Priming Up For Halloween!

BOO! Another Halloween is almost upon us. My wife is out decorating our front yard. Though we won't put our good scary stuff out till tomorrow. And I've been busy putting the finishing touches on my mask. It started out as an ordinary mask from CVS that I've customized to fit my face.

I cut the entire face off the mask leaving the original ears and wig portion. After donning the mask I built up the rest of the face right atop my own skin using liquid latex and bread crumbs.

Using the same technique I created a pair of monster hand gloves. You can see the work in progress pictures on a blog post I wrote here: http://etsysdarksideteam.blogspot.com/2010/10/diy-monster-gloves-for-halloween.html The Etsy Dark Side Team blog has some great Countdown to Halloween articles from our members. Such as cool Zombie make up tips and how to make realistic looking burns and scars to name a few.

I wanted to add a throat section and a bloody wound to my mask so I brushed out a mixture of green tinted latex and breadcrumbs onto a tile. After it dried I peeled it off and glued it to the underside of jaw area.

Here is how the finished mask came out with the neck section added and the bloody wound.

If you love celebrating Halloween be sure to pop over and check out Kat the hat lady's Haunted House Online Party!

The Candy Corn Killer

My thanks and a warm welcome to the new folks following my blog. Also a reminder that there is still time to take part in the magnet giveaway.

This past week I haven't done much sculpting. The fall fishing season is beginning to perk up here in the Northeast and I've been on the beach almost daily hunting for signs of life.

From now till the striped bass season closes I find myself fishing the outgoing high tide and sculpting during the low tide.

I did finish up work on the Candy Corn Killer Friday morning. He is a mean little cuss that lures his victims in by using an offering of candy. CCK ( as I call him ) is in a cool treasury rubbing elbows with other killer art : Psycho Killers by VintageEye on Etsy .

While browsing through VintageEye's interesting shop I came across the same type of clock I use in my studio. Another cool find was an 8mm movie camera very similar to the one I used to use to film my stop motion plastilene monsters! If you have an opportunity stop over and have a look around her fun shop.

Vampire Bat Giveaway

To celebrate Halloween I am having a giveaway of a vampire bat magnet. The bat magnet measures 2" X 2 1/2" L .It is part of a trio of scary magnets I recently made.

The drawing of the winning persons name will take place on Nov. 1, 2010. To enter you need to be a follower of my blog and leave a comment to this post.

The other magnets are of a zombie craving (what else?) brainnnnsssss! And a monster who is seriously screwed!

I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop later today.

My work space is a sight! I'm working on a mask for Halloween. Replacing the hooks on all my fishing lures to get them ready for striped bass fishing. And sculpting some new pieces.

Speaking of fish my wife and I visited the nautical mile in Freeport, NY recently to get some seafood for a cioppino recipe I wanted to make.

We always go to Capt. Ben's.

Capt. Ben's also sells this wonderful flavored Italian bread! We usually end up eating half of it on the ride home! That's me bread in hand hamming it up.

The cioppino came out pretty good! The recipe called for mussels but since I'm the only one who eats them I left them out.

It had halibut, shrimp, scallops and Little neck clams in it.

Our Maryland Weekend And A New Mummy

My wife Diane and I visited Maryland this weekend to help celebrate my niece Lauren getting her BA.

Maryland was a nice change from New York! The people seem to be more laid back than New Yorkers.

Even when driving. I think I heard a car horn blown three times the whole weekend. And I didn't see one middle finger salute given!

Unfortunately Edgar Allan Poe's house was closed during our visit. Likewise the Maryland Science Center.

We did get to see the Maryland National Aquarium which was cool! They had an exhibit you could walk through with waterfalls and exotic birds flying overhead.

This photo is Diane and I outside with part of the aquarium in the background.

Docked nearby was the USS Constellation

Since getting home here to Long Island it has been nothing but heavy winds and rain. So much for fishing on the last couple days of our vacation!

I had finished this mummy before I left but hadn't had the opportunity to upload pictures of it. I figured I'd share some photos of it now.

It measures 15" high with a foam rubber/cotton wrapped body with head and hands sculpted of Apoxie clay. It is covered in gauze and mounted on a sand covered wood base.