The "Beating Up Beast" Series

Here are a series of photos entirely set up and taken by my 10 year old son. He and his sister hate this ugly toy "Beast" and enjoy beating him up with a rubber mallet. I loaned him my digital camera and this was his first time ever using it. This is his 7 year old sister ready to administer a "beating".This is the first sequence of photos:



And this is the second sequence:





Well, I hope you enjoyed this display of hatred toward an ugly toy. The cat above is named "Fatty Cat" and he's one of my son's FAVORITE toys.

The Stump House

Here are some photos of the stump house I made way back in 1996 while living in Arizona. I got the idea from a Miniatures magazine, and they suggested using real bark......but I had to make due with foamcore and papier mache. I had to buy the moss and dried fungi from Michael's Arts and Crafts, since there was no way I was going to find THAT stuff laying around in Scottsdale! Even the acorns came from Canada during a visit.
Here's the Dining Area......complete with acorn stew and red wine in a tiny Tabasco sauce bottle.
I liked the bed most of all. In the magazine, it was supposed to be a "fairy house"....but I made it with a mouse in mind as the inhabitant.
Under the bedroom was a storage area for bags of seeds and corn.
I made a bedroom window with an overhanging fungus as an awning.
Sadly, this house no longer exists. I cannibalized it for another project. Part of the foamcore went into the base of my Haunted House.
Now that I'm back living permanently in Canada, I COULD make one following the original plans. I DO still have the magazine!

The Minotaur Head

Here are some close ups of just the head. It's sitting on the amazing dressmaker's dummy that I got......yes....out of somebody's garbage. Actually, they had wheeled it to the curb, and it only had a few cobwebs on it, so I grabbed it. Now it helps me make Hallowe'en costumes.
So, here, in the middle of the living room, is the Minotaur's head. In the background, near his nose, you can see my bottle of "Weldbond" glue. That stuff's amazing! It's water washable and it glues almost anything TO anything. I also used it on my dollhouse. I love it....and it's a Canadian product too.Well, I'm going back to work tomorrow, so the frequency of my posts will DEFINITELY diminish. I hope to be kept busy working on a feature film, using Maya. I'll be in the layout department. Well, Bye for now!

The Minotaur Costume!

There! It's pretty much done now! Not only was I working on the house, but I was also working on finishing the Minotaur head. Here Rich is modelling it. It's mostly papier mache, sheep and bear skin....that's right, I said bear. Black bear to be exact. I aquired a skin last fall from a shop that was going out of business. I made some of the claws into necklaces.......but I digress.
Here's a three quarter back shot. He was a very good model, doing what he was told. Good Minotaur. Now we just have to wait another 5 months before he can wear it.
I'm thinking of dressing as Medusa.