Tuesday, June 3, 2008

My Life in Magnets

Back in 2005, the second Thanksgiving my wife and I shared though first on our own, I made a picture of a Turkey shooting a Pilgrim with a musket, blood spurting from his chest.  I thought it rather comical and taped it up on the inside of our apartment door.  I rather enjoyed our visitor's reactions to the cutout and so when Pioneer's Day came around I made an entire scene out of construction paper depicting Indians involved in a massacre/battle with the White Man.  I also made a construction paper cut out of Uncle Sam fighting a hooded Captain Canada character of my own design for the 4th of July.

The process has evolved over time.  I have discovered, to the loss of my previous creations, that construction paper is too flimsy and will quickly disintegrate in rain.  Also, doors become too cold for tape in the winter months so I've switched to posterboard and magnetic strip tape. Armed with these tools I have continued to provide holiday depictions, now magnetized and placed on the outside of our apartment door, to the enjoyment of some and chagrin of most. Following are my surviving decorations from Halloween 2006 through Christmas of 2007, I hope you enjoy.




This is the entire scene. There used to be another witch but 
she was lost in our move from Rexburg, Idaho to Provo, Utah.



This is my take on medusa, more sea creature and less
mythological Greek creature.  I like how the hair is coming
off of the guy's head on the furthest left.



Wolfman!  Thank you Ben Caldwell.



This is the entire Halloween 2007 scene.  The gravestones
actually have the names of my brother, close friends, and,
of course, my beloved wife.  Though only the men have a listing
of how they perished.



Cindi and Britt.  My friend Jordan's wife and my brother
Brett's wife.  I thought it was funny to have Britt's zombie
eating a torso as she has so many gut problems herself.



Jordan and Brett's gravestones.



Even while our corpses are being devoured by zombies, 
Lindsey and I stick together, through and through.


This is my favorite entry from the entire Halloween 2007 scene.
You have no idea how long it took to orchestrate this.



This what greeted my neighbors and their out of
town guests this past Thanksgiving. 



I don't know why but the concept of Turkeys eating
a bowl of mashed human eyeballs instead of potatoes
really makes me laugh.



Ah, the center piece. 



I don't know why turkeys would eat the insides (gizzards)
of a human when we do not eat theirs but I was running low on 
side-dishes for my human thanksgiving so, they're eating innards.



My wife, who is not deranged, usually makes these
type of holiday decorations.  They're really cool though
a little lacking in the gore department.



The theme I chose for this Christmas was "A Twisted
Christmas Carol."  This is Ebeneezer Scrooge.



Bob Crachitt and his son, Tiny Tim.  I had thought
about making his crutch a ukulele.  I seriously doubt
anyone born in the last 20 years will get that.



I included this close-up so you can see that, yes,
those are his leg bones sticking out.



Jacob Marley, though he looks more like an extra
from the Thriller video.



The ghost of Christmas Past.  If you don't know why
her hand is on fire or why she's holding a candle
extinguisher, read the story.



The ghost of Christmas present.  This dude was may favorite
of all the different characters I made for Christmas.  The pre-cut
out designs looked much better than what you see here but he's 
still my favorite.  The shine from the glue makes me mad though.



The ghost of Christmas yet to come.  I totally phoned this one
in but I love his fingernail.  If this pic enlarges when you click on it
check it out.

1 comment:

Britt said...

These are all great. I especially appreciate your insight in the creation of my zombie feasting on guts. I'm honored to be drawn in among the other rotting dead family members. Valhalla, Ja!