Archive for the 'Cool Stuff' Category

Setting the Scene: Decorations for 5 Haunted Halloween Scenarios

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

The following are some of the suggestions we give anyone setting up a Halloween Party or Haunted House. Props we can provide are linked. All Halloween props are available for sale or rental. Email BJ at BJ@Dapppercadaver.com for a quote or more Haunt scenarios and suggestions. Note the importance of actors, timing, drama, and atmosphere as well as props and effects. Be sure to add eerie lighting and sounds!

Scene 1: The Dinning Room:
A long table is set with piles of bloody body parts and partial human corpses. Gothic tabletop candelabras sit on the table and 5 foot tall floor candelabras are around the sides. On the walls are hung changing portraits, grotesque taxidermy and bloody curtains. A vulture perches on one chair, a decomposed skeleton in another. Platters are covered in small bits, eyes, fingers, tongues. Other plates are piled with intestines, hearts and livers. Two actors sit at the table in costume feasting on edible brains, hands, hearts, and faces, instead of silverware they use dissection instruments. Another actor or animatronic is on the table moving and screaming.

Scene 2: Butcher shop
The butcher is an actor in a long white butchers coat with a black butchers apron over top. His apron is strung with a variety of wicked looking steel autopsy instruments. In his hands he has a real chainsaw which still works, but the chain has been removed so it cannot cut. Hanging in chains from the ceiling are several hooks, skinned animals, a half pig, a skinned goat, a half person, a skinned person, a full corpse, and several human limbs. The walls are hung with blood splattered plastic curtains. On a chopping block is a meat grinder with a human hand sticking out the top and ground beef coming out the front. He menaces the crowd as actors behind the plastic curtains reach bloody hands out through slits and beg for help. A row of axes hangs on the wall. Animated heads rotate in torture boxes.


Scene 3: Old Hospital/ Asylum
A Mad Doctor experimenting on patients. The doctor is an actor in a long white lab coat. He holds a steel pistol syringe with a retractable fake needle and has a reflector on his head. Another actor is bound in chains and cuffs to a vintage insane asylum bed. An equally vintage autopsy pump sits beside the patient. Shelves around the scene hold several specimen jars which glow under blacklight. Also on the shelves are plasma balls flickering with lightning effects, human skulls, and the mounted skeletons and mummies of strange creatures. A full size 2 headed skeleton stands beside them. An IV bag filled with blacklight responsive fluid hangs from an IV stand. An large x ray light box covered in x rays glows in the background.

Scene 4: Tribal Headhunters
Scene is a jungle with hut. Head hunter is an actor with a headdress made of lightweight skulls and feathers. His necklace is a variety of small skulls and bones. He holds a large plastic machete and a spiked club. Shrunken heads, severed heads, chickens and skulls hang everywhere. Heads on stakes dot the background. Bright Indonesian devils sit on pedestals. In the foreground a charred body rotates on a spit.

Scene 5: Graveyard
Scene is a graveyard, a few dozen tombstones rise from the ground, amid them a large angel, and 3 large obelisks stand. On the ground is an old wooden coffin, and a pile of dirt and a shovel. In the dirt several bones and body parts can be seen sticking out. A grave digger stands, with a steel bonesaw in his hands. His belt is strung with human hands, rotted hands, and skeletal hands all wearing gawdy jewelry. He opens the casket and inside is the mummy-like corpse of an old woman, decked out in pearls, gold and rings. This would be a good scene to work in an animatronic coffin popper. Grave digger can also interact with the crowd by trying to sell rings with the fingers still inside. Crows and vultures perch on the stones and in the trees. Rats are on the ground. Low lying fog creeps over everything. Moss hangs from everything.

You’re Invited to Drawing Blood at Dapper Cadaver

Friday, February 13th, 2009

On Thursday March 5th, I’d like to invite you to Dapper Cadaver’s first free after hours art event, “Drawing Blood”

WHAT: Drawing Blood – Once a month, The Dapper Cadaver Prop House opens its studios in the evening for a free evening where artists of all kinds are invited to come by and use our unique collection of props, oddities, scientific specimens and equipment, and Halloween decor as models for their art. Sketching, illustration, painting, sculpting and more are encouraged. Props can be artfully arranged to suit your needs. Coffee and snacks will be provided. Most evenings will be free form, but check out our mailing list and blog for info on special nights featuring live models and special instructors. Email me if you’re interested in modeling or instructing. Commercial photography and video not allowed.

BRING: All your own art supplies. We have some chairs and stools but if you need one you may want to bring your own. Any food or drink.

WHEN: 6:30pm -10:00pm, the first Thursday of each month.
March 5th / April 2nd / May 7th / June 4th / July 2nd / August 6th / Sept 3rd / Oct 1st / Nov 5th / Dec 3rd

WHERE: Dapper Cadaver Prop House.
7572 San Fernando Rd, Los Angeles, CA, 91352 (near Burbank)
North side of San Fernando Rd (Little San Fernando Rd), Across the tracks from Sofa U Love.

CONTACT:
BJ Winslow
bj@dappercadaver.com
818-771-0818

MORE INFO
www.dappercadaver.com
www.bjwinslow.com
www.dappercadaver.com/blog

Best regards,
BJ Winslow
Owner-Artist
Dapper Cadaver
NEW PHONE # 818-771-0818
CELL PHONE # 310-709-8691
NEW ADDRESS 7572 San Fernando Rd, Sun Valley, CA, 91352
www.bjwinslow.com
www.dappercadaver.com

Top 14 Mad Scientist of Real Life

Monday, September 8th, 2008

laboratory essentials, originally uploaded by Boju.

WARNING: This article contains images and material that may be upsetting to some readers. While Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the epitome of the movie Mad Scientist, his experiments in reanimating the dead are positively tame compared to some of the real life beaker jockeys who earn the title. For starters, Dr. Frankenstein’s victims were already dead, and were criminals to boot. The most common victims of mad science are innocent animals.

With that said, let’s get mad!

14. Dr Jose Delgado

Dr. Delgado invented a radio controlled mind control chip he called the stimoceiver which could be used to stimulate emotions and control behavior. It produced a variety of effects, including pleasant sensations, elation, deep, thoughtful concentration, odd feelings, super relaxation, colored visions, and other responses. Delgado stated that “brain transmitters can remain in a person’s head for life. In a famous demonstration he stood in the path of a charging bull and caused it to turn away with his stimoceiver.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Delgado: Brains, stuffed monkeys in cages, brains in jars, miscellaneous remote controls and circuitry, brain plasma ball.
13. Dr. Thomas Park.

Dr. Thomas park studies unusual sensory perception amongst mammals, which means his research is dedicated to the creepiest of creatures – Bats and Naked Mole Rats. While we all know bats are the air born form of vampires, many people have not been exposed to the shivering pink mass of flesh and teeth that live like a termite and look like an abortion.
MAD SCIENCE EXPERIMENT: Mole rats cannot be burned with acid.
“”Their insensitivity to acid was very surprising,” Park told LiveScience. “Every animal tested — from fish, frogs, reptiles, birds and all other mammals — every animal is sensitive to acid.” Was Park just throwing acid on a random assortment of creatures to test his theory that they hate it? And what did he do once he discovered mole rats couldn’t be burned? He genetically engineered a cold sore that would make them burnable again.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Thomas Park: Laboratory glassware full of colored fluid labeled “Acid,” dry ice to make them bubble and smoke, habitrails, bats, naked mole rats.
12. Dr. Warren Thomas

Warren Thomas is a scientist who did a lot of acid in 1962. So much so that he thought it would be a good idea to dose an Elephant with LSD. The elephant, named Tusko, died almost immediately. He claimed in his defense he didn’t expect that result, saying he had done plenty of acid himself with no ill effects. What he did expect was the elephant to fly into a psychotic rage, much better right? Warren Thomas remains the only person who can positiely claim to have done enough LSD to kill an elephant.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Warren Thomas: A video projector of “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo. Glass flasks labeled “Acid”
11. Dr. Robert Cornish

Robert Cornish is a scientist who, in Berkley, CA, 1930, managed to resurrect 2 dead dogs by placing them on a seesaw to circulate the blood and injecting them with a mixture of adrenalin and anticoagulants. Not surprising he was able to find a human volunteer for his experiments with a man condemned to be executed, and the state denied him permission for fear he could do it.

DIY laboratory of Dr. Robert Cornish: 2 dead looking stuffed dogs, a seesaw, scary large syringes, laboratory glassware, dog skeletons, dog anatomy charts and models, an electric chair.

10. Beaurieux

During the head chopy frenzy of the French revolution, Beaurieux decided to test the hypothesis that the head survived the blade for about half a minute. He discovered that immediately after decapitation the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. In another experiment he yelled at the severed head, it apparently opened it’s eyes in response to it’s name.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Beaurieux: A guillotine, severed heads.

9. Dr. Vladimir Demikhov

In the words of Roky Erickson, “2 headed dog, 2 headed dog, I been working in the Kremlin for a 2 headed dog.” Demikhov is famous for the first successful head transplant in which he severed the head of a puppy and attached it to the neck of a full grown dog. Both heads survived and were hungry.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Demikhov: stuffed two headed dog, two headed anything, tubes, laboratory glassware, cages, a copy of the song “Two Headed Dog” by Roky Erikson.

8.Dr. Giovanni Aldini

Most famous for inventing the Galvanizing process for metals, the good Dr. also experimented on galvanizing human and animal corpses as a spectacular public show. An eyewitness reported: “Aldini, after having cut off the head of a dog, makes the current of a strong battery go through it: the mere contact triggers really terrible convulsions. The jaws open, the teeth chatter, the eyes roll in their sockets; and if reason did not stop the fired imagination, one would almost believe that the animal is suffering and alive again”. In another show, Aldini pioneered electrocuting the brains of the mentally ill as a means of supposedly helping them.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Aldini: corpses, body parts, plasma balls, electrodes, autopsy instruments, electric chair, straight jackets.

7. Dr. Sergei Brukhonenko

Many of us owe Dr. Brukhonenko a life debt for his invention of open heart surgery procedures, but along the way to saving human life, he discovered the means to keep a dogs head alive without a body.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Brukhonenko: Stuffed dogs head, laboratory glassware, dog skeleton, canine anatomy charts and models, open heart body, heart models.
6.Guy Ben Ary

Guy Ben Ary is a modern day creator of living and dying robots. In one, he cultured a disembodied rat brain and hooked it up to send bluetooth signals to a robot arm half a world away. The arm held colored ink markers and could watch what it was doing and the people around it. Soon, the disembodied rat brain robot learned to draw. Another project is the “Living Screen” “Which “explores what occurs when we cinematically engage with a living screen and employs film theory to understand Bio-Art as a Freak Show’. The Nano-Movies are projected on Living Screens made from skin, blood, sperm or cornea cells that transform, react and change over time and eventually die. Therefore, it contorts the projected Nano-Movie in – unknown ways, and confront the spectators with issues such as life, death, virtuality and reality.”

DIY Laboratory of Guy Ben Ary: robot arms, mice, habitrails, robots, human skin.

5. Dr. Gunther Von Hagens

Another contemporary scientist pushing the boundaries of art, science, and performance. Von Hagens invented a way of turning human corpses to plastic so he could exhibit them in surreal, statuesque dissected poses which he is currently touring the country with. He was also once arrested for doing an unauthorized pubic autopsy exhibition.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Von Hagens: Skinned bodies, laboratory glassware, severed limbs, specimen jars, autopsy table, shovel, autopsy instruments, embalming pumps, corpses.
4.Jack Parsons

Also known as Satans rocket scientist, Parsons is a founding member of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and follower of Occultist Aleister Crowley. He had little formal education but was instrumental in developing jet and rocket fuel. He was known to engage in bizarre orgies and invoke the great god Pan before launches. He officially died in his garage when a fuel he was mixing exploded, but conspiracy myths abound.

DIY Laboratory of Jack Parsons: Necronomicon, human skulls, occult objects, laboratory glassware, model rockets, globe, moon model, star map, pentagram, black robes, astronaut suit.
3. Johann Dippel

Lord Dippel worked in the most famous laboratory in the world, Castle Frankenstein. Yes, THE Castle Frankenstein. It’s real and so is he. His experiments in anatomy, immortality, alchemy, and alleged grave robbing may have inspired the tale of another famous resident of Castle Frankenstein.
DIY Laboratory of Lord Dippel: Autopsy tables, laboratory glassware, vintage laboratory glassware, corpses, severed body parts, gravestones, specimen jars, plasma balls, autopsy instruments, a shovel.
2. Thomas Edison

What makes a mad scientist? Some are crazy, some are angry, many are both. Thomas Edison falls into the middle category, the angry scientist. After inventing DC electricity, his rival Westinghouse came out with AC electricity (invented by Tesla see #1). Determined to show just how dangerous Westinghouse’s product was, Edison invented the electric chair and went on an electrocution tour – using Westinghouse’s AC current to kill people. That would be like Henry Ford getting into a Chrysler and running people down to show how dangerous Chryslers are. The word electrocution hadn’t been coined yet, so he called death by electricity “Westinghousing.” His finest achievement from this period was when he Westinghoused a rampaging circus elephant. with a custom elephant sized electric chair headpiece.

DIY Laboratory of Thomas Edison: electric chair, light bulbs, knobs, switches, plasma balls, human skeletons, human skulls, charred corpses.

1. Nikola Tesla

No living man has ever been closer to a comic book super scientist then Nikola Tesla. He pioneered the radio and radio control technology which seamed like magic at the time but we now take for granted. He also invented a number of things that will always seem like magic, including the spark shooting Tesla Coil, light bulbs that glow from no known power source, and a pocket sized device that could create devastating earthquakes. His eccentric mannerisms and bizarre vaguely Austrian (actually Serbian and trans-European) accent lead to the iconic german Mad Scientist of film, television and cartoons.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Tesla: Tesla Coils, plasma balls, anything that sparks or glows, switches, knobs, wires, and tubes.

The Last Laugh – Funny Epitaphs, Names, and Headstones

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

the winner, originally uploaded by Boju.

Every Halloween you seen funny headstones spring up like mushrooms from every front lawn. Most are good for a chuckle but not very realistic, they tend to be small, thin, and cartoonish.

Last year I carved a realistic headstone based on an actual old victorian design with the inscription I’m with stupid and arrows pointing to the headstones next to it. After that I started looking into real funny headstones. I added some great photos and epitaphs to my Halloween headstone section and found a great resource in the flickr group Graves to Make You Laugh

Yesterday I found the most amazing epitaph ever. It reads -
Two things I love most
Good horses and Beautiful
Women. And when I die I hope
They tan this old hide of mine,
and make it into a ladies riding
Saddle. So I can Rest in Peace
Between the two things I love
Most

I can just imagine being this guys son, having to visualize that every time I visit pops grave.

More real funny tombstones

“In the hundred and seventh year of her life…she had fresh teeth” 

“I’m a busy man, I don’t have time for this”

“Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake, stepped on the gas instead of the brake” 

“Lovingly known as Dr. Dick” 

“This ain’t so bad, once you get used to it” 

“She always said her feet were killing her but no one believed her.” 

“I made a lot of deals in life, but I went in the hole on this one.” 

“I knew this would happen.” 

“I B Horne” 

“King Dick” 

“Noble Butt” 

“Oops he Died” 

“Rusty Nail – He lived life to the max.” 

“Fanny Hair” 

“Fanny Reider” 

“Life’s not just one thing after another, it’s the same damn thing over and over again.” 

Bones and Warcraft Props up for Auction

Friday, April 18th, 2008

The Chiller Theater in New Jersey is doing a charity auction May 2nd – 4th, 2008, and I’ll be contributing 2 pieces from my collection a warcraft mask and a skeleton. The skeleton was used in ad campaign of Fox’s Bones. Fox’s Bones and World of Warcraft are in no way affiliated with this auction. These items are my personal property that has been used by their productions. Other items up for auction can be seen here. Stills from the ad showing the skeleton and the actors together can be seen in the below links

More 1
More 2
More 3
More 4

I’ll also be contributing a World of Warcraft Ork Mask and the mold for making more latex Ork masks.
See the finished Ork mask here .

The charity is a benefit for horror host and novelty horror music legend John Zacherley, the cool ghoul. The fund raiser is a surprise, so if you know Zach, don’t tell him!
the cool ghoul

Zach is the last of the great original horror hosts, 90 years old and still as sharp as a stake through the heart. He fell ill around Christmas and while he’s out of the hospital now, this auction is to raise the cash for his hospital bills. Along with other hosts like Vampira who passed earlier in the year, Zach helped create the campy mix of ghastly puns and ghoulish gore that is often imitated, never equaled to this day. While the honors for Vampira came mostly post-humous, this is a chance to honor a legend of the undead while he’s still alive.

As well as a character actor and horror host, Zacherley produced an unrivaled assortment of novelty horror records in the 50’s and 60’s. Often backed by the rockabilly surf style of the Dick Clark Five, or spooky organs, Zacherley’s horror limerick songs are one of the founding forces of todays Psychobilly genre Give a Listen to some selections here, and then go ahead and buy the album here. We’re trying to get the dude paid after all.

Zacherley’s music and television persona has been a huge influence on all of us here at Dapper Cadaver where his music can regularly be heard in our in store mix. We’re thrilled and honored to be able to help him out however we can. We hope whether you love Zacherley, Bones, Warcraft, or other horror swag you’ll be able to make a bid and help this delightful old ghoul out.

RIP Bling Headstone

Sunday, January 13th, 2008

RIP bling headstone 099

I created this for a lexicographer doing a documentary on words called “The Joy of Lex”
This prop was used for a sequence on the word “Bling,” it’s origins, it’s rise, it’s overuse, and it’s rapidly approaching demise.
That was 2 years ago and people are still using the word.
Come on people! I need to finish this thing. Lets make 2008 the fatal year for Bling.

I always love carving funny tombstones for halloween

The Skeleton Family

Sunday, January 13th, 2008

skeleton family 592

Dapper Cadaver is proud to offer the bones of a full family of skeletons! All are what we call “natural seamless,” although they’re not real bone. They are finished and painted to appear natural, and have all they’re steel mounting hardware concealed. We’ve provided skeletons to Dexter, National Treasure:Book of Secrets, Bones, and 300.
Here’s the family
“Father” Skeleton – 5′9″
“Mother” Skeleton – 5′6″
Child Skeleton, 8-11 yrs old 4′
Toddler Skeleton 1-3yrs 3′
Infant Skeleton – late term fetal/ newborn 18″
(not pictured) 5 month fetal skeleton- 8″

Sweeney Todd Contest and Tickets!

Friday, December 14th, 2007

STodd_s

We’re giving everybody one last chance to get a free pass to an advance screening of Sweeney Todd, and this time we’re also going to be awarding 2 $50 gift certificates for Dapper Cadaver and other Sweeney Swag.

Enter the drawing here

For tickets to the last advance screening you’ll need to stop by my shop, Dapper Cadaver, as soon as possible. We’re at 5519 Hollywood Blvd, and are open Monday – Friday, 10 – 6.

We’re also giving away Sweeney Todd posters, stickers, and buttons.

The screening will be at
7:30 pm, Thursday, Dec 20
The Pacific Grove 14 Cinema
189 The Grove Drive at Third St
Los Angeles, Ca

Models in Straight Jackets

Saturday, October 6th, 2007

Models in Straight Jackets

In the words of the PA in charge of returning the 12 straight jackets to my shop, “I don’t know if you like watching sexy girls getting tied up, but if you do, this is the episode for you.”

It’s the episode of “America’s Next Top Model” called “The Girls Go Rock Climbing,” but should be called “The Girls get tied up in straight jackets first,” because really, that’s the part everyone is talking about.

It’s this weeks episode. Check local listings for ANTM on the CW.

The straight jackets are authentic medical straight jackets, the only kind still manufactured for use in mental institutions, prisons, and hospitals. They’re 8 pounds of sail grade canvas, heavy steel and leather. Everything else is a costume straight jacket.
We rent them for $50 per week and sell them for $250.

The blood is mine, but who’s The Cleaner?

Saturday, October 6th, 2007

The blood is mine, but who's The Cleaner?

There’s a lot of blood in Samuel L Jackson’s new pic, The Cleaner, and it’s all mine. Watch the trailer here, and take a shot every time they show my blood. I did.

We created a new kind of blood just for the movie, and dubbed it
“BJ Winslow’s EZ Clean Wet & Dry Blood” It’s specially formulated to be a very realistic dark red while wet, and to darken and “brown out” as it drys, just like actual blood. We also made it one of the easiest stage bloods to clean off of sets, props, and actors. Perfect for a movie about a guy who goes into crime scenes full of dry blood, and has to wash the joint up.

Release date is still to be announced. Sometime this winter.