The Inigmatic Professor Phynn

Explorer. Cartographer. Scientist. Professor Phynn set out in the early 1920's to explore uncharted regions. It is unclear where his adventures took him or what his goal was. It is assumed he traveled north.

Somewhere cold.

Somewhere wet.

Foetus Specimens

A fun little project I worked on today start to finish. The specimens are hand sculpted in DAS Air dry clay and painted with acrylics. I have several more in the works. The general reaction I have been getting from these is "Ewwww"

Perfect.

Today is the Day...

Finally time to set up the yard display. Ephram Vessell has found himself forlorn, waiting an unusually deep sentence into "THE month". This year's display will be significantly scaled back in comparison to years past, but I am hoping to capture the spirit of the season nonetheless.

Let the games begin....

Pissant

There is a general sense of unrest in the patch this year. Having survived an extraordinarily hot summer, the pumpkins have grown weary of the annual slaughter of their kind. Some of the pumpkins have formed a rebellion against the coming harvest. Pissant has not joined.
He is just too disagreeable to join any movement no matter how noble the cause and how much the beliefs of the rebellion mirror his own. He would rather stand alone, guarding his little section of the pumpkin patch, ever ready to give a hardy tongue-lashing to any child unlucky enough to come within earshot...and good hard thwack with his craggy stick if they venture within striking distance. The neighborhood cats won't go near him. The woodchucks steer clear. Even the raccoons ( the most fearless of the night creatures) stay away from Pissant. So the small but mighty Pissant stands alone, always annoyed, while the cold of October bears down on us all.

Pissant is now for sale on Etsy!

It can only get stranger from here...

I just finished up a batch of small ghouls, and a few other projects now loom on the horizon.





..strange projects indeed.

Lyle Skullsworth

The newest piece to come off the bench. This week I will get production in full gear for the upcoming season. From this point out, I will be holding back many of the pieces I show here on the blog in preparation for the 65th annual Irvington Halloween Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you will be in the area on October 29th, mark you calendar and come see The Shadow Farm in person!

Pearl

Specimen Number AUK177Q

The specimen was discovered in an old steamer trunk tucked away in the basement of an abandoned lecture hall. Along with the small crate containing Specimen AUK177Q was a broken theodolite and a small banded suitcase with an array of strange brass instruments. The only identification was on a small card inside the case identifying Expedition BXT1926. While it can be assumed the expedition date was in 1926 there is no indication as to who funded the exploration or where the specimen was taken.


A visual inspection of the remains has produced the following facts:

• Specimen contains remains of unknown species.
• Creature has been mummified and conforms to no known physical norms.
  
• Creature has two forelimbs and a prehensile tail.
• Length would be approximately 16 inches from tip of tail to cranium.

Further analysis must be performed, including complete physical autopsy and historical investigation of the expedition.

Poe revisited

One of my favorite characters that I have made was Poe. There was something magical about this creature. All the creative elements came together at once to produce what I feel was one of my best pieces. The sculpt, the paint job, the sad, dejected pose and the backstory. I have toyed with the idea of attempting to recreate poor Poe several times but have been intimidated to try. Many of my methods are so unique that to duplicate a piece like Poe seems almost impossible. I have, however, taken the task on...not to produce a direct duplicate but to make a similar character. One with the same type of aura and essence that has made Poe one of my favorites.
Wish me luck.

Witchlette video!

Click the picture to view video of Witchlette in action

Witchlette Completed

Witchlette is now finished! Her costume features authentic vintage fabrics, buttons, and jewery ( as well as a single raccoon tooth) Four 1950's era bottles provide a visual accent to the base of the cauldron. I will post video as soon as I can work thru an error with Blogger. Completed size is 19 inches tall...the perfect size for a one of a kind eye-catching Halloween Display.

Witchlette: Dressing begins

Ok, not really much to look at here other than I have added plastic bottle over top of the mech to keep everything nice and secure inside. I then covered the body in burlap that has been soaked in Sculpt or Coat. The resulting body is lightweight and fairly stiff. I have also mounted the cauldron to the top of the books and the motor inside the cauldron. At this point I gave the the dual motors a 24 hour test run...they worked flawlessly with absolutely no heat build up.
I decided to go with a dual voltage desktop power supply with 5vDC going to the head motor and 12vDC going to the cauldron motor. This keeps the two movements out of sync with each other adding to a lifelike illusion.

I have a feeling the outfit on this nasty little gal is going to be a whole bunch of fun. I will be staying away from traditional black cloak and hat and stay in earthy fabrics with alot of texture. I am not looking forward to making a pair of small hands though, and might wuss out and use a pair of plastic skeleton hands.

Witchlette progress: Arms

Witchlette's arms have been installed and tested. I added a bracket to the main front rod to support the shoulders, providing a secure foundation for the jointed arms. Trial and error with the arm lengths resulted in a smooth natural movement. As stated before, I am designing this mech to be as maintenance free as possible so that the eventual owner can enjoy her for years to come.
A loose fitting at the wrists will give just enough play at the natural maple stirring stick to give the entire arm assembly a smooth, natural stirring motion.

Witchlette continued: The mech

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to add some head movement to the Witchlette. I have made head turning mechs before, but always on a larger scale where the overall size wasn't an issue. This project has several design demands that I have not encountered before.

• The mech must be small enough to fit inside the body.
• The mech must be reliable. In the past, I have made props for myself, and troubleshooting always seems to be par for the course. This mech must work flawlessly and provide trouble free operation.

This is my first successful configuration that will meet the necessary requirements. After the pictures were taken, I have tweaked a few dimensions to make the mechanism even more compact than pictured. The design will allow me to easily adjust the overall height and neck-to-torso dimensions, but for now proof of concept has been achieved.

Rusty Lanterns

What haunt couldn't use a rusted out, flickering lantern to add to the creepy atmosphere? These lanterns are painted and textured to appear very old and rusty. The original 'pristine' lantern shown on the box below comes with a very shiny black finish and a stark white LED light. I have removed the stock LEDs and replaced them with a good quality flickering tealight candle. A great feature of the lantern is that it has a nice dimmer switch and operates off 2 AA batteries. By wiring the tealight directly to the switch, I can take advantage of variable electrical inputs which exaggerate the flickering effect from full flicker to a dim sputtering that looks like the lantern is about to go out.

Cauldron Stirring Guy completed

It has been a productive day here at the Farm. My first Cauldron Stirring prop of the year is now complete. At the suggestion of a good friend, I added a stiff collar which led to the addition of a shirt and tie. Very dapper, don't you think? According to Mrs. Dave the Dead, his name is Luther. ( I'm not sold on the name, but Luther hasn't suggested any other options) Video of Luther in action can be seen here.

Another project ticked off my list can be seen in the background...a set of small shelves that I will use to display my wares at upcoming shows. The shelves are made from reclaimed cedar fence planks, and make a perfect backdrop for the creepy little characters that inhabit The Shadow Farm.

Next on the agenda are more small ghouls, some lanterns that I am converting to use LED tealight candles, and at least two more Cauldron Stirring props.

Stirring Cauldon Sculpt In progress

This guy is the start of a series of Cauldron Stirring figures I have planned for this year. I have some finish work yet to do, but have proven that he is mechanically sound by running him off and on for hours at a time over the last week or so. The sculpt is mostly paper mache with paperclay as a topcoat to give the final texture. The figure has a small electric motor mounted inside the cauldron that revolves slowly, his jointed arms following the stirring stick. Overall size is approx 21 inches. Finishing touches will include some crazy hair, a large stiff collar, and some paint and texturing on the cauldron. When completed, this figure will be available to purchase on Etsy or in person at Great Lakes Fright Fest.

Two old friends need a good home

This has been a very bad week on the Shadow Farm. I am faced with several unforeseen bills due to catastrophic automotive failure (2 dead cars in a week) and must raise some money to pay the repairs. I have thought of selling these two characters for a while now, but just couldn't force myself to part with their company. Both were created in the spring of 2008, and stand as my favorite pieces to date. They have watched over my shop and inspired countless creepy minions. They are trusted friends that have shared some of my deepest secrets.

Times are hard. Tough decisions have been made. Icharus an Darwin are now up for adoption on Etsy.

Thanks for looking.

Dark and Creeping

The Tar Phoenix returns

Two new Tar Phoenix's just finished and ready for new homes on Etsy.