"Aren’t you starting a little early?"

One would think that, by now, the neighbors would be used to seeing me out working on Halloween stuff.

Apparantly not.

Having been chipping away on Bob this week has seen me out in the garage with the door open, music playing, and lamps shining on bob for about an hour each night after the kids have been tucked in.

Somewhat limited in my ability to do everything at once due to the delicate nature of that ribcage, it’s been a bit here, a bit there, mix a bit of clay, work a bit, do a bit of mache, let it dry, etc.

And, the parade of neighbors to pass on by cannot fail to ask.

“Starting already?”

“Little early isn’t it?”

“Why?”

“What is that?”

And etc.

As my wife says. Some people hunt, some fish, some golf. I Halloween. Not that anyone around here understands that.

So, progress on Bob?

Nothing blatantly amazing. The ribs are all mache and sturdy now. And, it wouldn’t be right to be talking to a ribcage all this time, so we had to give him a head. Oh, sure, it’ll all be covered up, but it will always crack me up knowing that grin is underneath. And, we’ve begun on adding the clay. This is a slow process, but, I think it’s coming along quite nicely.

From bob

In other news, we picked up our season passes to Lagoon (local amusement park) yesterday. We’ll try to get down there today. I’ll certainly be getting some pictures of Dracula’s Castle (1974) and the Terroride (1964), if not video… 2 traditional darkrides (a disappearing breed) right here in Utah that most assuredly shaped much of my obsession with this kind of stuff. And, of course, later in the year, we’ll be getting plenty of stuff from Frightmares…

The Great Rot-off.

You may be wondering why Fred was…NAKED…on Halloween.

From Halloween 2008

Well, that story begins back in May. When we buried a few clothes for Fred. Basing it off a tutorial over on SkullandBone.com.

Well, concerned that my fish-tank solution would not be quite as effective as their pond scum, I happened upon some sheet composting information, and figured it may just work for rotting clothes too. So, we put some more clothes to use there.

Thus began the great Rot-Off!

WHICH method would be better? Which one would Fred wear? Will my wife kill me over the piles of rotting crapola in the yard? Would anyone even notice?

We dug things up a week prior to Halloween.

The “pond scum” method came out pretty much as expected. But…a little bad luck made them useless for Fred.

Top half of a shirt that covered a bit too much of Fred’s chest.

From Halloween buildup '08

“Fun” digging up graves…

From Halloween buildup '08

Kyle finds a pair of pants…that had the entire front eaten away.

From Halloween buildup '08

And, that fancy button down white collered shirt…only the right half survived.

From Halloween buildup '08

But, the question remained…just how would the sheet composting match up???

Peeling back the newspaper we were greeted with a most UNIQUE smell…and a bunch of insect life I had never seen before.

From Halloween buildup '08

What remained of the shirt buried here…

From Halloween buildup '08

The pants only had the seems, pockets, and zipper left.

From Halloween buildup '08

But, instead of tossing a bunch of holey pants that no longer fit Alec, we tested them in the sheet compost pile, and the results show just how I can fine tune it for next year!

Alec pants placed on top of the compost pile, show no rot, as expected.

From Halloween buildup '08

Alec pants placed in the middle of the grass, not touching ground have very nice rotting.

From Halloween buildup '08

Alec Pants placed at ground level and covered once again have only the pockets and seams intact.

From Halloween buildup '08

So, just how potent is this sheet composting? Sheet composting on the left, ‘traditional’ method on the right.

From Halloween buildup '08

And, my understanding is that LEAVES make even better material than GRASS clippings for this sheet composting…so, as the leaves fall…maybe it’s time to rot some clothes.

And, more graves.

I’m to a point where I’m needing to prioritize things a bit.

And, while I’m waiting for some things prior to starting a super secret project, Project Nightfall is taking center stage.

The grave mounds, last seen, were just a bunch of joint compound mushed into some fabric and stretched over some chicken wire.

From Project Nighfall

2 of them fell victim to poor weather, and I’ve had to redo them.

The other 5, however, were given a coat of joint compound watered down and mixed with sand to give them some texture, and have been colored with some wood stain.

From Project Nighfall
From Project Nighfall
From Project Nighfall

They will finally be given a coat of Thompson’s Water Seal to help mitigate any water damage, though I don’t exactly plan on leaving them in the rain.

In other news, I’ve begun work on the little challenge from Dan to turn the faceplate into a Halloween prop.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

If you are a serious collector, or an employee of 2K, or otherwise sensitive to the mutilation of plastic, you may want to avert your eyes…NOW.

For, S/N 0203 of 2000 has begun it’s transformation into a bunch of beads to go with my skulls on a new necklace.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

And, with all the fun in the household, Talia has rather taken to this mask. Would not leave it alone in the store when shopping, and is rather happy to put it on and bounce around…till it slips, anyway.

Why don’t they make toddler sized versions? Ah well, not a bad toy for $1.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween
From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween