Up close shot of cheek bone wound

In Progress

I began the make-up job on my prosthetic tonight. I used deep wound red, red, grave mold, corpse flesh, purple and yellow to begin the deep wounds for this prosthetic. I will show the end results when I am totally done.

Newest Project

We have been very busy the past few days working on a new project for down in the Cave. We have been trying our hand at plaster casting to make a mold. So far, the weather has not been cooperating, so our drying time has really become an issue.
We have used about 150 pounds of plaster and we are still waiting on it to dry. I will keep updating our progress and hope to have pictures of the mold by Friday.

In Progress

I probably didn't mention this, but all of the prosthetic make-up jobs are in progress. There is still much to be done to them. Igor needs stitches and touch ups, the Demon needs his horns and some spikes added with some additional touch ups, and Troll here needs a few more touch ups and his teeth added.
Keep checking back for more updates. I will begin working on mine here shortly.

Celebrating My Birthday Cave Style

My Birthday was celebrated not only with some great gifts from my family, but my partner in crime, (our make-up guy) Michael, made me this awesome birthday cake. Knowing how much I admire the comic book character, Ghost Rider, Michael did a great job on this cake. That is why I love Michael so much, he keeps me sugared up.

My other surprise came from my good buddy, War, (aka Greg), who gave me a can of my favorite dip.
Thanks go out to everyone who made my birthday a great day. I really appreciate all of you!

Tools

Most of the tools I work with down in the Cave are either hand held or battery operated. I like using DeWalt's 18 volt battery operated tools. They carry a long charge, and the 18 volts have plenty of power to drill all day long if need be, saw holes in walls, or cut sheet goods.

If I know that I am going to be cutting a lot of wood, I have an old Craftsman 10 inch chop saw that handles the cutting chores.

None of my battery operated tools seem to be affected by this, but the chop saw loses it's automatic brake after a while down there. I believe that is is due to the high moisture content because if I take it up top to dry out, the brake begins to work again.

When you are working 80 feet underground, you require tough tools to get the job done. DeWalt has done me proud down there and I plan on continuing using them down there.

Almost Ready

We have been down in the Cave now for about nine months getting ready for opening day. We have added so much to the Haunt, that I think even last years customers will be surprised at how many changes we are going to have this year.

What is really funny is that for as much work as we have gotten done down there, there really has been very few people involved. The crew has been a core group of about five to seven people coming whenever they can, to build, run wire, run air lines, move props into place, and work on lighting. We haven't even begun working on the sound yet.

Our Igor's Face

Once again, Michael came over and began working his magic on the facial prosthetics. This is going to be the face of our Igor character. There is still a lot more to be done to it before we are finished with it.

Jebenezzer Law's new Face

My prosthetic has been given a coat of Pro-Adhesive and has been powdered. I am still waiting on the make-up. When it comes in, I will go into detail on how we are doing the make-up job for this one. I will be going into a lot of depth on this project.

Lewisburg Haunted Cave's New Face of the Devil

This is the Devil's new prosthetic. My good friend and fellow Haunt enthusiast, Michael, is doing the make-up work on this one. This one has all ready been coated with one coat of finish and the base coat of color has been added. Michael has also began highlighting it.

Beginnings

We began working on the prosthetics yesterday. This is going to be a long process so I will be updating with pictures and hopefully video soon.

Play the Game. It's A Riot

Count Down For Cave Opening Night

Make your own Countdown Clocks

My New Face

Take a look at my new face before we do all the work that will make it even more gruesome. Keep on coming back to check out our progress. We will be doing video and picture updates of our progress. Only 38 more days until the Lewisburg Haunted Cave opens!!!!!!!!

Trying New Things

This year, there are going to be some new additions in our make-up department. We have decided to try out some full facial prosthetics.

I haven't had a chance to begin working on mine yet, but I think that will be the first one that we will be working on. Some of the colors that we will be using are: corpse flesh, clotted blood red, red, and black and white for highlights.

We have used prosthetics before, but this is the first time we have used full facial prosthetics. Stay tuned for updates.

Blood Pool

This was done in a black and white shot dripping off a table at a height of about three feet. Notice the tight splatters of blood and how it stays close to the actual blood spill. I actually think that the blood looks better in black and white than in color.

Excitement

I am so excited about this new Haunt Season. We are going to have the best Haunt in the tri-state area.

The changes that we have made are really going to ramp the scares up for this year.

We put in a ten hour day today and got a lot accomplished. Some of the dead areas from last year are going to scare the pants off some people.

I cannot wait until the opening day of the Lewisburg Haunted Cave on September 25!

Follow Up to the Watermelon Prosthetic and Make-up Application

After wearing it for over 13 hours, the prosthetic did start showing it's flaws. These are supposed to be reusable, but mine came off splitting at the inner seam of the wound and the edges stayed on my skin. This is after spending ten minutes soaking it and rubbing it it warm soapy water. I am going to try to repair it with white latex and see how that goes.

The make-up did come off my skin with warm soapy water, but it had soaked into the prosthetic and it will not come off. That's okay if you are going to reuse and just touch up with make-up.

I am pretty old school, so I like the old style prosthetics that all ready come pre-painted and all you have to do is attach and blend.

I will post an update as to whether the white latex did repair the damage.

Overall, not bad if you are trying to save money or if you like make up your own wound color schemes.

Watermelon Prosthetic and Make-Up Application Video

Not the most epic video around so give me a break when it comes to quality. This was my first time editing.

Which is Better?

This is the untouched original from the previous shot. Which looks more realistic? Let me know.

Hand in a pool of blood

Just some more photographic fun done in black and white. Somehow, the effect is less fake looking.

New Prosthetic Colors Used

This is a whole hand shot after cutting the grass. The colors that were used to make the wound were magenta, red, and yellow. I think the yellow gives the skin around the wound a pus-like coloration. You use the magenta to give the wound depth. These are all airbrush colors that were dipped on with applicators.

Some of the comments I got while wearing it, were: "What happened to your hand?" "Did you know that your hand is bleeding?" and my favorite: "Wicked cool! Will you do that to me?"

The above comments were made in broad daylight. Imagine what it looks like in the subdued lighting of the Cave.

New prosthetics

We have been working with some new prosthetics down at the Cave. I have had this one on for five and a half hours, cut the grass and ran some errands with it on, and it shows no sign at all of coming off. This shot was taken after cutting the grass in 85 degree weather.

Outside Line Entrance at the Lewisburg Haunted Cave

Me without a mask.

Should You Where a Mask or Make-up?

Although this all boils down to a personal choice, the real question is what are you going to be most comfortable in. I wear glasses, so it is an easy choice for me, make-up of course. I don't have to worry about my glasses fogging up, and to me, it looks more natural, and let's face it, you can build a character out of make-up, but the mask is all ready a character.

Masks will also hinder your vision so working in dimly lit areas, you need to be aware of how much a mask will interfere with your sight.

Masks are also extremely hot. You will get pretty sweaty and uncomfortable if you have to spend a lot of time in one.

The final reason that I don't like wearing a mask is that they are very restrictive when it comes to your ability to breathe. The nose holes never line up with your nostrils and you will probably be breathing through your mouth most of the night and physically that is very inefficient.

So, you make the choice whether you are going to spend hours getting your make-up on, or spend hours of being uncomfortable in a mask. Decide wisely Grasshopper!

Underground

A lot of people have asked me what it's like to be underground for an extended period of time. I can honestly say it does not bother me at all. We have power and lights so it's not completely dark down there. The ceilings are relatively high, so I do not feel claustrophobic. And the weather never really affects us working down there.

It does make building sets a bit challenging since virtually nothing is level down there, but you adapt and do the best you can with situations like that.

The moisture content really adds quite a few unique situations when it comes to props, especially electronics. We bag up the electronics and just hope for the best. Usually, we do not have much of a problem, but there are times that we do end up having to replace equipment that the moisture has damaged.

Overall, it not much different than being above ground except for the total darkness we drive into until we turn the lights on. Who's afraid of the dark? Not me, not yet.

The Lewisburg Haunted Cave

This season, the Lewisburg Haunted Caves hours will be:

September 25-26
October 2-3
October 9-10
October 16-17
October 23-24
October 30-31

The Haunt starts at 7:00pm and goes on until 12:00 the Witching Hour.

I am looking forward to incarcerating all of you in my cell!

Props

Props are a very important part of a Haunt. They can add to a scene, become a talking point for an actor, or are just too cool to not have.

There are a lot of different props out there on the market and choosing the right one for you is important. For actors, a prop can be part of the costume, or something that the actors character has an interaction with it.

Static props can also be a good choice. Bob is one of our static props and he is just to much fun. He doesn't do anything but stand there holding his guts in with his hand stuck out trying to introduce himself to everyone.

Home made props can also help out, especially if you have a budget that you really need to stick to. Making your own props can save you a lot of money and at the same time, can really turn out to be one of the best additions to a scene. By making it yourself, you can customize it to fit into a scene, or make it work with an actor.

So if you decide to make the big leap into acting, figure out what kind of props you will need or want to make your character stand out.

What really scares you?

Some people are afraid of clowns. Other people have fear of the dark. Some fears can be intensive and debilitating. Fear is the only tool for anyone that works in a Haunt.

Did you ever wonder why most Haunts have trails or pathways that are close together so that you have to walk single file if you are with a group? They are using peoples natural fear of having no escape, or of being closed in.

Personal space invasions are also very intense. You take someone that you do not know, and invade their personal space by getting in really close to them. Sometimes, the customer will try and push you out of their personal space. Just continue moving in on them. Especially if you are tall. This is really intimidating.

Atmosphere and mood are very important when trying to scare someone. Spooky music, dimly lit places, even total darkness will play into peoples fears. Use them to your advantage.

What really scares you?

In 54 Days...

In 54 days, the Lewisburg Haunted Cave will be opening it's gates to the most horrifying underground Haunt in Ohio. There will be blood, scares and special effects for even the most jaded Haunt Customer. Join us September 25th at 7:00pm for our opening night. You will not be disappointed.

Rat Bait

While pulling himself out of his grave, one of our rats decided to have a snack.

Jail Cell Victim/Decoration

One of the few head honchos I let hang around my cell block!

Work Session

Looks like today we will be working on all of the stuff that I haven't gotten to this week. Felt bad most of the week, so I haven't been down there until today. I will be working on topping off some of the trees in the chainsaw area and whatever else comes up. Heading down now.

Hanging Around

Just some of the critters you will see hanging around at the Lewisburg Haunted Cave.

My Favorite Blood Recipe

There are several types of blood effects that you can go out and buy. Liquid bloods are for sale all over the place and I can tell you from experience, they taste terrible. I like to have the blood in my mouth to spray out, or let it drip down my chin into my beard and down my shirt. Well, if it tastes bad, then you are going to spend a lot of time spitting out the effect that you were trying to get.

One of my favorite blood recipes is as follows:

Chocolate Blood

You will need:

1/2 a cup of warm water
1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder
4-5 tablespoons of white corn syrup (I use Karo)
1/2-1 tablespoon of red food coloring
2 drops of yellow, green, or blue food coloring (This is optional and depends on what type of blood coloration you are going for)


Begin by mixing the cocoa powder with the warm water making sure that you stir the concoction so that it all becomes a liquid. Add your white corn syrup making sure that it mixes well and doesn't clump up. Mix your food coloring in blending it well and then let it settle for a bit, maybe ten to fifteen minutes. If there are still bubbles on top, either skim the scum off using a paper towel, or pour it into another container. The longer your blood sits, the more that the cocoa tends to separate out and settle to the bottom of your container.

Now, some of the fun stuff that you can use this for is blood spatters, which look very convincing. You can also let it drool out of your mouth and let it dry. It will actually look like clotted blood. I do this and let it drip into my beard and it looks like I have been enjoying a little bit of cannibalism.

A note of caution: any of the concoction that you do not use, throw it away since it will ferment.

What is a startle scare?

A startle scare is exactly what it sounds like, a startle. You set up, what for your customers to get in exactly the right spot, you pop out, startle them, and reset for the next group. It's as easy as that.

If you are a startle scare, there is no need for a lot of intensive make-up. The customers are barely going to see you, so no need for a four hour make-up job.

One other caution, if you get caught out with the next group all ready piling in, don't look at it as a wasted scare, do what you can to at least get a few of them. When I was a startle, I got caught out a few times, but I would cling to the wall, be as motionless as possible, and then nail the few that did not catch me out.