, but with this:
Yay! Two friends talked me into it and I'm so glad they did. I got going on the last of the Melancholia stories again. Even though I realized there's more to be told I pushed myself past a very difficult point in the story and now feel like I'm free to move forward and really finish the sisters' stories (which can be read hereMelancholia & Her Sisters).
Now, into winter with thoughts of editing, new dances and new costumes.
And another fine, productive weekend! This time with pictures.
The biggest accomplishment of the weekend was getting the two largest pieces of our Halloween yard display up: the tree and the boarded-up window. While the tree isn't completely done, the hardest parts are up and the rest will be to easy finish.
Igor pretty much made the entire window dressing himself. He's definitely the top of my list for people I want on my team come the apocalypse. As you can see he's very handy with a drill. I think it took less than an hour for him to get it all together and for us to put it up.
While he was doing that I took the drapes I'd cut up the night before (so therapeutic) and tea stained them. I used earl grey and it made the house smell amazing.
Then we put up the boards and (after staining the drapes again with old coffee grounds, since the earl grey didn't make them quite dark enough) I hung the drapes up to dry.
The tree turned out amazing. We used chicken wire as the frame and then just stretched a curtain over that. I actually sewed the curtain onto the wire and then Igor painted the face. All I had to say to Igor was, 'Do you think you can paint it with an evil tree face?' and he knew exactly what I meant. Seriously, top of the list.
All boarded up and ready for the zombie gnome plague.
The tree still needs some branches and leaves added, but we got about 80% of the work done.
Sunday I worked more on the gnomes and various forest creatures. My mini zombie factory.
I arranged some brambles to make a secure little gnome patch and placed the first two zombie gnomes. The idea is that the dolls will be kinda hidden until nighttime when we turn on led lights that will show them off in an appropriately creepy way.
These two are my favorite The white, bleeding eyes were Igor's idea.
And that's it for now! Time to sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's seasonal movie: The Monster Squad.
After that I think I'll move onto something a little more sophisticated
So it was sunny and hot on Saturday, so what? Igor and I went shopping for the last bits we needed for dressing up the house on the 1st. I measured the porch to see how everything is going to fit and then we figured out just how we're going to do the tree trunk which will be one of the main features of the Disenchanted Forest. Yes, that's what I've started calling it. It's less cumbersome than saying 'the once enchanted now zombified forest'. Maybe Zombie Woods might be better (and, no, we're not calling it just Zombie Wood for the obvious reasons) - I don't know, we're still working on it. We've also been doing some late night pillaging of wooden planks and yard debris bins from around the neighborhood as well as gathering other supplies. Igor's porch looks like a scrap yard, but it'll all come together next weekend! I also promise there will be pictures in the next post.
We also went to an insanely overpriced Halloween store. We wandered around and got some ideas, but the only thing we bought was a rabbit nose for Isabella's costume (yup, she's going to a be a zombie rabbit).
Then came Sunday. A wonderfully blustery, cloudy and then sunny and then pouring down rain day. In the morning I cleared out some of the blackberry brambles next to the porch (we want to scare trick-or-treaters, not scar them when they become entangled in the underbrush), but didn't throw out the tendrils because I have plans to use them as part of the yard dressing. I finished making gnome hats for our zombified gnomes, covered paper mache skulls in gesso and got another layer done on the zombie squirrel mask.
Oh, and Friday! How could I forget Friday! A couple friends came over and we watched Dead Snow. Why do Nazi zombies make me laugh so much?
Well, it should be, but it hasn't felt like fall yet this week. This week the temperature's been in the 80s with nothing but sun sun sun. Ah, but last week, last week was gorgeous with rain and clouds and a little nip in the air. Sigh, and yet *this* week Summer is trying to rear it's ugly, sweaty head again. Give up Summer, tomorrow it's the 23rd and officially Fall! Laugh your last, hot fetid breath if you can - soon all will be as Autumn wills it!!!
Yeah, I'm done with summer.
As I wait for my favorite season to truly begin I've been working on Halloween plans. Not only getting costumes together, but working on pieces for the house. Igor and I have decided to go all out on the house this year and keep our costumes simple (i.e. no face makeup).
Way back on the 3rd I had a Birthday Zombie Making BBQ. Friends and family came over to eat grilled things and make zombies out of discarded children's toys.
Some were gorier than others (that's a twig though the squirrel's nose)
Some were more disturbing
But all the zombies were kid tested and mother approved.
There was also a good deal of eating and drinking and sitting around (And Igor wore my favorite t-shirt of his, the red Christopher Walken 'I got a fever' shirt. More Cowbell!)
Speaking of Igor, last week he finished the clay sculpting for my squirrel mask and I molded the mouth.
Then I put on the first layer of newspaper, covering it with a shiny layer of Elmer's glue to keep it all together.
Here are what my fingers looked like when I was done I was very proud of them.
I'm following this guy's methods since he's not only a talented mask maker, but specifically a talented squirrel mask maker: Branden Byers.
Holy moly, I'm downright giddy it's so close to October!!! I'm already watching old horror movies and listening to my favorite seasonal music - well, I do those things year round, but it just feels more special this time of year.
This week's featured movie: Curse of The Crimson Altar (or The Crimson Cult according to Netflix). Staring Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, and Boris Karloff it's a cheezy little romp though the pastoral, witch filled, English countryside.
And it has some awesome costumes in just the first few moments of the film.
A quick picture of the new top I'm almost finished with. I'm going to wear it in my performance next month and am working on the pants and belt to go with it.
Pretty happy with it so far - I just need to get it done! Now, the real question is why the hell did I think it was a good idea to make an *entirely* new costume for a performance during one of the busiest summers in my life? Sometimes I mystify myself.
I've done nothing to further my projects and yet I leave next Monday on a week long caravaning extravaganza!!!
Unfortunately/luckily the class I wanted to go to tonight is canceled and I can finish up packing, organize the projects I need to bring with me, and finish up my ebook reader cover.
So this is the packing progress I've made so far but I'm hoping it will look like this by Sunday evening!
Now, in lieu of project pictures here's some of how I picture our trip will be like.
Ha! Not really, I know it'll feel more like this and I'll love it!
Although I'd also love it if we dressed up like this when we drink coffee at the campsite in the morning
Considering Saturday was spent going to see The Full Cirque's Dark Side of Knight, my good friend perform with The Sprockettes, and then going to watch a Timber's game, I'm surprised I managed to get so much done last weekend.
Exhibit A: Great progress on my new dance pants! Using some existing pants as a pattern I cut out pieces of my fancy new striped fabric. Now they're all sewn together and I've semi-pinned them to the tops that I'm going to attach them to.
Exhibit B: A cellphone bag for my mom's birthday. Last weekend mom showed me her new phone, and the sock she carries it around it. Nothing wrong with using a sock as a carrying case - sometimes it's the best thing for the job. But when she showed it to me it was mentioned she wanted a real case for it. Her birthday is tomorrow so I thought it'd be perfect to whip up a little pouch for the phone. Voila! And here it is wrapped up all purdy This was really simple and only took me about one episode of Twin Peaks to make. Yes, I'm still obsessed with re-watching Twin Peaks. That show is unbelievably good, weird and surprising - and it doesn't hurt that Kyle McLaughlin is an idiosyncratic cutie in it.
The weekend is almost upon me again and already it's full of wonderful, exciting things - which I will report on in my next post.
Now I leave you with a pick from the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball that Krista and I attended the weekend before last.
