It's Over

The street festival I was working so hard to get ready for is over, and I can relax. The fact is, we don't have any more appearances scheduled, so it's hard to work up a lot of enthusiasm for 'getting ready'.

On the other hand, I have some watermelon product that doesn't have a long shelf life while in the liquid form, so I've got to get it into molds and let it solidify. So I am doing that. That only takes 5-10 minutes of an evening. (And then let it cure for 24 hours.)

If you've been reading along with these posts, you may be wondering how I did. The answer is, "Better than I've done in the past, but not great." However, I had a lot of interest in looking at my prosthetics, now that they were displayed in a way that people could see what I had. I even had Mandalorians and Star Fleet officers stop by to look them over, and a couple people who said, "I'll be back," who didn't manage to come back before the festival closed.

Next year's SyFy Bartow will be themed for Star Trek. The Klingons had great success this year at their booth, and have suggested that I ask to be located next to them next year. That way, I'm right there, ready to sell a bumpy forehead to those who want to jump into Klingon-dom right away. They also suggested that I 'paint' foreheads on people with make-up, as a cheaper way to 'live the experience'. I'll have to practice my painting skills between now and then. Thankfully, I have a practice dummy head, so I can do that. What I don't have is a broad range of skin-tone make-up, so I'll need to get some more of that.

On the other hand, I rather liked where I was located this year. Fairly centrally located, and yet, only a few feet away from the dog adoption booth. Everybody wants to go see the dogs. And I'm happy to report that they adopted out all their dogs by about 4 pm. Not that I had anything to do with that, but I'm happy to see so many dogs find happy, forever homes.

I also had quite a few requests for 'elf ears' or 'Vulcan ears', but I haven't created any of those yet. Like me, the people asking didn't want the '1-size fits all' ears that are out there, they wanted something that would glue to the tops of their ears. Now that I've got Bjoran noses, I suppose I'd better get started working on ears.

So, yeah, I have stuff I need to do to get ready for the next show, whenever it might be. I'd better put some goals on my To Do list so I don't forget to work on these projects.

We're on a Collision Course!

I'm writing this Wednesday night. Bartow is Saturday, so I've got 2 days to get everything done, packed and loaded in the car. How am I doing? Am I going to make it?

In one sense, yes, I'll make it, because whatever I get done and packed is what I'll have to work with. In another sense, no, I won't, because making 'a few' more copies of small prosthetics that I've never had very many of has turned into... well, a learning experience, I guess.

Prosthetics Display Project - Done. Hubby even inscribed 'Myers Prosthetics' in the 2 base boards today. The rods to hold up the foam heads are packed, the foam heads are packed.

Final Prosthetics on Display - Still not done. I have 2 - 4 small prosthetics that need to be painted and glued to the final foam head. With a little luck, I'll get that done tomorrow. Assuming the latex versions I'm trying to make come out okay in the morning.

Signage - Done and Packed. Unless I think up some humorous signs to post. Might happen.

Making some small prosthetics - Ugh! I realized I had very few cyborg relays (from 7 of 9's cheek) and cyborg eyepieces (also from 7 of 9), and I thought I could pop out a few of each in watermelon, which is a new product, which takes less time than latex to dry in the mold. But when I looked around for a mold for them, the only one I could find was for dragonskin. (Didn't really want to drag out the dragonskin chemicals every day to make a tiny little batch.) I also had recently sculpted a Bjoran nose ridges piece that hadn't been made into ANY kind of mold yet.

We have some clay that you can melt and pour into a mold and let it harden to make what I call a 'plug'. It's got all the details that were in the original mold, and then you make another mold using those plugs. Small prosthetics like this are usually done several at a time, in a sheet mold.

So, I had to affix my plugs to a smooth tile, which required getting out the heat gun to soften up the plug backs so the clay would adhere to tile. Kind of overheated my Bjoran nose plug, which was made from sculpting clay, so I spent a couple hours fixing what I had sculpted and finally got it attached to the tile. Then I spent most of a day building a box around the plugs before I could pour in the plaster. Then I got really busy doing other stuff for a day. So the plaster was good and cold by the time I got back to it.

First, I had to take apart the box. The Bjoran nose plug came out with no problem. Horray! However, I used the wrong mold release for the melting clay, so I couldn't get those plugs out. I finally resorted to using the heat gun again, and got most of the clay out, although my details weren't very clear inside. I called people, told them what I had done, and asked if there was anything I could do to clear out the rest of the stuff. I was told to soak the cavities in alcohol and use a wooden pick to pry out the remaining bits of clay. I might have to do that several times. Well, eventually, I felt like I had cleaned it out as best I could, so yesterday afternoon, I put a layer of latex into those molds. Latex is the cheapest prosthetic material, so I felt if it pulled out little bits and pieces of clay, I wouldn't be wasting a lot of money. Today I started casting in earnest. If all goes well, I'll have new prosthetics to pull tomorrow. Do another set tomorrow to pull Friday, then package and pack them. I still won't have a lot of them, so I'll be casting new ones even after Bartow.

Wish me luck.

It's Getting Closer

Only 10 days to SF Bartow.

How am I doing on getting ready?

Foam Head Display - We got the supplies we needed, but they've just been sitting in the garage, so far. Need to get out there and start cutting and drilling. Which means measuring the foam heads so we don't get them placed too close to each other. I don't have many power tools I use, so part of this will take the help of my husband. Maybe we can get out there and work on that tomorrow.

Foam Head Display - I took one of my small prosthetics off its display head and cleaned the make-up off it because the prosthetic is supposed to be metal, and white make-up just didn't look right. This is one of 2 cyborg prosthetics I offer, and I only have 1 or 2 copies of each one at this time, so I was going to make some new molds of these and a new design I've recently sculpted and make some out of watermelon plastic, that being the fastest way to make them. Today, I got a tile cleaned and ready to be used, and I melted some clay and poured it into the existing molds, which I placed in the freezer to get good and hard so I can just pop those suckers out in the morning. Then I need to 'glue' them onto the tile, build a wall around all of them and make the new molds. Then in a few days, after I've made some, I'll need to paint the cyborg prosthetics and get them packaged... except for the ones I put on the display heads, of course. Those need to be painted and glued.

Sale Signs - I spent about an hour this afternoon starting to make the SALE! signs for the table. Still got quite a long way to go with those.

Signs - I know where my 2 signs are. I know where the base is for the main one. I think I know where the pole is for it. I'd better rummage through the closet and make sure I find it. I also know where tape is, but it isn't yet packed for being taken. I know where the bungee cords are, but don't know if the Klingons will need them. Maybe I should go buy my own supply.

Okay, there's still time to do this, so no need to panic just yet. Just need to get off my duff and get to doing. Good thing I'm between editing projects right now.

Wish me luck.

PS. We are deep into constructing the foam head display. We are done cutting wood and just need to drill holes in the board we are using as a base. All the measuring for that has been done. As for the cyborg prosthetics, I have pulled the castings, and they look great, so I am making progress.

Looking Ahead

Okay, there's only 2.5 weeks before SF in Bartow. The products I plan to take are packed, but what about other stuff?

What other stuff, do you ask? Well, for one thing, signs. I took 2 signs to Villicon, and couldn't put up either one of them. Our main sign, MoonPhaze, needs a base and pole to hang from. Somehow, the base was taken, but the pole wasn't to be found. So I couldn't put it up. The secondary sign, for Myers Prosthetics, also got taken, but I forgot to take any tape or bungee cords to hang that sign from the front of the table. So, let's see, I need to find the pole for my main sign, and pack either bungee cords or tape (or both) for my secondary sign.

Also, it's one thing to have foam heads displaying prosthetics on a table at an indoor event. It's completely different to use them for an outdoor event, where any tiny little breeze is likely to pick up a foam head and send it tumbling down the street. We've been thinking about how to anchor the foam heads so they can't go roaming on their own. Now it's time to get our act together and make the anchors so they can be packed and ready to go. So, find a couple dowels to stick in the foam heads (they each have a hole some 4 and 1/2 inches deep in the bottom), buy a couple boards to make the bases, and spend a couple hours cutting the wood accordingly. It shouldn't take us long, if we just do it.

And finally, some signs to tape down on the table showing the prices of what we have. Most—if not everything I take to Bartow—will be on sale, and I need to let people know that. So that will probably take an afternoon or two on the computer and printer.

There shouldn't be any problem getting this all done, everything packed and ready to go... as long as we don't procrastinate too long. I've got errands to run tomorrow, so maybe I'll start by getting those dowels and the boards. And a drill bit. He said we needed a drill bit, too.

So, I'll just pat myself on the back for thinking ahead and making plans. Now to just follow through on them. Wish me luck!

PS. We did get the supplies for making the head display. Step 1 of that project done. Today I plan to search for the sign pole and the box that holds my 'miscellaneous' stuff - tape, scissors, markers and so on.