“GARGOYLE – Noun: A water spout.”
Hmph. Ever been bitten by a water spout?

Category: Halloween   Tags: gargoyle, Monsters, paper mache, sneak peek

Issue masked in red tape

Angles and curves, made from paper, have a habit of straightening themselves out, which makes me wonder sometimes if an accurate representation of the absolute entropy of everything might be a straight line. One’s mind wanders far whilst rolling newspaper bones.

In any case, you can prevent your dragons’ tails from unrolling, and crooked zombie arms from uncrooking with a bit of strategic duck-tapery.

• Attach one side of a piece of duck tape to the piece.
• Bend/bow/hook the piece to the desired angle.
• Attach the other side to form a bridge.
• Apply a second piece of duck tape to the center of the bridge. This will draw the ends a bit closer and make the angle more pronounced; more or less, depending on the placement and length of the bridge.
• Secure the rest of the bridge with more tape.

This is especially useful in cases where a wire armature is impractical, but you need to maintain a shape while the 8 coats of glue dry into a hard, crusty shell. Like that stuff you put on ice cream to make a “Brown Derby”. Mmm.

Category: Halloween   Tags: duck tape, paper mache

Indy Haunt Fest is June 26, 27 in Indianapolis. Mrs. Spookyblue and I will be there, along with whatever mustering of monsters we can fit into the truck.

The lineup includes a haunter’s auction, hearse rally, zombie crawl, make-and-take classes, and presentations by haunt pros such as Haunted Attraction Magazine co-founder, and commercial haunt designer, Leonard Pickel.

Your old pal Spook will give a “Monster Mache” demonstration, and we’re also hosting a foam carving make-and-take. This hands-on covers old school methods that don’t involve searing hot wires, killer fumes, and accidentally setting your shoelaces on fire.

Folks can choose to make a 10″x12″ tombstone, or a “rotted wood” sign (about 14″x10″).

We’ve had to miniaturize things just a bit to fit into the time allowed, but the techniques can be scaled to any size. When the carving’s done, we’ll paint our projects to look like real wood, brick, or stone.

Class size is limited, so if you’re interested in attending, contact us for more info, or to reserve a spot.

Spookyblue’s Foam Carving Make-and-take at Indy Haunt Fest

• $10 per person. (Cash at the door. Event admission not included.)
• All materials and tools provided.
• Participants 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
• We’ll be having lots of fun with paint, too, so wear appropriate clothing.

If you can’t make the class, then stop by our booth for a visit. Meet The Grumble. We’ll have spider rings.

Indy Haunt Fest official website

Category: Halloween   Tags: foam carving, indy haunt fest, make and take, paper mache, paper mache skulls, tombstones

I had been experimenting, some time ago, with Great Stuff as a filler material for paper skulls. (Never give up on a bad idea.) Great Stuff, for the uninitiated, is expanding, sometimes evil, foam in a can.

To summarize, I used too much, too fast, and it expanded unevenly during the curing process. My experimental skulls collapsed as the sticky ooze did weird things, and I was left with some very scrunched up faces.

Witches, happily, often appear to have scrunched up faces. >ding!< Thus began our Witch Project.

Special thanks go out to the folks who encouraged, prodded, plagued, heckled, and otherwise nagged your old pal Spook into finally finishing the ‘Witch Project’. You know who you are.

Category: Halloween   Tags: Grim Sisters, paper mache, Witches