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I thought I knew where it was. It wasn't either of the places I thought I'd hung it so I tore the whole house apart searching for it. I went through my packed closet, hanger by hanger, dug through drawers and boxes, piles of clothing, behind things, everywhere. It has simply vanished. I wore it three years ago. Where the heck did I put it? Damn.
Oh well, the spider head turned out pretty well and I do have spider legs with a thorax to wear. I'm suspending the little man-fly from my neck on a black ribbon and wrapped some cobwebs around him. It will work. It just won't be spectacular. :(
The spider head is flimsy, not strong enough to truly support its own weight. It will work for one Halloween and will probably be chipped and cracked by the time the day is done.
It started to rain yesterday, something I was so hoping wouldn't happen since I still needed to spray-paint the head outdoors. We have a covered patio thankfully, so I was able to do it under there and the spray enamel actually did dry! It took two tries to get it covered. When I brought it back in I discovered the rough edges I'd added hadn't taken the paint as well as I'd hoped even though I sprayed from every angle I could manage. The plastic viking horns I used for poison injectors didn't hold the enamel very well and as it dried, the paint separated and pulled back here and there. I ended up doing touch-up with black acrylic paint. The eyes and poison injectors got a coat of acrylic gloss. yeah. I like the effect. The rough areas are soft and crumbly. They won't make it through the day very well.
Oh well, Live and learn. I've learned a lot from building the thing. Next time it will be much smaller, have small form chicken wire instead of the bigger stuff and more layers of casting material on the bottom half. The poison injectors will be folded up for better balance.
Holy smokes! I forgot to balance the thing because it wasn't dry enough to try on! Oh well on that. Maybe I can wire a bag of kitty litter into the back of it.
Last night's tasks were:
Searching in desperation for spider web costume =(
Painting the spider head black
Touching up the parts that didn't paint well.
Adding gloss to eyes and fangs
Adding reinforcement casting material to inside edge.
Hot-gluing chiffon over eye hole area- cheesecloth didn't work very well.
Hot-gluing t-shirt fabric over the bottom edge
Tying ribbon to little man around his neck (for proper balance)
Wrapping my little man-fly in cobwebs
Mending borrowed "The Scream" costume for our newest tech. (he can't sew)
Carving 3 jack-o-lanterns
Wrapping our front shrubs in cobwebs
Packing the stuff I need to take in to work early:
- Skull candy dish that slaps at people with a hidden bony hand.
- Standard Halloween candy dish
- Candy: Lindor truffles and fancy Reeses treats
- Non-edible treats: Spooky straws and snake bracelets
- The Scream costume
Scooping the litter boxes (standard task)
The kitties got a benefit from my digging through boxes. I found a Tupperware sandwich container full of home-grown catnip from years ago. It has a faint smell to it to us, but the kitties think it's fine. Loki had his face in it for a long time. Dempsey came in as I was heading to bed and he thought it was a fine thing, too. He got relaxed enough not to flinch when I petted him! Poor Dempsey. Someone must have slapped him around to make him flinch like that.
Gotta go if I'm getting there early. Gosh I'm tired. I was up until 2AM finishing things. Our department was looking really spooky before I left last night. I'll write all about it and post pictures tonight or over the weekend.
Oh well, the spider head turned out pretty well and I do have spider legs with a thorax to wear. I'm suspending the little man-fly from my neck on a black ribbon and wrapped some cobwebs around him. It will work. It just won't be spectacular. :(
The spider head is flimsy, not strong enough to truly support its own weight. It will work for one Halloween and will probably be chipped and cracked by the time the day is done.
It started to rain yesterday, something I was so hoping wouldn't happen since I still needed to spray-paint the head outdoors. We have a covered patio thankfully, so I was able to do it under there and the spray enamel actually did dry! It took two tries to get it covered. When I brought it back in I discovered the rough edges I'd added hadn't taken the paint as well as I'd hoped even though I sprayed from every angle I could manage. The plastic viking horns I used for poison injectors didn't hold the enamel very well and as it dried, the paint separated and pulled back here and there. I ended up doing touch-up with black acrylic paint. The eyes and poison injectors got a coat of acrylic gloss. yeah. I like the effect. The rough areas are soft and crumbly. They won't make it through the day very well.
Oh well, Live and learn. I've learned a lot from building the thing. Next time it will be much smaller, have small form chicken wire instead of the bigger stuff and more layers of casting material on the bottom half. The poison injectors will be folded up for better balance.
Holy smokes! I forgot to balance the thing because it wasn't dry enough to try on! Oh well on that. Maybe I can wire a bag of kitty litter into the back of it.
Last night's tasks were:
Searching in desperation for spider web costume =(
Painting the spider head black
Touching up the parts that didn't paint well.
Adding gloss to eyes and fangs
Adding reinforcement casting material to inside edge.
Hot-gluing chiffon over eye hole area- cheesecloth didn't work very well.
Hot-gluing t-shirt fabric over the bottom edge
Tying ribbon to little man around his neck (for proper balance)
Wrapping my little man-fly in cobwebs
Mending borrowed "The Scream" costume for our newest tech. (he can't sew)
Carving 3 jack-o-lanterns
Wrapping our front shrubs in cobwebs
Packing the stuff I need to take in to work early:
- Skull candy dish that slaps at people with a hidden bony hand.
- Standard Halloween candy dish
- Candy: Lindor truffles and fancy Reeses treats
- Non-edible treats: Spooky straws and snake bracelets
- The Scream costume
Scooping the litter boxes (standard task)
The kitties got a benefit from my digging through boxes. I found a Tupperware sandwich container full of home-grown catnip from years ago. It has a faint smell to it to us, but the kitties think it's fine. Loki had his face in it for a long time. Dempsey came in as I was heading to bed and he thought it was a fine thing, too. He got relaxed enough not to flinch when I petted him! Poor Dempsey. Someone must have slapped him around to make him flinch like that.
Gotta go if I'm getting there early. Gosh I'm tired. I was up until 2AM finishing things. Our department was looking really spooky before I left last night. I'll write all about it and post pictures tonight or over the weekend.
