Drinking with Dragons

I really enjoyed the Drinking with Dragons event at Two Bells this past Friday.

Aside from finally viewing his impressive dragons in person, it was a genuine delight to meet Dan Reeder (see my previous post below), also in person. This is a really great showing of his paper mache work, so if you're in Seattle this month, definitely check it out.

Childhood Screams

When I was ten years old my parents brought home a book for me called "The Simple Screamer" by Dan Reeder.

Already a huge monster fan, I was absolutely absorbed by the creatures and techniques within. And how could I not relate to this cartoon by Gary Larson that introduced the book?

Fast forward to 100 years later: after many other pursuits, interests and curveballs, I'd forgotten about that book, but always remembered those "Screamers".

Now I find myself, perhaps not so surprisingly, focused on sculpture and fabrication of creature costumes, masks and art objects.

While I've developed my own weird techniques over the years, using a a variety of materials, paper mache is a primary medium, and I owe at least a seed of that inspiration to Mr. Reeder. Thanks to the Internet I'm delighted to discover that Dan is still making monsters- and he's been doing it along from my hometown!

To see what he's up to these days, check out his blog at papermacheblog.com.

I Have a Stalker

More accidental inspiration:

After knocking out this new pumpkin stalk, as a sort of test, I thought it reminded me of the anthropomorphic mandrake root.

I had to do a search on mandrake to make sure I had the right thing- which led me to its medieval roots (ha!), and other magical mythologies surrounding this murderous plant.

Basically the story goes that if you pull out a mandrake root, its horrific scream with instantly kill your and/or drive you insane.

Apparently it really is a poisonous hallucinogen. 

Despite what every Harry Potter nerd might tell you, here's how to safely pull out a mandrake root:

"A furrow must be dug around the root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog must get away. The dog then endeavors to follow him, and so easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly instead of his master. After this the root can be handled without fear." (V.A. Peduto, translating Greek physician Dioscorides, via New World Encycolopedia)

I wonder how many poor pooches perished for this rooty bastard.

I'll be doing more digging (ha?), but I quite like the idea of incorporating mandrake superstitions into my design concept this year.

Derp From Above

Inspiration from above and below

For a short while it seemed like every time I looked down I'd find one of these nests staring back up at me. Finally my derpy brain got the hint, and I'll be using them as inspiration for my Halloween creations this year.

Thank you bird for some fine work...

Nests like these will add some nice organic/creepy details, and provide a cool housing for my light source. They may also help hide some pesky seams I've been trying to engineer out of the design.

... and thank you tree for discarding it.

I'm not sure how I'll go about making them, although I suspect it will likely involve unwoven twine, raw hemp or cotton thread, watered down wood glue, etc.