Frog on the Pumpkin

all over the lawn. Here are all the flat panels for the abbey.  now that they are textured and painted we need to put them up and start creating all the trim pieces.  We have a LOT of work ahead.....already starting to put things in the "next year list". When we started this project, we knew that it would be at least a two-three year project....guess we were right! 

you are not going to see the Demand foam washer screws that we use to hold to foam panels onto the wood frame? Right? Yeah, but it does not stop them from being ugly and me wanting to cover them up. On the last church facade that we built we put rubber cement on the plastic washer and them put the foam shavings on top of it and then heat gunned it.  Looked okay, but we knew we could do better. So husband got the idea to trace out the washer and cut small circles and Gorilla glue them into place over the washer. So, we had to further countersink the washers and then cut the circles out of one inch foam and then cut them in half again to get make them thinner. Then we glued them on and roughed them up and heat gunned them....looks a lot better than the old way. We needed another step anyway....we are behind schedule and while we where already there we thought we would just get even more behind! :D But it looks good....and I have more time now anyway! :D

guess we should have taken him a bit more seriously .... Looks like "Mud'o vision"s head exploded. Actually, he is one of the props that is getting remodeled this year. We are replacing the black and white CRT that was his head and replacing it with at 17 inch flat screen LED monitor set vertically. As well as replacing some of the inter-working guts of how he plays video...instead of a TV he gets a new player that uses a flash card....much easier to start and stop and holds up outdoors better. Looking forward to seeing Mud'o vision 2.0! Back to prop building!

the panels on to the frame Bottom arch made from two panels with a top piece from an additional panel mounted horizontally So we can see that we might need to do some trimming down of the frame :) We can fix that by adding a bit of molding or a column facade Wow, did we measure that wrong or what?! This one on the other hand is going to require something special. What if we.....I don't think so.... Inside the abbey view....we are going to paint everything black Starting to get the idea of what one of the walls will look like. We are finishing up the rest of the panels this weekend.  Then we can paint them and start creating the trim pieces to build up the flat panels.....how many days until October 1? :D

that is what I am right now.  I am currently among the unemployed :( Life happens, looking for a new path....on the way to that I am going to be working on our haunt, getting a few things done around the house.....and finally I have time to put stuff in the Etsy store ! I have some accents and epitaphs up right now.  I will be adding some of my "Frog Queen Folly" creations later this week.  Looking forward to having time to create a few new things....and working through the gap :D Thanks everyone for your support....on to the next adventure!

I am guessing with the great success of the Crystal Head vodka product it was only a matter of time before some genius marketer game up with Frozen Ghost Vodka I hope it is as good as the story.....I have to say that I am very impressed with the marketing for this product. I think I need a martini!

...we learned how to make a Davis Graveyard style tombstone.....and a cool stack of books with a skull and candle.  I would have had more fun in school if classes were like this :D Here are some pictures from our last Tombstone/Stacked Books workshop. Thanks to our fantastic students!! I have been asked if we can squeeze a class in before Halloween.....I will see what I can do - I will let you know if I can make it work. Back to prop building everyone!

but seeing as we have now tested that method.  I really would not recommend using it .....ever. ( I was also going to title this post, how to take an abbey frame facade down in 45 seconds or less :D ) Here is what happened when we tried to take the frame for the abbey apart........ ....first we removed the front support, we thought it would stand up on while we took it apart...... (usually "thinking" is where we go wrong!) and then we watched it not do that at all, in fact, we watched it slowly fall over. It was quite astounding actually. And a bit scary...... But no one was hurt - and the only real damage was to my Queen Elizabeth rose bush - she kindly broke the fall and saved the panels that it fell on. So a few panels got a bit of "extra" texturing.......and we had some tweaked joint connectors. For as quick as this made the take down process......still think we are going to take it down piece by piece next tim...

to go when the zombie apocalypse occurs....which is any day now I am sure. Not only is it perfect....but it is in the UK...kinda like going on vacation!  But we are backing weapons instead of 10 pairs of shoes! :) They are called the Maunsell Sea forts . Are those not the coolest things ever!?  We all know that zombies cannot swim....right?  At least I am pretty sure they cannot swim.....even if they could swim....that is a long climb.....yeah, I would feel safe here. They were built to fight off the Germans in WWII - so I am sure they will be perfect against a zombie attack...they look a little rusted though, better stop by the hospital and pick up some tetanus shots (jabs) and some antibiotics :D An a lot of guns and ammo.....and all the tofu jerky I can carry :D Okay, silliness over....back to prop building!!

we have been texturing foam for years.....we have used just about anything that will "dent/destory" foam that you can imagine....and I a few I hope that you never imagine :D Yes...I really hope you never, ever do :D Let me just say - just in case you were thinking.....maybe I should try...... If you think it might kill or harm you...don't, just don't. Trust me. Where was I?  Oh, yeah, garden tools. We have three or four different types of stone that we are trying to create in the abbey - large stones and the bottom and smaller stones as you get to the top....we have pictures of an abbey build this way - so we are going with it.  That and it gives us a chance to try differnent styles.....and it looks cool! So the bottom has to be large stones.....large stones that do not look like the larger stones above it, just larger....they need to look like a different type of stone, that said, we need a different techinque. And like I said, we will try just about a...

Life is good!

you will ever need.

on the abbey all weekend ....so much so that I did not take that many pictures.....I managed to grab this one and post it on Facebook. After we started to put panels up we realized that Dan was right, we need to have metal pieces (kinda like Tinker Toy wheels) made to put the structure together.....so add that to the list of things to do. Behind schedule....but optimistic!

from the crew when you are working with a lot of wood is the one of the reasons that we do not film us working. Building the structure for the abbey has all kinds of words that well, can cause all kinds of rude but hilarious comments.  Wood, stud, good stud, naked stud, drill, screw, nail....you get the picture.  Yes, all of our minds are in the gutter most of the time....and I am fine with that, makes for a fun build day. Speaking of that here is our progress from over the weekend. We started to design the frame and finished making all the panels and continued to draw out the stone walls. The beginning of the structure to hold up the 44 panels Designing as we go....a little wobbly - looks like we are going to need to put tension cables  Inside panels ready to draw stonework The artist at work....really, she is, she has the degree to prove it!  Glad someone in the group is qualified! The art team designing a template for th...