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Monster Guts Prop Supplies

I have been purchasing prop building supplies from Monster Guts for several years now. The have several hard to find items that I cannot find elsewhere that I always go back to their site to purchase such as “Eyeball Blanks“. At just under a $1 per dozen these are a heck of a deal (they are roll on deodorant balls). Yes, you could just harvest the deodorant balls yourself, but I doubt you use that much deodorant in a year.

They also carry the venerable windshield wiper motor, that many haunters use for a multitude of purposes, from the FCG to the stirring witch prop.

Our prop building supplies can be found in home haunts and professional haunted attractions throughout North America as well as in props used by the heavy metal band GWAR. We have also provided props for the set of the 2009 Halloween edition of the game show Deal or No Deal.

So head on over and check out what they have.

A New Skull from the Skull Shoppe

The owner of the Skull Shoppe came by a week ago and I now have this beauty in my collection. It will look great in my collection of macabre and Halloween display pieces.

I have purchased a lot of skulls over the years but what the Skull Shoppe is producing is hands down the best value for the money. It is a hollow cast resin skull that is beautifully aged. This particular specimen you can see serrations and tooling marks where whoever removed the muscle and flesh on the original skull wasn’t very gentle in the process. You can see every little detail that existed in the original. His process of molding is superb. Again if you are looking for a display or reference skull I would bet you won’t find a better one out there.

Johnnys Ghosts

Johnny makes some amazing ghosts. Over the years I have watched John develop some amazing props. Lately he has started getting massive amount of movement from a single motor. These pieces rival the FCG or Flying Crank Ghost in form and function.

He also has started offering kits for his ghosts with very detailed instructions.

You can buy one on his Blog

Wood kit -- $60: This kit will include all plywood, 2x4s A-D, 1x4s E-G, blocks #1-#19, and dowels D1-D18 as described in the how-to. All pieces will be pre-drilled and marked.

Complete Kit -- $80: This kit will include all parts in the wood kit, and all hardware described in the how-to, including Spiderwire and a TRW 58024E motor.

Amazing stuff

Deadspider’s Witch Kitchen

Deadspider, I have known for many years now. Potion labels, potion bottles, dark curiosities, creepy art, dark mistress of mache. She once attacked me with a large cocooned prop victim, I had my backed turned and she hit me with it. I sometimes get a horrible twitch in my left eye now.

The above pictures are prime examples of what she sells in her ETSY shop

She also makes amazing Halloween displays and you can see some of the pictures of these at her blog at aranamuerta.com. She sculpts in paper mache and makes some pieces that I am truly inspired by.

So if you are looking for some additions to round out your witch’s kitchen scene, witch potion bottles and other accoutrements, or just wanting to check out some cool Halloween art go check out her site or ETSY store.

Halloween Music to Haunt By

: Image via Wikipedia

Every year there are a few new albums that come out that seem appropriate for spooky Halloween ambiance for your haunted house display. There is also the huge selection of .99 cent CD’s at your local drug store labeled “scary sounds”, but I am afraid to tell you that these gems won’t deliver much unless you are only using them when mixing your own tracks.

There are a few commercial artist’s that make ambient tracks that are well suited to use in your Halloween display.

Midnight Syndicate: “Dark music pioneers Midnight Syndicate have been creating Halloween music and gothic, horror, fantasy soundtracks for the imagination.”

My take on Midnight Syndicate is that some of it is fairly good. Some of it though is a bit silly sounding at times. All in all though I have a few of their albums and I have made quite a few mixes that I am happy with.

Rusty Knife and Virgil: I have a few CD’s and MP3′s from Rusty Knife. Dementia is probably my favorite. Really well done and creepy as all get out. If you are doing the whole haunted organ or Phantom of the Opera thing then definitely get Organum Effectus

Nox Arcana: I have 2 of their albums. Not really my thing.

So what to do for your Halloween display music?? In my opinion buy something from Midnight Syndicate for general ambiance. For specific stuff I like the Rusty Knife CD’s. If you know someone that is crafty in the audio mixing skills then hit them up and have them mix you up something special. I have done this myself using tracks and sounds from sounddogs.com and been very happy with the results. Although it is a time consuming effort. My 2008 Graveyard track is available here at Grimvisions.com

What about you? Do you have any favorite albums or tracks that you recommend for the holiday?

Fog Machines Expensive or Cheap

I have owned both expensive fog machines and cheap fog machines over the years. I have owned two Chauvet fog machines, they have both died. On one the heater stopped functioning. On the other I would repeatedly have to force a thin wire down the nozzle to clear gunk out of it. I eventually stopped using it. The output from the second one wasn’t that great anyway.

: Image via Wikipedia

What I have settled upon for my display is a bunch of small 400-500 watt foggers that I purchased from Jeff at Frighteners Entertainment. I bought a case of him one year. I leave them full of fluid, Sometimes I fire them up in June and make sure they still work, not one has failed me yet.

Expensive fog machines are supposed to be real workhorses. My Chauvet was supposed to put out 20,000 CFM and be 1300 or so watts. That’s a heck of a lot of fog, it lasted me 2 years. It cost me around 120$.

The cheap fog machines cost me 20 or so dollars a piece and I have probably around 6 of them now. I put timers on them and place them strategically around the display and everything is fine.

Now that isn’t to say I don’t want something better someday. I have dreamed about the V-950 fogger. I have heard great things about it. Its is supposed to be a true workhorse when it comes to actually performing well and not breaking down.

Stolloween – Paper Mache Maestro

I create most of my pieces in paper mache, using some sort of other substrate usually be it foam, wire or , something else. I also purchase all of my mache products be it pulp mache or mache clay, I am a bit lazy. Scott at Scotty Art takes it to a whole new level. He is a paper mache Maestro so to speak. He makes his own mache pulp, makes his own mache clays, cuts his own armatures from cardboard, and shares all of this knowledge with the Halloween and haunt community.

He writes detailed how-to’s including step by step pictures detailing the process at his site at Stolloween.com.

Recently I have noticed he is now offering some of his wonderful work in limited editions on his ETSY shop. Very tempting, I may just have to head on over and pick up a piece in the near future.