Razor Blades and Candy!

Second part of our "trick or treaters" costumes... we had exposed intestines I made from latex garnished with fake candy (Styrofoam/acrylic) and razor blades (card stock/silver spray paint.) Never got a good pic- the intestines were long- starting at my stomach and falling right above the knees. Ended up leaving my fake guts in PA- boo.

Clowns are Scary...

Just getting around to posting some projects from this Halloween- I was inspired by some old photos for our Halloween Costumes this year. The idea was "1930s dust-bowl-trick or treaters." Thus I made these masks (p.mache, acrylic paint, twine) I tried to create masks that traditionally would not be scary but really are. The key was to make them look vintage- which was accomplished with a dry brush technique using browns and yellows. Wish I could have spent more time on them- the paint was literally drying on our way to the party.

Prize or Penalty?

I made the series of skulls and corpse heads as the runner up prizes for the HH best yard haunt of 2009 contest. The winner received the pepper's ghost illusion kit (which is super sweet) made by Scott- we had so many entries to choose from we decided to award several second place prizes. The heads were later flared with the HH symbol and accompanied by Halloween Candy. I never got a chance to take a photo of them finished which is a shame- they are about 2/3 rds done in this pic. Congrats to all the winners.

Save a Turkey- Eat Human

One of the many benefits of having a personal supply of corpse heads is that they can be used all year round- this was the last minute centerpiece I threw together for our Vegetarian pre-thanksgiving potluck. Wish I had thought of it in advance- it could have been much cooler.

Philly ScareCrows

Made a series of scarecrows for my Philly home this Halloween- Burton/Pumpkinrot inspired. I would have liked to make them a little more dynamic- fleshed out maybe- but I only had a day to put together 5. The pics are not the greatest but hopefully you can get the idea.

Halloween 2009

Believe it or not- this pic was taken this year- I like how it came out looking dated

Happy Halloween!

Don't Drink and Carve! (or Crack-O'Lanterns)

Jack O'Lanterns in St. Pete- from left: Jack, Gracie (the pup), me, Angela and Danielle

Chain Gang

Just hanging around...

For sale at www.Hauntersheadquarters.net

SawGrass on Steroids

Scott from Haunter's Headquarters created this prop using a skull and set of bones I had made- It was nice to hear that it has already been sold. He did a great job on creating a very unique piece.

Chainmaille is a Skull's Best Friend

Tri-skulled hanging light. I picked up the art of chainmaille years ago in Philly. I am still experimenting with ways I can incorporate chain patterns/different metals into haunt pieces. If anyone has ideas let me know!

For sale exclusively at www.HauntersHeadquarters.net

Releasing the Shutter

My good friend Jacquie took these photos of a piece I did- she is an amazing photographer and delightfully dark. She keeps a blog : http://releasingtheshutter-photos.blogspot.com.

Time to kill in Phoenixville

Made these three one afternoon while staying at Weesha's apartment in Phoenixville PA- it was my first attempt at making eyeballs (that's why they look kinda funny) My eyeballs now look slightly more realistic.

The Girly Side of Gruesome

A partially exposed brain hair clip- as some might know I studied neuropsych at Drexel- thus I have a fascination with the human brain (plus pink is pretty).

For sale exclusively at

www.HauntersHeadquarters.net

What do vegetarian zombies eat? (GRAAAAINS)

I used a different technique with this Zombie head- instead of making it out of clay and then making a mold and casting it in latex- I simply dipped paper towels into latex and shaped them with my hands before they dried (you have to work fast with this method) the eyes and teeth were made from plaster. A very affordable way of making a corpse head.

Skullacite

Created this hanging light out of rigid wrap- thus durable but very lightweight. All the eyes are hollowed out so that when the lights are low it gives off a disco ball light effect- turned out better than i thought it would.

My Haunted Wall

Last Halloween I created a Myan Ruins inspired plaster wall on the side of our FL home. Each skull was hand made and painted- it took about a month to do but a year later still looks great and even survived Hurricane Season.

Why Spinal Crack?

Surprisingly- this is my first blogging experience. My thoughtful and supportive bf suggested I start this as a way of sharing some of my horror and Halloween related art projects. An alternative reason for this blog is due in fact to my recent spinal fracture and diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis-thus the Blog name. So at least for now, I am limited in activity. It's never fun to find out you have AS- but to find out in October! For a Halloween fanatic such as myself- it feels like I got kicked while I was already down. So while I have not been working on large props (which i prefer) I have been keeping myself busy with smaller creations. Working takes me a little longer than usual but I am determined to still celebrate the season as I always have.