Rotting Jack o'lanterns

These fine fellows aren't getting older, they're getting better.

 

More rotting jack o'lanterns here.

More Pumpkin Photography - Rotting and Polaroids

The jack o'lanterns are waning almost as fast as my stock of 4x5 Polaroid Type 54 film.  As promised in a recent post, I've take a few Pumpkin Polaroid shots.  I'm heartbroken that this film stock is no longer made.   Unopened boxes of 20 sheets are going for hundreds of dollars on ebay now.   I've run out, but just bought 12 more sheets on ebay for $37.00, which will likely be my last.   On top of that, my Polaroid back that I use in my Crown Graphic is really acting up.   It doesn't want to spread the processing chemical goo evenly across the picture.   I lost three of five shots today, two to this problem, and one to a jam that occasionally happens.     As is often the case when trying to take shots close up, the focus leaves something to be desired.   It is a total crap-shoot to get the focus correct the first time under about 8 feet.   But since I was low on film and losing shots to technical problems, no retakes came out.

I also took more shots with my Nikon, back to one of my favorite subjects, the rotting jack o'lantern.    I tried to mimic the look of the Polaroids by taking them black and white and sepia.

Flying Ghost -- I've been out done!

Long ago, in the days of the Halloween-l mailing list, I invented a ghost system that came to be known as the Axworthy Flying Ghost.     Mine was relegated to a fixed flight path with a complex system of pulleys.   But now, Michael from Utah Aerials has built a remote control flying ghost that is free to roam in the range of the RC transmitter. 



And it gets better, it even broadcasts back video!

Here is a picture of the device.    It is based on the platform from kkmulticopter.com.    The biggest drawback I can see in proper haunt use, is the obvious noise this would create.     My tethered specter at least has the advantage of being whisper quiet.    As soon as the black ops stealth model comes out, I'll be building a new ghost.

HalloweenDrinks.net is launched!

Ok, the site was actually launched quite a while ago but I keep forgetting to announce it.   The pumpkin liqueur recipe and pumpkin martinis got a lot of attention here, so I decided that a site devoted to all types of Halloween drinks and cocktails must be needed.   HalloweenDrinks.net is the result.

I'll be doing a new series on the pumpkin martinis soon, and have some new pumpkin martini photos to show off as well.

Check it out at http://www.HalloweenDrinks.net.

Polaroids - Neo Vintage Halloween

Sweeet!  Pumpkinrot has some great new-old Halloween pictures.

Taken with old-school Polaroid gear, they specifically went in search of vintage Halloween items.

I'm a huge fan of Polaroid pictures, they have a certain quality to them.   As part of my pumpkin photography project I plan to shoot some Polaroids as well and I'll have them coming before too long.

I've got my Dad's old 4x5 Crown Graphic Graphlex with a Polaroid back.   I only shoot black and white and it takes amazing pictures.    Polaroid stopped producing the film, though there is another brand available now.   I've only got a few shots left but I'm going to use them for pumpkin shots.

Go visit Pumpkinrot to check out all the pictures.  

Pumpkin Photography

I finally had some time to start experimenting with pumpkin photography.   I've been needing pumpkin and jack o'lantern pictures for a variety of uses, but also wanted to try some artsy stuff.   Here are a few of the early examples:

More pictures here, and more to come.

Extreme 3D Pumpkin Carving

My brother pointed me to some extreme 3-D pumpkin carving by Ray Villafane.   I've used 3-D carving a little, but I prefer the classic Jack o' Lanterns look myself.   But this one is especially nice:

Check out his site, he also talks about his experience with in an upcoming episode of the Food Networks show, Challenge, competing against other carvers for a $10,000 prize.

Laser Pumpkin Carving

The folks over at Metrix Create:Space are at it again.   Carving pumpkins with lasers!   So many possibilities here, the mind reels.  

There was some small print; "Pumpkin must be smaller than approximately 8” in diameter."  Sounds to me like they just need a bigger laser!

Seattle Fall Arts - Chris Sheridan

We've got a Fall arts event underway here in Seattle called Arts Crush.  In searching through all the events I came upon this artist, Chris Sheridan.  Some of his work caught my eye, so -- shall we say -- seasonal.

Check out the images in the category called, "The King of Change". The show will be up at Bherd Studios until the first week of November.   I can't wait to check it out in person.

Hauntless in Seattle

For the first time in years, I've got no Halloween haunt.   The Zoo canceled their annual Pumpkin Prowl event due to budget woes, and I was working with a new group that pitched to the zoo to do an event at the zoo this year, but it didn't come together in time.    But being sleep deprived from August through October isn't all its cracked up to be and this year I get to enjoy the season.

We took a first time ever late summer vacation, doing a road trip down the West coast.  We ended up in LA and had to spend a few days at Disneyland.   The last day there was the first day they opened up the Haunted Mansion, re-themed for Halloween with a Nightmare before Christmas theme.   I was amazed, as it is a top to bottom rework of the attraction.    Everything has been touched right down to the sound track.    I guess Disney finally figured out that they had a theme that would last from September all the way through Christmas. 

And while I'm a fan of the Nightmare before Christmas, it really makes for a lousy Haunted Mansion theme.    I've got my fingers crossed that when they take another shot at the Haunted Mansion movie, there will be new fodder to work with for Halloween re-theming.  But given the amount of work that went into the HM, I doubt that will happen.

That all said, there was some really nice work that went into the production!

Pumpkin Carving -- Nice!

Every year, just before show time, comes that little wave of panic knowing that you've got to carve some hot jack o'lanterns.   I scour through my own old pictures looking at previous pumpkins that worked well and also cruise the web to find nuggets of inspiration.   I wish I had found this site, Pumpkin Way, earlier, talk about inspiration.   I've used some of these techniques before, like the partial carve through, but these pumpkins are particularly well done.

I also like how the face is obviously adapted to the pumpkin.   I've always been a fan of the imperfect pumpkin, the pumpkin in the pile that was unique in some way.   Some of the oddball pumpkins give instant inspiration.   The hardest pumpkin for me to carve is the classic, perfectly formed pumpkin.  If I don't have a planned use for the perfect pumpkin, I usually end up frozen, staring glazed at the orange orb with "carvers block."



And finally, the photography is exceptional.  I've wanted to spend some time photographing my jack o'lanterns but never have the time in the heat of the event.

Check all of them out here at Pumpkin Way

Via Haunt Style

Other blogs of interest...

One thing I regret getting so deeply sucked into my own Halloween project is that I miss what everyone else is up to. I'm getting caught up on what a few other folks have doing this year and I realized I needed to add a "blogs I like" section (on the right and down a bit.)

A few comments about the first blogs in the list.....

Donovan's Accidental Shock Therapy (nice name!) - New, but keep your eye here for things to come.

The Ludwigs - Look to the Halloween tags, and also the repeated theme of "Things I want but don't need". All I can say is John, stop it! Every time I look at your blog, I suddenly realize it is an hour later and I've done a deep Internet dive getting sucked from link to link. And it was John's blog that reminded me to go back and look at the next two blogs.

Kurt's Grimvisions - A local Seattle Halloween master, I've got to set some time aside to delve deep into his site.

Scott's Stolloween - I remember Scott from the old Halloween-L days... He has some amazing papier mache work going!

That's it for the moment, more to come.

Skull Clock

This clock is nice, though it would be even better if it was about 10 feet high!

Via Haunt Style

Vintage Halloween

A friend sent me a link to some vintage halloween pictures. I really love some of the old pictures and imagery. Be sure to follow the link referenced to see all the pictures. Halloween had gone through a golden era in the late 1800's to early 1900's, everyone participated in some fashion. It wasn't until the 1970's when gore, horror, and other silliness got associated with Halloween and it started to get a dubious reputation.

We were treated to a slideshow at my wife's folks cabin a couple of years ago, and there were some vintage Halloween pictures from the 1960s. These were taken in Colville, Washington, a vintage small town. I quickly snatched up the Halloween slides and had scans made. All five pictures here.

From Halloween - 1960s

Pumpkin Prowl 2009

Pumpkin Prowl at Woodland Park Zoo finished up last week. Finally getting caught up on sleep and just now getting pictures posted.

The weather was iffy on Friday and Sunday, but Saturday was nice and it was *packed*. Donovan's full spider made its debut, it really looked great. His banshee got worked over as well and kept people mesmerized. The witch got a voice this year and movement with an over-sized FCG mechanism. The new controller worked flawlessly, though there is a lot of programming to go before it gets its full web control.

Metrix Create:Space

There goes the neighborhood, this is like a porn shop for the maker community.... A new hackerspace/coffeshop place is opening soon on Capitol Hill here in Seattle. Part high tech workshop, part coffee shop, tools including laser etching and a 3D printer. And arduino microcontrollers in the vending machines! Can't wait to check it out.

Via the Capitol Hill Blog

Website: Metrix Create:Space

Arduino, Vmusic2, XPort -- Halloween Controllers

I've been working on advanced concepts in controlling Halloween displays for a long time. But I've only just started executing some of my concepts last year. The tentacle controller was the first, but it is still very specific to the tentacle. I hope to have a set of fundamental capabilities in every controller and a set specific to the particular exhibit/device.

My microprocessor platform of choice is still the arduino, I'm excited to see the broad range of variations available, especially the Arduino Mega, I need a lot of I/O. The most important feature of my controller concept is that they are networked and can be remotely controlled, configured, tuned, and monitored. That means adding an ethernet interface. I've been experimenting with the Lantronix XPort AR. This device is amazing, so many protocols built-in, including SSH, HTTPS, and email. The built-in web server appears advanced and there are numerous configurable pins. As these devices go, it is on the pricier side (~$65) but you get a lot of features. BUT.... the downside is that you need a software development tool kit to really modify the device for your project. You can drop basic files on the device that the web server will see, but there is some secret sauce in here to have the web server talk to the UARTs and configurable pins. Too bad, it was a promising device but I'm not going to buy the tools. I don't even know how much they cost, you have to talk to salesmen...ick. Come on Lantronix. Give us the razor and we'll buy your blades like crazy. I still haven't decided if I should stick with this device, or just go with a really basic ethernet to serial device like this one. Half the price, but I would have to move some capabilities into the Arduino, like email alerts. In the XPort AR, I can just trigger a pin high which in turn sends an email alert. I have to make this decision soon! Need to get a couple ordered.

The other thing so many Halloween props need is quality sound. I've been searching around for the right method and finally decided on the Vinculum Vmusic2. This is a slick device, a full MP3 player with a serial interface. It has a USB port for a USB fob with MP3s and a 1/8" mini stereo jack for output. Then a set of pins for the serial and power connections. It was frustrating getting it to fire up the first time, the docs are worthless. There is an excellent instructable here on getting this thing set up, but even that didn't point out the key step. Then I found this reference from the Garage of Evil -- fellow high-tech haunters and my problem became clear. By default the Vmusic2 is setup for a CTS/DTR hardware handshake. You can tweak the settings through their firmware editor to just do tx/rx. But I couldn't get the device to come alive, which was required to pull the new firmware from the USB stick. I was beginning to think the default firmware wasn't on the device. Others have alluded to this in numerous posts, which then requires you to jump through hoops with the right cables to talk to the device to flash it. But the trick is to tie CTS to ground, that's it. The device woke up, reflashed itself, and everything is good. I dropped a couple MP3s on a thumbdrive and was soon talking to it through a serial connection firing off music while tweaking the controls. Nice! So in moments I'll be wiring up the first one to the current controller I'm working on. The picture here is the in-progress shot. A chassis from an old Sun outboard SCSI drive (12v and 5V) supply built-in, Arduino, protoshield, several relays, the Vmusic2, and much more to come.

Welding!!!

Last year I borrowed a welder from Donovan, my Halloween fabricating colleague. I had to fab a cart that would be a roving platform for the tentacle. It was a MIG wirefeed welder and even being a complete welding newb, I produced a very functional unit.

From Tangle of Wires

My family got sick of hearing me wax on about the joys of welding and they got me a welder for my birthday. This is a bargain unit from Harbor Freight. We've got a Harbor Freight store close by and while the quality isn't always the best, the price/performance can't be beat. For us seasonal warriors, the gear works well. I started with flux core wire, but my results were pretty ugly. I added a regulator, and a small tank of C25 gas (75% argon, 25% C02) from my local Praxair store. I got a spool of the regular wire as well and now my welds look terrific!! What a difference in weld quality. Now I just need some serious practice. I've only welded ornamental additions on my pumpkin hanging shepards hooks so far this year, but plan to get more use fabricating various odds and ends.

From Tangle of Wires

'Tis the Season...

Halloween is coming up quickly and I've been negligent in posting any new blog entries for a long time. My plan is to do the Woodland Park Zoo Pumpkin Prowl Event again this year, at least if we can work through the insurance requirements for us wee vendors at the zoo. Liability insurance for events is 'spensive to say the least. And it appears hard to get a policy tailored to my situation. Getting quotes now from the various providers that do coverage for Halloween events -- stay tuned.

Not sure it there will be any new biggies this year, so many details still to do in the existing props. The witch will get some new features, she is still too static right now. I'm hoping to add a new Pumpkin Fountain controller that will still interface with the Zoo's Z-Play control system, but allow me direct access and control and tuning as well. Also it will be easier to monitor what is happening with it. Ethernet interface, arduino controller, and vmusic2 sound. Options for triggers and remote manual control, test modes for setting the sensors, and manual control of the duty cycle. Also control of the lights, fountain pump and compressor too. Web interface, hoping for syslog for logging, email out for alerts (low water, low air pressure, etc.) and more. We'll see how far I get. Can't seem to find any good pictures of the Pumpkin Fountain at the moment, the picture here is just after setup, but before the pumpkins were on it.

Jack o'lanterns in the tree!

Love this idea!!!


Via: Pumpkinrot
Source: thudmunson