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.