Wicked Halloween Prop | DIY Papier-mâché Spell Book

I specifically remember my first encounter with a book prop. I was in my early teens and working on a movie project with my closest friends. We were in need of a vintage-looking fairytale book. The film would open with a storyteller setting the scene; reading those oh-so-well-known first words to young and old:

“Once upon a time”

The camera would then zoom into the first pages of the book and dive right into our magical fairytale world, the first scene of our story. We were very ambitious back then. We had already had experience with several theatre projects, short films and lengthier movies too, so we were now hoping to master the fine art of a green screen to create the necessary effect of plunging into another world.

For that purpose we had even glued a square of green card board paper into the first pages of the book!

Yes, as you can imagine, that did not work very well. We are still no masters of animation, nor conquerors of the green screen – but the book looked great!

Nailed it | DIY TORTURED CANDLES

October has begun. Fall is upon us. Orange is everywhere.

While images of crumbling leaves, pumpkin patches and warm apple cider on the stove top do pop into my head most daily, I can’t help but feel more excited about the darker things coming up this month.

I certainly drool over the thought of pumpkin-pecan-maple-syrup pie (oh boy!), but that is going to have to wait just a little while longer. I have hundreds of teeny plastic spiders to arrange on all door knobs of the apartment. Bats are waiting to roam free. I need to find a supplier for custom-made cauldrons and practice some of my favorite spells. Where did I put my trusty broom stick?
Halloween is such a treat. It’s kooky and spooky and altogether ooky.