The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders - Part 1

 What an Amazing Summer!

We worked our asses off to create the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders, attempting to create something unique that No-One has experienced before... and I think that we accomplished our mission.

We started working diligently on the Festival in early July, building, promoting... and amassing a great team of people.

One of the most important things was location, we wanted a little slice of paradise for people to enjoy during their stay at the Festival, and we found that at Hayshore Resort in Carleton Place.

One of the key ingredients was to create a 19th Century Carnival atmosphere.

Carnival Game joints being created from scratch

My girl Jess and her family pitched in to work on getting things done.

I was very lucky in securing a select few people that had ALL of the necessary skills needed to get the Festival done for opening.

Darryl, our primary carpenter.
Working on making more Game Joints, he has been so helpful getting the Festival details built! 

 I spent many days painting Victorian games...

painting Punks for the Monster Rack

And of course I brought in all of my Major Attractions to set up for the Festival... including the Last Traveling Showman's Caravan in Canada.

unloading the Showman's Caravan  onto the Grounds

We set up the Freakshow next to the Showman's Caravan with a Single-O attraction in the middle. (a Single-O Attraction is one strange Freak or Act under one tent)

setting up the signage on the roof of the World of Wonders

The days were long and we all kept hydrated... because, BOY it was hot out!

Havin' a Soda Pop!

It took 2 weeks to build and set up the Festival of Wonders and we were very excited about opening to the public! And that was for 3 Reasons... 

The first, because we wanted to bring the public something completely NEW to do for the Summer Season.

Secondly, because we wanted to see if people would come out to such a strange event.

and finally Third, because this was an idea that has been in the makings for 20 years and HAD to be tried!

The World of Wonders, The THING and the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada. Once these attractions were in place we started feeling that this could really be a winner!

We had commercials that we put up on Youtube that kind of counted down the days before the opening. Here is one of the 7 commercials created...

 

We also had Full color Posters all over the place that looked like this...

FIRST Festival poster design!

The craziest thing about the Festival was the fact that we secured the site in mid June and built and created the Festival in under 2 months! It was astounding how fast it all came together. Games were built, commercials were made, artisans and vendors were brought in and shows were booked.... and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. The idea was so damned good, it kinda just built itself. And the people involved were the best in the industry, I was VERY Lucky!

Stay tuned for Part 2... The Opening of the Festival!!!

Carnival Diablo TV is HERE!!!

That's right folks! Carnival Diablo has started its own TV station... and we are creating NEW shows and commercials every week for the station that deal in our sordid world.

Come and check out Carnival Diablo TV, it will make your time on the internet even more worthwhile! ;)

http://youtu.be/vlUWsZxh_lU

I am working on creating many little documentaries about the things I do, so that you can watch them on my station... so, STAY TUNED!

The Exodus...

Today I am packing and organizing for the Big Move at the end of this month.

Actually we move this weekend.(but the packing now begins)

some of my paintings ready to go...

After a full year in the cabin in the woods, we have decided upon moving to a small blip of a town that has a beautiful 2 story house waiting for us. This will become the NEW Diablo Manor. For a city boy like me, moving into a cabin was a bit of an adjustment. But, now that I have had a taste of country life, I am jonesing on the idea of moving into a micro community. The town is filled with artists and I will have ALOT of room to work and create, hell, I will even have a shop in my backyard.

As I write this, I am also preparing a large load of equipment to be shipped to Hay Shore Resort for the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders. This will be the first of many loads going out to Hay Shore. When I am not moving to the new Diablo Manor, I will be at Hay Shore building and creating props and large installations for the Festival. This includes a new set of banners and many great 19th Century Carnival sets.

I will be doing a photo doc of the making of the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders which I will post here as time goes on.

Plus I will be unveiling a NEW TV Station on Youtube that will host many of the characters from the World of Carnival Diablo Productions.

Yup, I got my work cut out for me.... Heeeere we gooooo!

Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show commercial... #1

Well, this past weekend we unveiled the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada at the Expo 150 in Petawawa Ontario. Over 30,000 people showed up during the 4 day event and we had a TREMENDOUS time! We were set up in a Pioneer Village with around 28 pioneer re-enactors. They were part of a group called The Pioneer Gathering and some of the most colorful and interesting people I had met in a long time :)

Old Charlie, Roy Brausewetter, Me, Jessica Huether and Ward Wright

 Ward Wright, the man that built the Caravan was at the Pioneer Gathering doing what he does best, being a strong, almost mysterious character that could throw knives and tomahawks with great precision and crack a whip like you would see in the movies, with panache and flair.

We lived out of the Showman's Caravan for the 4 days and found it quite comfortable. I had time to work on the interior a bit before we left and the living quarters was great. I am going to work on the interior more this summer.

We cooked, performed and spent time acting as if this was our way of life in reality.

I would actually have enjoyed spending a whole summer living out of the back of the Caravan, it was a nice contrast to modern living. No cell phones, computers or TV, we were without any source of power for the whole time we were there.

And it felt GOOD!

Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine and Showman's Caravan was a hit!

Prof. Crookshank

I decided to make a video of the stay and I have turned it into a short little commercial that we can use for booking in the future.

Here it is... ENJOY!

This summer is getting more and more interesting everyday!

The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders

For everyone that enjoys the Strange and Bizarre... I have decided to create a Festival to celebrate the Strangeness of being Human! We all have one thing in common... we dream and have great imaginations. YOU can now indulge in a Festival that encompasses the absurdness and imaginative side of life on this big blue marble.

Welcome to The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders!

The FIRST poster to our NEW Festival!

This is a shout out to everyone that enjoys the Weird, Wacky and  Mysterious side of LIFE. Lovers of Sideshow, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Supernatural can now come together and enjoy every facet of the truly Bizarre.

An invitation to EVERYONE across this great planet to come together for 3 days and indulge in a fully immersive cornucopia of all things Strange and Bizzare!

The Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders will be taking place July 29th thru the 31st 2011 at Hay Shore Resort in Carleton Place, Ontario. For more info and to see what we have in store please check out the NEW website
www.eisengrimms.com and mark those dates on your calendar! (its time for a Vacation!) And YES there is camping on the grounds.

I have some GREAT Surprises coming up.... and will reveal more over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned and tell your friends... Carnival Diablo is throwin' a Party!

Calliope CLOWN Head sculpt

One of the things that fascinates me about the 19th Century is the fact that the Clown's of that time period were actually rather scary. I had bought a Carnival Organ for my Show and wanted to top it off with a Olde' looking Clown Head.

We are so used to seeing Bozo the Clown or a Ronald Macdonald sort of Clown... but I wanted to make something a bit more disturbing. 

I have many vintage books on circuses and clowns, and started to look at the type of clown that was used on Carnivals and in circuses from 1870 to 1905. There were many different types, but most were Auguste or Pierott clowns...... and THEN I stumbled upon the 'Grotesque Clown'!

In Europe back in the 19th Century, this clown was actually quite frightening.

The Great George Fox

Sometimes the clown's could be rather serious and pompous, coming across as sinister instead of playful.

So, I wanted a clown head for my Carnival Organ that would reflect that time period.

The sculpt started with a styrofoam ball and some paper clay.

preparing the materials

I took chunks out of the styrofoam ball until I had a rudimentary face.

It don't look like much... yet.

I then began to apply the paper clay to the styrofoam ball and started to sculpt a face. It was pretty rough and simple at first.

He starts to look like a head

The next step was to add some expression to the head that would be the basis to the detail later. His nose was so large it kept falling off during the sculpt, but after around 3 tries it finally cooperated.

He smiles.

I decided that I was going to use glass eyes in his head instead of wooden eyes, because I wanted his eyes to look alive and wet.

Now he can see...

When it came to painting him, I started with a dark purple as a under coat, because I wanted it to come through the lighter colors of paint I was going to add later.

I also added a lower set of acrylic dentures into his mouth, to give him a surreal look, kinda between Alive and Sculpted.

He seems very happy with his color!

And finally, I painted the rest of him and added the details. He is now seen on top of my 120 year old Carnival Organ. I will be bringing the Carnival Organ with me when I set up my Showman's Caravan... so that we have sweet carnival music to listen to during our travels.

My clown is complete!

I have many more projects on the go to get ready for the FIRST summer out with my Showman's Caravan... stay tuned!

Building a Showman's Caravan Part 12

The building of the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada is done.

And NOW, the task of booking and performing the Show goes into high gear!

As promised, I have some exclusive pix of Prof. Crookshank in front of the Showman's Caravan that will be used for advertising purposes. I wanted to let you see them before they become a part of our ad campaign.

I hope one day you will come and visit Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show and enjoy a day of strangeness and whimsy.

Prof. Crookshank welcomes you!

There is nothing like Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show ANYWHERE!!!

The Doctor is IN.

Prof. Crookshank's Miracle Elixer will cure all of your problems!

My Elixer is Not guaranteed for a week, Not guaranteed for a month, Not guaranteed for a year.... not guaranteed for a lifetime. Hell, it's not even guaranteed!

Come and visit me this summer... you won't regret it!

Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show will take you on an adventure down the rabbit hole and beyond the locked doors of sanity. Things are about to get Strange.

Prof. Crookshank is hitching up the horses and starting his journey into your world very soon! Get the kids and Grandma... we are going to have a Hootenanny!!!

Keep up with his adventures and Tours by going too http://www.miracleelixer.com

See you there!!!

all photos taken by Ward Wright

Building a Showman's Caravan Part 11

What an EPIC Day!!!!

TODAY, we finally completed the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada!!!

It was an exciting time, right from when I got up at 8:13am. I showered and drove the 98km. to the Ranch... and lo and behold, Ward and his brother had created an amazing ramp system to help make the moving out process as easy as possible.

Now, remember, the Caravan had been inside of the workshop during the course of the winter. And if you go back and look at the size of the Caravan, compared to the height of the ceiling... you will see that there is only a 3 inch clearance.

Many people have emailed me stating that I had made some sort of logistical building mistake, while working on the Caravan in the workshop... but, Ward and I had it all worked out way back when we first started. And NOW we were going to put the idea to the test. This was a mondo exciting time, because we could see that this could go two ways... and we were hoping that it would be the Positive, Happy Way ;)

Take a look at the first picture, you can see that there is little to no room for mistakes.

The Caravan inside the workshop

The Caravan had to be rolled onto small skids, so that it could be pushed out of the workshop. This was a very tense time as we began to move the Caravan forward.

slowly rolling the Caravan out

Once the Caravan was partially out, we had to place a large iron rolling bar beneath the floor of the Caravan, so that it could roll onto the wood planks outside.

Caravan on rolling bar

We were not out of danger yet, half of the Caravan was still inside of the workshop, and one false move and we could rip off the top of the Caravan!

looking from inside of the workshop (note the ceiling)

What made this process so cool was the fact that Ward and his brother were very calm as they methodically moved the Caravan out of the workshop. And THAT was something that I have not encountered with many people in my past. If this was being done in Toronto, I bet apples to oranges, that there would have been many nervous breakdowns in the first hour of moving the Caravan. But, Ward and his brother were confident with their abilities and they took things nice and slow. I was truly Amazed with how well they worked out all of the problems that had arisen during the initial moving out of the Caravan from the workshop.

rolling the Caravan forward

Over a two hour period, the Caravan was slowly moved out of the workshop.

When it finally cleared the doors, we all felt a sense of accomplishment. PHEW!

Tadahhh!!!!!!

With the Caravan successfully out of the workshop, it now came time to prepare the wagon wheels for attachment. The steering tongue was old and rotted, but Ward fixed it so that it would work for the time being.

preparing the lower end of the wagon

The Caravan had to be winched up by hand, so that the front would be high enough to accommodate the front section wheels.

winching up the Caravan

We took the front of the wagon apart so that we could move it under the Caravan's carriage. The Caravan had to be winched up 3 feet off of the ground, to get the front wheels to fit underneath it.

the front wheels in place

Now we had to winch up the back to get the back wheels into place. Because of the weight of the Caravan we had to pile planks up one by one until it was level with the front.

planks in place for the back wheels

After around an hour of hard work, the back wheels were lowered into place.

We had to dig ruts into the ground to accommodate the back wheels.

placing the back wheels onto the Caravan

The final step was now done! We had the top of the Caravan on the lower end of the wagon, we had been looking forward to this day for 5 months! Huzaaaah!!!!

The Showman's Caravan completed!!!!!

What a GREAT DAY! Ward and his brother and I felt like we truly accomplished something... and it was time for celebrating!

An EPIC Day!

We are very happy with the way the Showman's Caravan has turned out, and now that it is up on its wheels, I will take a few weeks to paint and detail the Caravan even more. But for now, the Caravan is complete!.... or as complete as it can be (we have some wonderful detailing to do now.)

Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show

 Thank you all for taking the journey with us as we built Canada's Last Showman's Caravan! In the past few months we have had people checking out the Blog from Germany, Japan, England, France, Italy, China, the USA, Canada and many other great countries.  Over 3800 people have checked in during the past month alone!

I will be posting more pix of the Showman's Caravan with Prof. Crookshank in front of it in the next little while... so stay tuned! And don't forget to visit http://www.miracleelixer.com for all of the Tourdates and adventures as we take the Caravan out this summer to various Carnivals, Festivals and Events!

A BIG thank you goes out to Ward Wright and Paul Huether,for making this Dream happen!

The adventure continues......

Building a Showman's Caravan Part 10

Well, here we are... close to completion of Canada's Last Showman's Caravan!

After 5 months of toil and hard work, we are finally making the last lap to victory.

It is amazing how much the Caravan has changed since its inception. I always had a clear idea in my head as to how the Caravan would look... but as we played with the build and toyed with the concept it became more and more of a beautiful and strange contraption. Old ideas were thrown out the window as form and function began to dictate what should go where. 

As you know, because you have been following the progress from day one... this Showman's Caravan was going to be different. And as we kept adding more and more detail to the Caravan, I found many different ways to make it whimsical, strange and interesting. Because of my background in Sideshow and Freakshow's, I have brought to the table some rather eccentric deviations to the Caravan concept.

These next pix are a bit of a spoiler for many of you before it is completed, because you are seeing the Caravan almost finished... but NOT up on the carriage wheels yet.

The last step happens tomorrow.... and then the Showman's Caravan will be completed, except for some minor cosmetic details, once it is moved outside.

And so, here it is... the bulk of the Caravan done.... ENJOY!

The doors to the Miracle Elixer Distillery

With the doors completed, I wanted to make the inside of the doors functional... so Ward and I added some shelves and a couple of extra details. I also wanted some old Medical styled charts that I could elude to during the show... so, I put them into the doors.

A peek at the finished Miracle Elixer Distillery

The back porch was alot of fun to work on, because there was so much detail that could be added to make the porch a nice little nook to hang out on when the show was not going on.

The back Porch door

The railings were to be as ornate and colorful as any Circus wagon from the past.
But I still wanted the colors to be deep and rich in tone. And the overall look to be well used and weathered.

Porch railings painted and aged

The back door had to look like it had seen a century of use... so, we used old barn wood and searched for antique iron door hinges and it was fortuitous that Ward had an old iron door handle from his grandfathers house. I wanted the lock on the door to be large and old... so, I found on Ebay, a lock that was over 100 years old in perfect working condition.

close up of door handle and lock

The front riding area had to look as good as the back, so we designed a nice little window with shutters and added riding lanterns to the sidewalls. Both the front and back have tin ceilings. But the best part of the front is the Screaming Banshee Skull that Ward and I created. (the skull has been detailed even more since this photo was taken)

upper portion of front drivers area

And finally, a pic of me and Ward standing in front of the 'almost' finished Showman's Caravan. 

Me and Ward after a long day and night of work.

It is almost done... the final lap is coming around the corner and we are excited to unveil the Last Showman's Caravan in Canada very soon! Stay tuned!!!

The FINAL CHAPTER is coming NEXT Blog!

Making a Vaudeville Comedy Prop

I have created, painted and built my productions from scratch.

One of the things that excites me about New Projects, is the need to make interesting props and backdrops that will take the audience on that extra special journey into my World of Strangeness.

I had decided to make a prop for Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show that I had once made 20 years ago (but sadly is gone now)

I call the prop, 'The Disgruntled Customer'.

It started with a wig head...

wig head with a liddle carved out of it

 

 

I then laid down some plasticine onto the wig form to create a rudimentary face.

Face taking shape

NOW, the fun reeeeally begins!

I made up a batch of paper mache .... that's right kids... Paper Mache!

And started to apply it to the sculpt. The process was slow one, because I had to let each layer dry as I went along.

around 13 layers were applied

As day became night, I worked on.... the next step was to put the glass eyes into place, before any more detail could be added to the sculpt.

I took this photo without a flash, I like to work in muted light.

I then sculpted on top of the paper mache, a paper clay polymer. This was used to create detail and flesh out the face.

he starts to become a character

After around a day and a half, he was ready for painting.

Head dry and ready for paint

The next step was to paint the under color, always moving from darkest to lightest.

and so the painting begins...

Once the yellow ochre was dry, I added a lighter skin tone over it, keeping the wrinkles and crevices darker.

and now some light color

 Finally, I added to the face, more color to create detail and depth.

face almost done

And finally he gets put onto a fancy stand and is given clothing. Now he works for me in my show :)

NOW That's one Disgruntled Customer!

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