Making a fake rock

Without a doubt the most boring prop I’ve ever made I think – at as far as descriptions go. There’s a short sequence in Moonshine of the Damned requiring some violence and a rock, so for safety’s sake we’re going fake

It was a pretty simple prop to make as well, finding the perfect rock was just as simple. It was in a pile by the car during a shoot last summer – so it wasn’t like I even had to hunt for one.

First thing I did was give it a bit of a cleaning. Most all of our rocks here are sandstone, not the easiest to clean – luckily this bad boy was granite – at least I think it’s granite, I’m not a geologist. Once it was all cleaned up I made a two part silicone mould – you’ll have to imagine that part, I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t think it’d be that interesting…and it might not be.

Once the mould was done I actually abandoned the prop once the web series was cancelled and only began thinking about it just recently. I had been making some other simple props and thought it was time to crank this out. It also helped that I finally had a handle on painting it.

It was easy enough to cast, but one thing to note about using Flex FoamIt, that I only found out last summer - I don't know how widespread this information is, but I didn't know this - the material, once cured, can sort of shrivel into itself, this can easily be fixed by crushing the piece, squeezing out supposed gases that cause the shriveling effect. So far it's worked well for me nearly 100% of the time.

So, here’s some pictures:

The mould, made of silicone with a support shell.

I bolted it together, seemed the simplest thing to do.

The original rock (left) and the unpainted soft foam rock (right).

The fake rock - the detailing is what helps it, even this doesn't look too bad.

 The original and the final fake rock. Didn't come out too bad.

And here it is, in all it's artifical geological glory. The Fake Rock.

So there you go, a fake rock. It's only needed in a very short sequence, but it's one of those thing that you might write in a script and not really think about how you'll accomplish it, let alone accomplish it safely. This is something I couldn't have done a couple years ago and now it's a completely simple process to create a tiny bit of movie magic.

Chances are when you see the scene it's in, you won't really think "How'd they do that?" Most people will just assume it was a trick camera angle, or some folks who don't really understand FX might even think it's CG - nope, it's a chunk of soft foam. It can be throw right at a person's head if needed and it'll be relatively safe - at least moreso than lobbing a real rock.

Technical Info: The whole thing was done using Smooth-On products. The mould was Rebound 25 with a Plasti-Paste II shell. The rock itself is made from Flex FoamIt V and painted using Monster Makers Latex Paint Base tinted with acrylic paints.

This isn't something I'll ever put on the website for sale, but if you've stumbled upon this and think it'd be a whole lot easier (since the mould is already made) to just buy one instead of making one yourself, feel free to send me an email. I reckon I'd sell it for about $25 - it's a bugger to paint decently and does take awhile. Email: foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com.

Note about cost: Just an FYI concerning the cost of making one of these. It's not too bad, but even using the minimum quantities available of the products, you're looking at over $100.

Brain Keychain and Zombie Head Magnet Combo

I made these a while ago and really never did much with them, I decided to give them a proper paint job, gloss them up and now I'm going to offer up some Zombie Head Magnets for sale as part of the Moonshine of the Damned Fund Raiser.

The Brain Keychain and Zombie Head Magnet combo is being sold for $15, only 10 sets are available. The Zombie Head Magnet is made of the same resin as the Brain and given a gloss coating as well, and the magnet is a pretty strong as well.

Or, you can just get yourself a Zombie Head Magnet by itself for $10 as well, there's only 20 being made. They're all hand painted and the dye for the resin is mixed by hand as well, so there's a bit of variety to the colours, but I'm trying to keep them as close as possible - you can see they're all various shades of greenish though.

As usual, payments can be made through Email Interact and add $0.50 per item if you're using Paypal. Shipping in Canada is $15 and in the US is $10 - at least it should be, I haven't shipped on yet but they're close in size to the Brains and will ship in the same sized padded envelope - so I'm hoping for the best.

You can email me brains@themonkeyrodeo.com if you'd like one.

One Month to go on the Moonshine of the Damned Fundraiser.

I'm hoping we can raise the minimum amount needed by end of April, so we're putting a bit of push on this whole thing and hoping for the best. I was aiming for $2000, but I'm pretty sure we can pull it off  if we can raise another $1000 right now.

There's the official site:
www.themonkeyrodeo.com/BZK3

The Etsy Shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMonkeyRodeo

Everyone who pitches in will get a thanks in the final credits and a chance to win even more unique zombie gear, some props created for movie, maybe t-shirts - we're still pinning that down. Also, this doesn't work like a typical Indiegogo or Kickstarter campaign, you place an order for any of the three items we have offered up and it'll be shipped out as soon as possible, no waiting until months after the project is over or if the project even succeeds.

And I feel I really need to point out that Moonshine of the Damned is not going to be just another zombie movie, far from it. I did a rant some time ago about how I'm pretty tired with zombie movies myself as about 90% of them don't even try to be vaguely original. They all follow the same tired plot outline, they think they can stand out by doing a "insert stereotype here" VS Zombies plot, or they find a new way to make zombies cute and likeable by making them the main character. The later isn't worn out just yet, but well on its way.

If you can't be unique, have some great writing. If you don't have great writing, at least have good effects. If you don't have good effects...why are you bothering? Now I can't say I've got a brilliantly written movie here, but it's not supposed to be - the feel of it is more like a 80s horror movie, it's meant to be fun and campy - not a gorefest necessarily - and it really does go beyond the expectations of a typical zombie movie. Far beyond I believe. And I won't say the FX will be outstanding, we've got a limited budget - but it will be fun to watch.

It's sort of more like a zombie movie with a touch of the 80s, mixed with a bit of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer approach in places with a hint of some Clive Barkeresque ideas rolling around. It won't be brilliant, it won't win an Academy award, it will be amusing and a little bizarre perhaps.

1st Official "Moonshine of the Damned" Production Journal

So, I figured it was about time to get to doing this, a production journal, diary, blog - whatever you want to call it.

I've been working away one several small parts of the series, trying to get it all to come together in time for our first scheduled shoot on June 1st, 2013.

Script:
The script is coming along really well. It's way more complicated and I think a lot more interesting than the original - which is really good, that means last year was worth it and cancelling was worth it. I'm hoping to wrap up a final draft of this current version this coming week, with the possibility of minor rewrites to clean things up over the next couple months.

Props:
The props are little different from last year as well, there's been a few new ones added, some changed and I've altered the production method and materials quite a bit to get the most out of what little budget there is. Over the course of the next couple months, I'll be sure to add some pictures and whatnot as this aspect progresses - there's going to be some interesting stuff being made.

Makeup:
This is the part of the whole thing that has be a little anxious. The whole series can be done without elaborate makeup, but that would be incredibly disappointing and don't want to have to cut this part back at all. There's lots of generic zombie makeup, false teeth, a few custom full head prosthetic appliances (this is the part that will get get depending on the budget).

Locations:
I haven't put a tremendous amount of thought into this yet as I'm waiting to get the script wrapped up and once that happens I'll start figuring things out and the locations will be soon to follow.

Cast:
There's been some major changes here. I've had at least one person have to drop out and replacing her has been a bit of a challenge. There's a lot of new parts I'm trying to get cast as well. And of course the zombies. I've mentioned this several times before, I believe, but the zombies are being handled much differently this time around and so far it feels like it's working - we'll see if that continues once we start shooting stuff.

Costumes:
I really want to work on this a little more than last time as well. Everyone was too clean last time, the rednecks are going to be pre-dirtied so they won't look too bright and shiny. And the girls will also be getting grimier over the course of the shoot (which I'm planning to do in order - hopefully that won't backfire).

I'm getting some donations of old clothes to better outfit the zombies as well, I'm hoping to avoid that "hacked up with scissors 5 minutes before the shoot" look - the clothes will be distressed and properly stained this time around. I want the zombies to feel a lot more filthy this time around, I wasn't happy with how they looked last time in this department.

If you're reading this and you live on Prince Edward Island or intend to be here this summer, and think you'd be up for coming out for a day to be a zombie, feel free to email me at casting@themonkeyrodeo.com

That's more or less where things are right now. I'm still trying to push the fund campaign, we've got nowhere near the budget needed to pull this off properly. I'm always looking for suggestions and any help in getting the word out, if you know of something that might work or have a blog or website and would be interested in helping out, please let me know - you can email me at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com.

Pile o' Zombie Heads

I have a long, long way to go for pre-production on Moonshine of the Damned, but it's kind of fun so far and a great learning experience. A lot of the props will be very efficiently  made - I won't say cheap, but efficient in terms of cost vs quantity vs needs. I'm find the latex skin polyfoam style props to be a really great way to crank out some very simple props.

My first major delving into this method was making the Shrunken Demon Head props while I was really happy with and I never gave it much thought as a method to do more - but that's all changed. There's going to be way more body parts than originally planned as using this method yields some decent and quick results. The moulding process is much cheaper than using silicone, the casting materials are also really affordable and go a long way - plus I'm get a lot more used to painting latex and experimenting with "adjusting" the final pieces.

I'm pretty sure I could almost do the same thing with other materials, such as silicone or urethane, but there's pretty expensive to just play around with. And to produce as many pieces as I'd like would be incredibly expensive, so latex and polyfoam it is. I don't know about the long term durability of these products, but I do have one of the Shrunken Demon Heads hanging in our front door getting assaulted by direct sunlight, so far it's just fine.

So here's what's become of the final Zombie Head props. They were once all normal and intact looking, the one in the upper right corner was the original, the other three have all had "battle damage" done to them to add a little variety and character to them.

Broken Jaw Zombie Head.

Axe Fight Zombie Head.

Original Zombie Head.

Shotgun Wound Zombie Head.

The Original Zombie also has a different paintjob, since then I've gone with a greener look, as it lends to the campier feel I'm going for with the web series. And if you saw some of the early images of the Shotgun Wound Zombie Head, it looks much "juicier" in the beginning, that has dulled a little with age - and could be the picture - but I will get getting some material that will add a permanent gloss to the bloodier spots on the heads. It might not be realistic since the heads would be dried out by the time they're found in the course of the series, but it does look good onscreen if they're a little shiny.

Now, if you've read through all this and you came here wondering about what I meant by "customization" when I refer to selling the limited quantity for the web series, this is all what I mean. Customization does have limits, basically anything I can remove from a single solid original head, holes for wounds, shotguns blasts, axes or what have you, can all be done really simply with a little re-sculpting with latex and cotton.

These pictures should give you a good idea of what I mean by customizing, but feel free to ask any questions should you want one. The main colour scheme can be altered as well, but if it doesn't turn out as awesome as you'd hoped when you ask for a blue zombie head, that's not my problem - so be careful what you ask for.

For more info on purchasing the heads (for the web series fund raiser) you can check out the website: www.themonkeyrodeo.com/BZK3.

First Zombie Eater Concept Sketch

The latest, and hopefully final, rewrite of the Moonshine of the Damned script sees the addition of a new antagonist, the Zombie Eater - himself an undying monster, cursed to consume the flesh of zombies. There's a lot of integral plot details surrounding the origins of the Zombie Eater are being kept secret until the series finally is finished - however, he's also the only new addition since last summers version of the script I can actually show or discuss without spoiling everything.

I don't have the patience to draw like I once did and as much as I'd love to do proper character sketches of some of the stuff I do, I just get bored with it so fast now once I start.

The character will involve a full head prosthetic, possibly some hand prosthetics as well. The sack he carries around will be filled with zombie heads, either as trophies or future snacks.

I'm hoping this addition to the script, as well as the other unmentionable ones, will set Moonshine of the Damned apart from being just another typical zombie movie.

Blown out Zombie Head

I've started work on making the Severed Zombie Head props unique looking, I can't have them all looking exactly the same with just a slightly different paint job - something a little more drastic was needed.

So I started with the base here, seen here next to the first painting attempt.

And he ended up like this. I went with a slightly greener colour this time around as well. What I did was simple cut the latex skin out and rip out chunks of the foam inside, which was then coated with a thin coat of latex to seal it back up. I then took some cotton balls and latex and just ripped up strings of the stuff and very crudely sculpted around the wound and added some stringy bits.

After I painted the whole thing the trick worked really well. I'm pretty happy with the result. Looks pretty grizzly.

Once I get more heads made I'll just do them all up in one batch over the course of a couple days and I'll end up with a decent pile of messed up Zombie Heads. Should be fun.

Bad day on the forums...

A little while ago I had posted about the Brain Keychains on a couple horror/zombie movie forums. Maybe 5 or so I think. And while I didn't scour them to see what the fine details of what their posting policies were, I did post in what I felt, given the board descriptions, what I thought would be the best place to hopefully get the word out. Some where about plugging your own projects, independent movies and stuff like that - so I thought I thought I was pretty safe. Some didn't really feel appropriate so I moved on.

Now, I don't know if this was part of the problem, but at the time the best shipping rate on average to the US was $25 - since than CanadaPost has come out with a new method that is on average $10, much better. In any case, there was one incident on another forum that someone was rather shocked about that price - and rightly so, that is insane.

Today I was looking through some zombie/horror related blogs and stumbled across one of my previous posts and saw it had a couple replies, so I check it out and wow...I was not expecting the hostility my post had created. I don't know if it was the insane shipping rate - which as I said is understandable, but anyone who does a lot of buy and shipping internationally should be well aware of those costs. Or if it was because someone had seen another post of mine and felt I was spamming - I didn't realize 5 posts on 5 forums (assuming he/she saw them all) constituted spamming, but I guess I know now that some feel it does. Lesson learned there.

I rechecked what the this particular board was about and it said Indie movies and stuff like that, I thought saw other folks promoting their Indiegogo/Kickstarter projects at the time I posted mine - but for some reason these folks took an instant dislike to my particular post. I closed the window before seeing what site it was and quite honestly don't feel like finding it again just to read some hate posts directed at me for doing something I'm not really sure why was so wrong to cause such a backlash. That was certainly not my intention and if it was against their policy I don't know why they didn't just delete and be done with it, instead it was left so people could be annoyed by it. I don't see the logic there, unless an admin thought it was fine and this was just coming from other posters.

In any case, it left me feeling a bit gutted, I didn't intend to annoy people and certainly don't feel like I was "begging for money" as one person said - it's closer to a retail transaction, if you don't want it, don't buy it. I guess I'm wrong about that or maybe it just came off wrong or this person just took it wrong or, even, for some reason he/she took particular offense my wording or their interpretation of it. I don't want anyone reading this to come off with the opinion that I'm making myself seem totally innocent here either. I posted the same post on a couple forums, I didn't realize that was wrong, apparently it is - supposing that's what the issue was, I'm not really sure to be perfectly honest.

I do feel bad about annoying these people, even though anyone with that quick of a hostile reaction might not be someone I'd ever be able to appeal to anyway no matter how delicately I worded something. Maybe they felt their reaction was legitimate or maybe it was just bad timing because they had one too many incidents like that similar to my post - who knows. They certainly were angry and seemed very adamant I had violated their forum, if I did and I'm totally in the wrong (and it's entirely possible) I'm really sorry for having caused a problem for them. I don't mean to make that sound fake or patronizing, I just don't see what was so horrifically wrong to be insulted for having posted about a fund raiser.

I guess that's the internet for you. I don't know these people and for all I know they're pretty decent folks, but with forums you can never really tell. I've seen my fair share of knee jerk reaction assholes who overreact or misinterpret a situation with a sense of superiority that disallows any opportunity to defend against. My first feeling was that I intruded on their personal secret club without knowing the right handshake, maybe I did. I really don't know what was the case here or if I was the one totally in the wrong, either way it has left me hesitant to try posting to forums anymore regardless of how well within their guidelines I might be, just doesn't seem worth it and justifies my distaste for internet forums- won't be doing this again any time soon.

Casting Call for Moonshine of the Damned

Some might be aware I'm shooting a web series on Prince Edward Island this summer, called Moonshine of the Damned, a third and final entry into the Bimbo Zombie Killers! series.

I'm still working on the script and as of today just made some major changes to really bring up the weird factor of the whole series. I'll admit Zombie related TV shows, movies and web series are all becoming a little too common - however Moonshine of the Damned is far from a typical Zombie story. I can't go into too much detail without spoiling some major parts of the series, but I can say, yes, this is a web series about Zombies. The basic story is a group of girls go camping in the deep woods and discover a small war between rather sinister rednecks and the undead, who the rednecks are inadvertently creating by testing their "foul" moonshine on unsuspecting trespassers in their woods. And that's a very small part of the overall plot.

There's been some changes in the last two weeks or so and I need to cast some new parts and recast some old, here's a basic list. We're shooting on weekends for the most part, starting in June and going until we're done (no later than September), so if that works for you, keep reading.

All this is on a volunteer basis, we just do this for the experience and for fun.

~

ANGEL - one of the lead bimbos of the series. A bit of an idiot obsessed with stories of a backwoods circus/freakshow. Looking for someone mid-twenties and someone who's not afraid to get bloody and messy. Should only be 3-4 days shooting involved, plus another one for redubbing all their dialog.

Costume and hair will reflect the ditzy simplistic nature of the character. Possibly pigtails and bright clothes. And you will be dying horribly.

There are some large monologues for this character, so someone who's good at memorizing lines would really be an asset.

~

The MINION - female, looking for someone tall and thin. There's no dialog, but this will possibly involve some serious makeup and will be needed for several scenes as a silent, but integral character.

Costume will be decided upon casting, but will be darker simple attire, could possibly be rather strange looking depending.

~

The ZOMBIE EATER - male. Looking for someone large and imposing, doesn't have to be exactly muscular, but not overweight either - height is important, 6'2" and over would be best. Minor speaking roles, possibly a very physical acting role, as well as messy.

Costume will be very simple "redneck" attire, a shirt and overalls if possible.

This part isn't full written yet, so I can't exactly give a time frame needed.

~

As well, ZOMBIES. We still need a few zombies. I'm casting the Zombie roles much like the others, rather than simply put a call out to see who shows up, you'll be put in a specific zombie role and your shoot will be schedule well in advance.

~

We need reliable people who are willing to make a commitment to the project, if one person decides not to show up to a shoot without any notification, we have to cancel it for the day and that's just not fair for many of the people involved with are scheduling around work and family. This works both ways as well, should I have to cancel for any reason, I'll be trying to give as much notice as possible, however in the event of emergencies and weather - we'll do the best we can.

Again, this is being done on PEI, this summer from June to Sept, shooting on weekends and is on a volunteer basis. No major acting experience necessary, but of course if definitely an asset - you can email me with a current photos, and if you have an experience, even a resume at casting@themonkeyrodeo.com. I can also give you more information about the roles if you want, I'm keeping certain details quiet so there's no spoilers.

Also, I thought should whoever be reading this never have seen either of the previous two Bimbos Zombie Killers! short movies, here you go:

Quasi-disturbing silicone imagery.

I was planning on keeping things simple and cheap as I'm getting deeper into the special effects for Moonshine of the Damned.There's a quick sequence where I thought having a fake hand would help things, so using material onhand (as usual) I was hoping I could manufacture a decent silicone hand for the scene.

Well, it looked alright, but I was using a really stretchy silicone and it came out like a jello hand. Too bad, bit of a waste of silicone, but  you never know what I could end up using this for. I've already re-used the alginate mould and made a clay version which I'll be making an Ultracal 30 mould of and making a latex hand instead.

The shot it's needed for is so quick and darkly lit that a latex hand will more than suffice, which is good since I've no intention of wasting time, money and material trying this again. And the Ultracal mould will yield several hands - so I can even make several and reuse them elsewhere in the series.

And here's the quasi-disturbing silicone imagery. I made up way too much silicone when I did the hand above and didn't want it to just go to waste curing in the container, so I grabbed the nearest mould and used it. What I used was the Mayan Cthulhu Totem and now I have what can only be described as possibly an ancient Mayan Cthulhu sex toy.

It actually just looks like it was made from Sculpey, but it's stretchy and wobbly and in person just kind of looks wrong.

St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Toe Special

Since it seems appropriate, for tomorrow only, from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM on March 17th, I'm selling the Leprechaun Toe props for 25% off, so a single toe that's normally $10 is only $7.50 and the earrings, normally $25 are $18.75. Shipping (hopefully) worldwide is a flat rate of $5. Place your order here.

If you order today, it's the normal price, if you order at 12:00 AM, March 18th, it's normal price. Only orders between the hours listed above will be offered the discount.

More Lord of Tears news

 I got an email from Lawrie Brewster about his Kickstarter campaign for Lord of Tears and from the sounds of it, it's going incredibly well for him - and so it should, the movie looks really good and a nice change from the T&A-fest, failed-Tarantino-style-dialog with  cheap, lazy production values, kind of horror movies being cranked out by what seems like every other indie filmmaker out there - myself sort of included, but please don't ever compare anything I've ever done to Tarantino, that's just mean and hurtful.

Rather than attempt to rewrite all the updates he summarized for me, I'm going just plagiarize it (like some other lazy indie filmmakers do with their scripts) and copy & paste it for you:

* We reached our first goal on Kickstarter - the new goal is £10k ($15k) and we'd really appreciate if you like the film, any encouragement for folks to pre-order. Mainly because the film may not be available through traditional distro until next year, and so we're really trying to get $$$ for a bigger batch order this year so more people can see the film. So any encouragement for folks to check out and consider pre-ordering the DVD's despite us reaching our first goal would be mightily appreciated.

* Lord of Tears has been accepted into the San Diego Comic Fest to be screened in October

* Lord of Tears has been available on pre-order through Kickstarter, it met its goal after 10 days (hooray)

* The kickstarter page features a new trailer for the film that has won some acclaim, being tweeted by Jim Parrack (True Blood) and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond) Elizabeth Fies (The Commune) and Signe Olynyk (Below Zero)

* We have a viral style video of the Owlman stalking teenagers on Omegle/chat roulette

* Exclusive stills taken of our antagonist (the Owlman) from a Victorian Childrens Hospital.

As a fun point of note, his Highness Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki became an Executive Producer for our film.

The Kickstarter page is the only way to pre-order and view the film at present. As we said before we'll be delighted to post a screener to you for review when available.

Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lawriebrewster/lord-of-tears

The Viral Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENT_i_L3bGc

New Monster Photos - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29968604/Bloody-Disgusting.zip

Comic Festival Announcement - http://www.sdcomicfest.org/lawrie-brewster/

Film Photos https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29968604/Lord%20of%20Tears%20-%20Screenshots%20and%20Key%20Art.zip

Artwork - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29968604/owlman_horror_signed.JPG

Trailer Link - https://vimeo.com/60118572



So if you like actual horror movie and not thinly disguised porn with even more thinly disguised acting and writing - you might want to check this out and support the project.
 

Painted Zombie Head Prop

There's only so many variations on this title I can do before I start repeating. In any case, I finally got to painting one of the Severed Zombie Head props I'm making for Moonshine of the Damned - and the funding campaign. It was my first time using the airbrush on a prop and using the Latex Paint Base to do this sort of thing, and I'm pretty happy overall with the results.

I didn't have a huge array of paint colours to use, I think I just had 5 different ones to do this. I wanted to go with a dried out look, nothing too spectacular or anything, for my first attempt. I'll probably get more creative as I go.

And since they're latex and polyfoam, I was thinking to make some variations I could cut out certain parts and rebuild them here and there to alter the overall shape and appearance of each head. Some might have some stringy bits from the neck, some might have severe shotgun wounds taking off a huge chunk of the side of their head. Who knows?

So here's a couple pictures, here's an unpainted one next to the painted one.

Some closeups. I did a slight dried splatter look on him. A technique I'll admit to having never really tried before.

Got some major spatter on this side.

And a nice one here. I didn't want to do too much more, thought it might start looking too silly. Although, I do enjoy it when things look a little silly.

So there you have it. A fully finished and painted Severed Zombie Head prop. I will definitely be offering these up for a limited, reduced price pre-sale sort of deal for the fund raiser. As I've mentioned, probably numerous times, I'll only be doing up 10 for the fund raiser and then I'll be only be making several for the web series - but I will put them up for sale on the website around September I think, the price will be slightly more than they were for the fund raiser - so if you're thinking about, better act now or it'll be costing you more and you'll be helping out a (sort of ) good cause.

If you're not sure what fundraiser I'm referring to, click here. And if you're too impatient to go the to website and simply must have one of these bad boys right now, email me.

Leprechaun Toe Earrings

I originally made the Leprechaun Toes as keychains, but I was worried about the durability of the silicone part of it holding up against the wear and tear of being in a purse or pocket and rubbing against the sharp edges of some keys, so I eventually went with this idea - Leprechaun Toe Earrings. Although I am still selling them as keychains, just with a warning.

Sure, they're odd, but that's the point. I felt some folks might like to show them off a little more than just having one on a keychain, what better way than dangling from your ears?

They're really lightweight, the silicone weighs next to nothing as does the resin center to which the hardware is attached. Since they're made of mostly silicone they're also quite soft and disturbingly squishy - much like you might imagine a real severed Leprechaun toe to be.

They're made to order, a single pair can take about 2 days - although I do usually make more than one pair at a time so you might luck out.

Shipping is decently cheap, I can ship them as a letter, for right now I'm assuming that I can ship worldwide for a flat rate of $5. You can order by emailing me at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com or you can head over to the website and see what else might interest you.

More Zombie Heads

A small pile of unpainted, latex skinned, polyfoam Zombie Heads made for Moonshine of the Damned. I'm tying to get some of the FX prepped early for the series using what little materials I have lying around. In this case I ran out of polyfoam - didn't have that much to begin with, but what little I had went  decently long way. This was about 1/4 of a $40 kit, maybe a 1/3 at best - so I should be able to get quite a few more from a new kit, especially since I now know the exact amount needed to fill the heads without wasting very much of the foam.

I'm looking into some new zombie prosthetics this week as well, I normally like to master mould them so I can reuse them for the shop later, but in this case I'll just be making them and setting them aside for now until I can master mould them down the road some time.

Still looking to raise money for the series as well, we're still hovering around the 1/4 mark - got a very long way to go yet.  If you're interested in helping out, check out the page I've got set up: http://www.themonkeyrodeo.com/BZK3/

Making a Severed Zombie Head

For the upcoming Moonshine of the Damned, I need to make several zombie heads - so the easiest, cheapest way was to sculpt one. Rather than starting from scratch I use an already made silicone mould from the first attempt at the series, this here was the final product from that mould, a foam backed Vytaflex head. It didn't look the way I wanted it to, so resculpting was necessary.

 I filled the silicone mould with melted clay and resculpted it. I was using Monster Makers clay, that stuff is awesome.

Since it'll have to be a 2-sided mould, so next a dividing wall was built up. I also sculpted in where the pour hole will be - you can kind of see it at the base of the neck here.

First layer of Ultracal 30, first it was brushed on and then anount coat dripped over that.

And then some layers of burlap.

And another thickened coat of Ultracal 30 to give it a better finish, this picture was before I smoothed it all out.

With the first half all done, I started work on the 2nd by cleaning off all the clay.

I added several little chunks of clay to create holes to assist in prying the two halves apart afterwards. I also applied a coating of vaseline to the Ultrcal to make sure the two halves didn't just fuse together.

A mould wall for the 2nd half is built, as well as the 2nd half of the pour hole - it's a little more obvious here.

First thin brushed on coating of UltraCal 30.

Drip coating.

And I missed taking a picture - not that it matters though, it just looks like a huge chunk of gypsum. After a long while of very carefully prying the two halves apart, this is what it looked like. I use wooden stir sticks hammered in around the seam to slowly pry it apart. It worked pretty well as using hard, metal tools can just break the Ultracal sometimes and ruin the whole thing.

Luckily I was actually somewhat smart about it. Because I only had so much clay and not enough to totally fill the original silicone mould, I added in a bunch of old small silicone moulds to add some bulk - this made it easier to remove it from the mould as well since it wasn't a solid chunk of clay.

After a very long cleaning process, the mould was ready for it's first casting.

The intention is to make several cheap, light, easy to paint zombie heads. The best method I could think of was a polyfoam head with a latex skin. Since I was using latex I went with the Ultracal 30 mould - which was awesome since I already have a decent amount onhand anyway.

If you're not familiar with how Ultrcal (or really any gypsum material) and latex work together, the Ultracal actually sucks the water out of the latex, enabling you to create a thin skin. The longer you leave the latex dwelling in the mould the thicker this skin will be. I my case I  need just a thin enough skin to protect the Ultracal from the polyfoam, normally you'd want enough latex to totally fill the mould to create something thicker.

I only have a little onhand so I just did a quick brush on coating to ensure it was evenly coating the deeper recesses on the front of the face, joined the halves together and sloshed around more latex, probably about 500 ml at this point. The latex was drained and I usually paint on more around the opening of the pour hole (again to prevent the expanding polyfoam from biting into the outside of the mould).

The polyfoam will normally adhere and lock into the Ultracal and it's a bugger to paint as well, hence the whole latex skin. I was using a very quick expanding and curing polyfoam (from Monster Makers) so I had to be quick about it, I made the pourhole larger than normal to make sure I could pour the foam in fast enough. It worked perfectly.

And here's the result, fresh from the mould.

I cut off the excess latex/foam from the pourhole and here's the pretty much final piece ready to be cleaned up and painted.

Normally latex can be a bugger to paint, you need to make a toxic concoction to make sure the paint adheres to the latex surface, however Monster Makers has a Latex Paint Base which works beautifully, you can even just mix it with regular acrylic paint to tint it. I've done a small amount of airbrushing with it, but need to experiment further - which I'll probably do with these since they don't have to look perfect, they are just rotting heads after all.

Also, since it has a very thin surface of latex, which keeps it really flexible and tough, and the expanding polyfoam is really low density, these heads are incredibly light and pretty squishy as well, so you can throw them at people without hurting them - if you ever feel the need to throw a severed zombie at someone.

So that's pretty much it. I can make several dozen heads from this, possibly more if I'm careful with the mould so the polyfoam doesn't ruin the moulding surface.

While only about a dozen are needed for a couple scenes in the series and this mould should last for awhile, I'm planning on making these available through the Funding Campaign for about $40, I'll only be making 10 of these for the campaign - more on that later.

Severed Zombie Head WIP

I finally got started on some of the FX for Moonshine of the Damned, right now I'm just working on smaller stuff that I can do with the limited supplies that I already have on hand. I don't have too much, but I have enough to start working on this prop, a Severed Zombie Head.

Using a silicone mould I'd made the Uncle Jesse Corpse Head prop from the previous version of the series, I filled it with melted clay so I could start from a nearly completed sculpt instead of from scratch - just to save several hours of getting the form just right. The original head was character specific with certain wounds and marks (and a closed mouth) that would've made reproducing it for several heads a little troublesome since it would be obvious clones.

These pictures here represent about 3 or 4 hours work of sculpting - most of the was removing the lower jaw, cleaning up the obvious original wounds and fixing the nose and eye areas. Ears were added and the lower jaw re-attached after cleaning up the area inside the mouth - which will be left rough.

This is a full sized head as well. Over the weekend I'll be creating a 2 part Ultracal 30 Mould and hopefully crank out the very first copy of the head. It'll be made with a thin skin of latex, filled with expanding polyfoam. It should be nice and light and pretty durable too.

My plan is, once I get one completed and have a better idea of the work involved overall - I'll be adding these to the Funding Campaign as the 3rd phase. Not sure of the price, could be $40 with a limited number, mostly likely 10 to be made for now. If it turns out well, I will also be adding these as a regular item to the website, for sale at a somewhat higher cost - so if you're interested in a Severed Zombie Head, best to keep track of the blog to get one cheap.

2nd Phase of Fund Raiser - Limited Edition Latex Zombie Mask

Limited Edition Latex Zombie Mask - the 2nd Phase of the Moonshine of the Damned Fund Raiser.

This mask will be used as a background zombie in the series and I'm selling only 25 of them, for $25 each. I'll point out that this is NOT foam latex, prosthetic makeup, it's a simple, Halloween-type, reusuable latex mask with an elastic strap.

Same deal as the Brain Keychains, everyone who orders one will be getting a thanks in the final credits of the series and a chance to win something awesome.

Payments can be made through Email Interact, Paypal orders add $0.50 per item. Shipping is $5 Flat Rate.

Orders can be directed to: brains@themonkeyrodeo.com.

Lucky Leprechaun Toe

Need a little extra luck? How about a wee little Leprechaun Toe for only $10?

A little known fact about Leprechauns, there are many magical creatures whose magic comes from certain body parts, in the case of Leprechauns their power is contained with in one, sometimes both, of their big toes. And when a Leprechaun passes away, their bodies decompose into a bed of clover, their magically imbued toe becomes a 4 leaf clover - hence why they're so rare and considered lucky.

So you can imagine, it's not too easy to collect these, you have to wait to find a dead Leprechaun and hope you get to it before it begins to decompose and the digit loses its power.

Actually, it's a silicone sleeve over a resin nub into which the hardware is embedded and the silicone is bonded to. I was originally selling them as keychains, however I have doubts about the longevity of the silicone to stand up to the wear and tear of being rubbed against keys - however they can be used for whatever you want really, even a pendant. Earring versions will be coming soon!

They're pretty small and should be able to sent as a letter just fine, so shipping on these bad boys should be pretty cheap. If you're interested, you can contact me at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com.

Latex Zombie Mask

I've tried this before and wasn't thrilled with the results, or I was hesitant to get into painting latex masks...or whatever the reason was. In any case, it's done now. This also reminds be why I don't (and often discourage others from doing so) use the term "mask" to refer to prosthetics, it seems to make people think I'd be gluing something like this to their face - which would utterly suck.

This week I've started work on the 2nd Phase of the Moonshine of the Damned Funding Campaign. So far the Brains have been selling pretty well, but I'm worried I might not make the goal in time, so I thought I'd add to it by selling these bad boys: 

This picture was taken about 10 minutes after the paint job was done - and to be perfectly honest this was my first attempt at actually "painting" something like this, I've done a couple other pieces but they were more like shading or highlighting than actually painting. It's not too bad and I actually intend to use it as a background zombie in the series - although since it is a mask and would be pretty obvious, the actor will be wearing a hoodie to hide the out edges and makeup around the eyes to blend it in a bit better.

I'm hoping to get it online for sale next week and get things going on the 2nd Phase. There will only be 25 of these sold (I will be making at least one or to to be used in the series though, so there might be an couple extra floating around out there) and they'll be going for $25 each, which just like the Brains will include a thanks in the credits and a chance to win something more awesome once it's all over.

The downside here is that I need more supplies to start my run of these, so I'll be taking a few pre-orders, and by that I  mean actually collecting money in order to afford the materials to do a run of 25. If you're interested, same rules as the Brains - email me at brains@themonkeyrodeo.com and ask about the Zombie Mask.

They will officially be going online next week, expect a 5 day turnaround at the longest on orders of these.