Radio Silence (props, credit card fraud, and the mall)

Shit, I'm sorry... I promised to blog more. But I haven't been up to much til today, really. I went to hang out with a couple of friends on Tuesday at the Lovin' Cup, but that's it.

Today, I went out of the house to enjoy the nice weather... at the fuckin' mall.

Scouring pinterest last night, I came upon this gorgeous costume, which led to more clicking, and finally, I landed on a new muse: a propmaster named Cameron Scholes of Grim Stitch Factory. I was inspired to go out and buy some stuff for propbuilding, since I haven't made any props in a couple of years (school/cons/illustrations got in the way). Also wanted to buy some rigid collodion for my sfx makeup toolbox (haven't done makeup in about 3 years). Basically, today's been about my decision to focus on building an FX portfolio. Keeping busy again (every time I decide to go back to FB, it sucks me in full-throttle and I never get shit done). Anyway, I tried buying rigid collodion from the Mehron site, but it was $9 + $10 shipping??? Fuck that.

Then tried buying other things. Which didn't work. Yesterday, I tried to pay my internet bill with shady results (unable to verify my card). This, after a dodgy call from a guy who said I've got suspicious activity on my debit card, and actually asked for my full card number. Hah! I said I'd go in and talk to a REAL representative. And when I did, I had to do a little dance to get the Teller to bring me to a higher-up who then found flagged transactions for a little over a hundred bucks, which never even showed up on my statement (transactions were rejected due to the 'doctor' and 'hotel' being known suspicions). But I do have to get a new card with a new number (sucks, because I had that number memorized). They cut my card, and I withdrew a little load of cash to get me through the day.

Stopped at the dollar store in the bank plaza to get the cheapest crap for my hobby - twine, toys, brushes, etc. Barely anyone in the mall today, considering it's a Saturday (or maybe, barely anyone in the spots I walked). Went right for the gold, er... costume shop, which had my rigid collodion for $4!!! Sweet! While there, I filled my arms with crappy plastic weapons (chef's knife, axe, sai), along with a couple other things for myself. On the way home, I stopped off at a trading post for some choice rusty tools and about 2 dozen test tubes!

Came home and cleaned my studio. And by cleaned, I mean I watched episodes of House, fought in a war against stinkbugs, and made a small dent in the dump that is my studio. I also spray-foam'd the cracks in the ceiling/walls/windows and hope that cuts down on infestations. More cleaning tomorrow, but hopefully some setup, re-arranging, and crafting (also with the spray-foam, I attempted to fix my favourite boots' heels).

Oh, and I came home to my passport in the mail!

Now I can run away with you.

Thing-Maker

As per emmy's request, I thought I'd share some stuff I've made, SFX-wise, from days of old. This is hardly a complete visual of the stuff I've worked on (for instance, there are sadly no pictures of my work for any October events I've done, or even any special Rocky Horror events, except a couple of costumes). But here is a small hint of things I've done in the past, and there is much more to come this summer! A lot of these I pulled from my Facebook account, but some of these can be found on my website.













(still from the film "Surviving the Dead II")


(also from Surviving the Dead)









(and just for fun)