The Nightmare Before Graduation!

Here is an awesome project I finished as a graduation present for someone who likes The Nightmare Before Christmas as much as me! :) This is for a friends daughter and it started out when my Girlfriend bought her a bunch of Nightmare Before Christmas bows for her hair. All the bows needed a container, so the wheels started turning and I decided to make a toe pincher coffin jewelery box and further elaborated on the Nightmare theme with a hand painted  box to hold everything in. The box turned out to be almost a small trunk, lol! Needless to say her eyes lit up when I carried the box into the house and it was awesome seeing her reaction, and I know this will be a cherished gift that can't be purchased anywhere! :)

The size and cost of the jewlery box wasn't that much, so I'm thinking about making several more of them and seeing if I can sell them to my girfriend's friends who also have insane hair bow collections, although some of them may need full size coffins for all their bows, but I can do that too :)

The box and coffin were both made out of plywood and painted with acrylic craft paint. I used a paint marker to draw the swirls and it's a ton easier than trying to use a paint brush to draw the lines in my opinion! :) The skulls were also cut out of plywood. I made a Nightmare box likes this for my girlfriend last year for Christmas, and I am really digging them as a storage box. I think I'm going to make a set using different "wrapping paper" designs. Who says function can't look good :) 

The Slaughtered Lamb

Here is a project I have been wanting to make for some time. It is for the coolest guy I know as a thanks for introducing me to the things I enjoy most. From Star Wars to the Night of the Living dead and everything in between, I was lucky enough to have someone passionate about film, music and art introduce me to a lot of stuff I had been previously sheltered from. From my first copy of the Star Wars Trilogy (on a VHS tape), seeing George Lucas interviewed in person, meeting Ralph Mc Quarrie in PERSON (awesome), first viewing of Night of the Living Dead, and a slew of other Horror movies that I love, John Scoleri was there sharing his passion for film with me and boy did it rub off! 

Mr. Scoleri appropriately runs a theater out of his house called the Slaughtered Lamb Cinema. The name is taken from a Pub from An American Werewolf in London, and I thought it would make a neat project and a one of a kind gift for someone that would appreciate one of my hobbies :) The box resembles an antique silverware container that housed a silver serving set, but the "cool" goodies are hidden underneath the false bottom. On the inside it contains a werewolf killing kit of sorts. A gun, a silver bullet mold, bullets, and some vials to hold liquid mercury or silver.

Cursed Jack Sparrow

I've been working on finishing up my Helmsman as of late and I decided to get a Jack Sparrow costume for the threads! I was going to rip up some old clothes and make the clothes look really ratty, but I figured I'd order a cheap Pirate costume and do the same thing to it instead! I've yet to stain the bucky, or the clothes, but I plan on doing so! I still need to work on the mustache because it is bothering me!!

Skull is using a Scary Terry designed servo and the Helm and Wheel were made by yours truly :) The wheel is turning using a monster guts wiper motor and power pack to control the speed! I currently have a picoVOLT coming in that will record a two minute routine that will make the movement not so monotonous!

I like everything about the project thus far, but I'm kinda disappointed over the quality of the costume. I was going to be really cheap and just by the bare bones Sparrow costume, but instead opted for the "Prestige" Jack Sparrow costume and it is pretty cheap! I'm not going to feel bad about aging it and cutting some holes, but for the price I'd never buy it again! It was manufactured by a company called Disguise.

I plan on making a treasure chest, some signs, and hopefully my next major project will be a couple of cannons that light up, make noise, and shoot fog all manually :)

Argghhh, Avast ya bloomin' cockroaches!

Just got back from an awesome trip to Disneyland for my birthday, and that's when I realized I have made very few Pirate related props! If there is one thing I like almost as much as Halloween, it's Pirates! Since I was a kid, Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland has been the coolest ride, ever, and a ton of inspiration. I am torn between Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean to which one is my favorite, but I'd have to say Pirates because usually after the first rain you get a whiff of what I call Caribbean scent! I wish I could bottle the smell of the chlorine, fog, and water that emanates from the main doors of the Pirates facade! I love it, and I love it even more when I get transported to the days of blundering pirates when I smell anything close to what the ride smells like! Squabbling aside, I've finished the helm and ships wheel thus far. I plan on aging both, and then attaching a bucky adorned with a Pirate costume. I also picked up two half barrels at Home Depot to make one barrel as seen on http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/100752-pirate-themed-haunters-43.html by Hirez00! 

Still need to add the bucky with scary terry servo and my monster guts controller to slow down the speed of the wheel!