I finally finished the animation for the Skeletal Organist this afternoon. I couldn’t have done it without help from my friend Derek who came up with the idea of using a crank shaft beneath the arms. Big props go out to my friend Bob Baker for making the shaft and coupler to mount the shaft.
My idea was to create a mechanism that would work from within the bucky chest cavity, but with time running out, I didn’t think I could pull that off by Halloween.
All I have left to do now is spray the mechanism black, put the skeleton’s costume and head on and this scene is basically done. What a long crazy road it’s been.
I was out in the shed working on the skeletal organist this afternoon and a car pulled into the driveway. It was a reporter for another local newspaper, this time the Pembroke Mariner. I’m going to be in this Friday’s edition, just in time for Halloween.
About a week ago I answered a bunch of questions for a reporter at “The Pembroke Express.” Here is the article he wrote about our little Halloween Yard Haunt.
Here is a quick video preview showing the set I’ve built inside the shed. Next up, I’m building a bench for the organ and seating a full-sized “Bucky” Skeleton at it.
Today I finally finished painting the stone walls in the skeletal organist scene.
I also made a little progress with the organ itself. I pulled the back off and found where the organ’s amplifier was. I disconnected the organ from the amp and hooked a CD player up to the amp so I can now play any music I want through the organ!
I also just realized it’s been a while since my last update. In addition to the above mentioned progress, I have also built our Pallet shack and set up the cemetery in the front yard. It’s 19 days until Halloween and for once, I feel like I’m on track for a change.
It’s raining today and that puts a hold on my painting operation for now.
The next project on my list is the skeletal organist. I have an organ I got for free on Craigslist and I want to have a bucky skeleton sitting at it “playing” a song. I need to think about how I will make the arms move. I don’t really need the hands to touch the keys or anything, but I do want the arms to have some amount of up-and-down motion to them.
To do this, I was thinking that I don’t really need the entire skeleton. The skeleton will be wearing a costume, so the only visible parts will be his head, hands and his feet. This frees me up to devise just about anything I want mechanically to achieve the movement I need.
I’m going to spend the afternoon drinking beer, brainstorming, and researching how I can do this.
Anyone with any ideas or links is welcome to chime in.
I didn’t quite finish applying the base coat of black to the stone walls today. I managed to get through 3 of the 4 walls and then it was too dark to be working outside so I had to put it aside to finish tomorrow (weather permitting).
It seems every step of the way with this project, I think each step is going to take “X” amount of time to complete, and then it takes “Y” amount of time instead.
I’m taking a quick break from sanding and distressing foam panels to look like stone wall. I’m finally on the last few pieces of foam and will probably have the base coat of black paint done today.
It was August 17th when I started in on this major Halloween Project for the year. It’s now September 26th and I’m still working through it! At least the end is in sight and I may actually finish this by the end of the weekend. That depends in large part how well I do with painting the wall panels. Knowing how I tend to over-examine my own work, I’ll probably hate the first paint job and take a second stab at it.
The big project for this year was to stop talking about doing the interior of our shed to look like a stone-walled room with cathedral windows and actually just do it. It’s a very robust look that can be adapted to just about any theme I can think of from a room for our Skeletal Organist to perform in to a mad scientist’s lab and anything in between.
About a week into this venture I said to myself “What have I gotten myself in to?!?” Thankfully, I’m almost done and can move on to other things.
Ok, enough lollydogging. I’m going back to work on it some more now.
I worked a little more at the stone walls after work today. Got half a wall done. I’m not sure I’m happy with it, but I have to keep telling myself it’ll look better when painted. I *hope* it will look better when painted.
Half Stone Wall
I should be able to finish that wall tomorrow night and then do the last two walls Friday morning. I hope to have the basecoat of black applied to the walls by end of day Friday.
