It may look delicious but don't eat it! I'm deep into a remodel for the Trader Joe's in Eagle Rock right now and everything needs remade! New signs are needed for all of our sections including the Sweet Table (the little floating island with all the cakes and pies and cuppy cakes and muffins!) We needed to cover the sides of the platform the products would be on as well as a topper so why not make a fake cake?

I have long been an Amy Sedaris fan all the way back to the Jerri Blank days so I was ALL OVER her hospitality and crafting books! What an inspiration! In I Like You  Amy has a bang-up recipe for a fake cake batter that works like a charm. 

The basic ingredients are 

• 2 cups ultra-lightweight spackle*
• 1 cup dry plaster of paris
• 3 tbsps water (plus more)

*in the pic shown here is regular Spackle which works just fine but the lightweight gives the frosting an amazing fluffy texture.  Work fast with this stuff! it sets up HARD in about 15 minutes!

Keep a bucket of water nearby to toss your frosting device into to slow down the hardening, and wash it out as soon as you're done!

My first combination (shown here on my square practice cake) was a combination of white glue and joint compound. But, although its more sturdy than the Sedaris mixture, it cracked severely overnight as seen here.  Which is cool, you know, if you want a crackly cake. But aren't we all a bit too young for that?

I used a Wilton brand push down frosting doo-hickey that you'd use for real cakes. I did some experimenting with shapes and designs before the real deal since it would be so very permanent! The cake piece is double sided and will be mounted onto a stand onto the top of our sweet table display.

Here's Miss Stephanie Flores super amazing crafter and cake frosting GODDESS! She showed me how to make frosting roses reeeeaaall good. In the foreground is the topper for the cake which will be connected by rods.

Here is the completed frosted cake! After is was totally dry (about 24 hours just to be sure) I covered both sides with artists gel medium varnish. This helped fill in any odd cracks or holes from the plaster mixture.

As above here is the completely painted cake! I used fine art acrylic paint.

I did a darker shade first for each section, and then dry brushed over that with a lighter shade to bring out the texture of the frosting.

I drilled holes into the 1/2 thick wood topper and into the top of the cake itself in order to insert the 5" long rods. Each rod is secured with super glue. The cake "stand" is affixed with L brackets onto a brown wooden base. The base it what will be connected (also with L brackets) onto the top of the display. 

Also notice in the bottom left is my practice cake in the colors I wanted it to be. My captain wanted chocolate so there ya go!

And here's the completed topper screwed securely into the display!

The base of the display is covered with painted Masonite panels tat have a party theme! Now go buy some darn  pies and pastries already!

Oh October... why you so busy all the times? On top of creating another piece for Gothtober (see previous post) I have also had the pleasure of working once again with Creepy LA and Hidden Los Angeles on two projects this holiday season. And by "holiday season" I of course mean Halloween! Does it mean something else?

First up, I was asked to create  photo booths for events at The Hollywood Heritage Museum aka The Lasky DeMille barn, and Heritage Square. The design was similar to one that I had done for them before, so construction was fairly simple. 

Creepy LA's David Markland suggested the  theme for the booth to be a Horror Movie poster. I designed it based on a construction idea that I had used once before for Hidden LA so the design was relatively simple.  It's created with two large PVC frames which are connected with smaller PVC pieces on each corner- it's basically a giant cube. There's a spooky night-time painted canvas background which features "The Barn" on the top side, and the Hale House (a landmark of Heritage Square) on the bottom. The background can flip back and forth depending on the event. The front piece is made out of a large sheet of foam board which is cut out to look like the frame and title section of the poster. So, when the person using it is inside, it's like THEY are in the horror movie! Clever right?  

I also created a foam cut out candelabra and lantern to use as props! Here's a couple in-process pics of me painting the Hale House.

On this one you can see the  PVC frame and The Barn on the bottom.

The next project was one I began work on last minute. Hidden LA and Creepy LA produce a yearly scavenger hunt called a Coffin Hunt. Can you guess why? For 13 days small coffins decorated by local artists are hidden in among local landmarks, creepy places and secret hideaways. Last year my boyfriend and I attempted to find one but to no avail! This year we stayed on the sidelines and played along at home... well I did anyway. So turns out one of the planned contributors was unable to make their coffins. David asked me to do it (and with some prodding by his girlfriend Claire) I decided to go for it. 

One of these coffins will be hidden sometime in the next few days.  The other will be up for auction on ebay! So if you don't find one for free you can still buy one and add it to your Halloween/film buff collection! find out here!

My boyfriend Grimace and I are both Hitchcock fans, and Psycho and The Birds are two of his films that were the inspiration for these coffins. There's just something to me about seeing Melanie Daniels get the crap pecked out of her by crazed birds... I love it! I only had a few days to work on these so I did my best. G and I had a lot of ideas on 3D elements that could have been included but I just ran out of time.

Norman and Melanie are hand cut and painted wood pieces glued onto the painted coffin. The sides of the Psycho coffin are detailed with images from the film including the house, motel and car.

Mother! Oh god! Blood! Blood!

The Birds coffin is a simpler design with just the silhouettes of birds on wires patiently waiting to peck her eyes out !

My favorite scene from the film is when Melanie Daniels is confronted by a local woman. Her lines "What are you? Where did you come from? You're the cause of this! You're evil! EVIL!" are shouted at Melanie. Is it true? IS Miss Daniels evil? Or is she simply a spoiled rich girl in the greatest weekend skirt suit that has ever been?

Don't worry Miss Daniels... this won't hurt a bit.

RAWWWRRRR! This is not just some skull but is in fact the front of the Museum of Death! I've been there once and ga' dammit that was enough for me! As a note of interest there is a fairly large iguana just behind this sign. You can't see it here. But it's there. Trust me.

IT'S GOTHTOBER TIME!!! 

What's Gothtober you ask? It's an online countdown calendar for the month of October. Like how an advent calendar is for Christmas, this one is for Halloween! Behind each "door" (or pumpkin in this  case) lies a Halloween themed film, craft, recipe animation and more!
It's the 10th year anniversary for Gothtober and this year is my 7th contribution.  If you aren't following along at home GO THERE NOW! I'll wait...

My mom Rosemary, has been a big part of every piece I've done. She's always there to help out in any way she can. We are working together again, but this year she is contributing her amazing artwork! 

My mom would never call herself an artist, but I do! She is wonderfully creative and clever and I'm so happy to showcase her work. 

My inspiration for this years' contribution came from my mom. She loves making cards and will, on occasion, decorate my lunch bag. 
What? Yes my mom makes me lunch sometimes. Lookit this bag! It's so cute!

This year I also did some animation to go along with the cards. This is my first time really animating anything, and I think I did okay. I dunno. You tell me!
To see our piece just go to Gothtober.com  and click on pumpkin 15!

The music for our piece was crafted by the amazing composer Galen Magee!  He put together a "Horror Jazz" version of "The Letter" It's awesome. You'll dig it! To contact Galen for music stuff drop him a line! galenfvk@yahoo.com