Magic Mirror Progress!

Ended up making a stand for the mirror to get it off my craft area! This isn't screen accurate, but hopefully I will be the only one to notice! Haha! 

Stand is made up of 2X4's and only cost about $16 to make. It doesn't get better than that! 

I was worried about not being able to lay out the curve of the mirror correctly, but a simple solution revealed itself using a stack of printer paper and some tape! I just taped paper together and rubbed my finger over the edges and it made a sharp crease and I just followed the crease and cut out the template with some scissors! I used the template to make the arch below and then free handed the snake design onto the wood. I was proud of myself because I usually will use Illustrator/Photoshop to make an outline and scale it to full size, so when I print it I can trace it onto plywood accurately. I rely on the computer way too much sometimes and I hadn't had time to draw it up on the computer and print it, so I just winged it. Didn't come out all that bad. Crown was made using a compass and a ruler. 

I purchased some fancy chauvel (sp) mirror hinges, so the mirror will be able to tilt on the stand if I need to control the lighting some what better. Once the mirror is all decorated, I will need to work on the guts of the project. The mouth is being driven by a scary terry servo, so it opens the jaw up when it hears sound and it returns to close when there isn't any sound present! I am going to try and use a scary terry servo for the lighting as well, so the mirror will illuminate inside a few seconds before the mirror speaks and a couple of seconds after it stops! That way the inside light isn't blinking on and off!

Craft Room!

Hello, 

Been lagging on the blogging part, but only because I have been busy updating our craft room! My wife has been selling her hair bows at a fairly frantic pace and has been wanting a larger work area, so I found some pictures I liked and decided to craft my own! The table and bookshelves were made entirely out of wood sourced from LOWES. I normally go to a lumber yard for projects, but I wanted to make this some what inexpensive. Making the furniture out of oak or popular was out of my price range! I am happy with how everything turned out and she enjoys it more than her small table pictured on the top right!

Finally got my old VW running, so I could get more material! Between about two Disneyland trips, working on the VW and putting a new tire on my motorcycle I've been lagging on my Halloween projects! :( 

Both shelves have casters on the bottom, so we can wheel the shelves around. At first I thought it looked neat, but they have also come in handy! The small desk has been gifted to my sister in law and now both book shelves are placed against the wall on each side of the window! 

Two way mirror!

Spent the better part of an afternoon making a box for my Magic Mirror Mask, cutting an oval shape to make it look as it were really oval, and making the two way mirror! Still a ton of playing around and detailing left, but at least I have the overall base finished.

The two way mirror was accomplished by using a privacy window film from Gila. Essentially, if it is lighter on the outside the film acts like a mirror and will show a reflection and as soon as there is more light on the inside of the box it will expose the talking mask!

The film was straight forward to use, but I will caution on cleaning the glass VERY VERY well. I had a few particles stuck under the film and they did squeegee out, but in the process it scored the film. Ah
well. It adds the the overall look.. haha.

Still going to play around with the lighting a ton to get a clean effect! I am using a scary terry servo board to make the mouth sync to the sound from my ipod. I may use the right and left channels to control sound and lighting.. Have the right channel for the mouth movement and use the left channel to turn the lights on as soon as the mask starts talking and off once he stops.. Will be a lot of editing in audacity, but should add to the overall effect!

Sorry about all the noise in the background! My Wife was ten feet away working on bows and the sound was picked up by the camera! Haha!

Magic Mirror on the wall...

I'm so thankful that when I have extra money I go nuts and by surplus parts! I forgot I had ordered an extra servo/guts for my talking skeletons and I happened to find it while looking for paint in my coffin supply cabinet. It got me wondering if I could make the Magic Mirror out of wood and use the servo to make the mouth go up and down just like the skulls! I still need some fine tuning, but it works! I want to build a full size stand up mirror that is designed like the Disney mirror complete with two way glass, so it will show a normal reflection and light up showing the mask underneath when I want it to! I am even thinking of using a wiper motor to rock the head from side to side to give it some added depth! We shall see!

Finally finished up the old hag as well! I started playing with some lighting and placement of some of the props I've already made. I really want to nail the dungeon labratory scene on my porch, so hopefully I can enclose it to control the lighting! If I have extra time/money I am going to re cut the Hag out, so her arm can pivot up and down while dipping the apple into the cauldron I've already made!