Yes sir, more Sideshow! Alive!

Okay, so I have a little more sideshow stuff to show and tell. Can you believe that an actual sideshow did come to town the last week of October to my town's annual fair?! I was soo sad when the original sideshow that used to come retired back in 2003 and that sadness was one of my inspirations for our Halloween Sideshow costumes. I then find out it has been resurrected in a different form and is going to be here on the last weekend when I arrive back home! Before, it was more of a badly done museum of sorts. Like having a head of a woman mannequin attached to a taxidermified snake body in an aquarium. The only live people were the outside talker, (Ward Hall) the fire eating little person, (Poobah) and Bruce the fat man. Now a set of young folks have revived the show by doing a '10 in 1' set of acts.

They give a brief history of the sideshow and demonstrate some of the old tricks and gadgets used in the past. Shown here is a device that has a crank on it and it appears to the viewer that the seated person's head is being turned all the way around.

This was my favorite optical illusion. The Headless woman..Alive but how?

All of the 3 performers each did physical feats . Here is the climbing of a ladder of knives....Barefoot!

The 'off with her head' guillotine illusion.

He he! Love it! Spidora.. Like my Spiderella! I so so wish I could have befriended these folks and got my picture taken in this!

And of coarse the beautiful banner artwork!

Here I am with the only museum piece they had on display. A replica of a 8 foot woman. (Please pay no attention to my stomach buldge! ah hem.)




The performers made alot of funny jokes during the show, it was such fun! Although, I really did miss all of the badly done museum artifacts! Here is an article about this sideshow when it first retired in 2003 : The Last Sideshow

Here are some neat audio examples of outside talker ballys: Art of the Outside Talker

Step Right Up!

Step right up Ladies and Gentlemen! See for yourself, unusual people and creatures of the world! For Halloween this year it's a traveling Side Show! Pumkinbutt was a Organ Grinder Monkey. Daisy was an oddity of nature having 5 legs. And I was the tattooed, snake charmer.
See in person! A Monkeyboy dance a jig for you for mere goldfish crackers!

My mom made Pumkinbutt's costume. We actually got professional pictures of him made wearing it and once those are in I'll put them up so to show the whole cuteness of the costume.

How is it possible!? A domesticated animal born with 5 legs!

Here is Daisy with her extra leg, I was going to put a cow bell around her neck so she could be the 5 legged cow as seen on the banner, but a 5 legged Boston terrier is just as cute! Her extra leg was made possible with felt, hot glue and elastic.

Alive and In person! She is covered nearly head to toe in beautiful tattoos. Why? Also see her tame a wild cobra with the twist of her wrist! (Me in all my 'tattooed' glory. I made the tattoos out of panty hose and cut out's from this fabric and flexible glue. The tattoos on my chest are from my birthday gifts.)

Behold...The extra special attraction!

Recovered in the swamps of southern Louisiana, living off of crickets, we bring you the beautiful mutation, Spinderella! The head of a pretty girl with the body of a hideous spider!

She enjoys watching 'Ichy and Scratchy' cartoons and baking cookies in her spare time.

(Note her predecessor on the banner in the background)

"Hello dah-lings! Enjoy the show!"

For Pumkinbutt's candy container, I made him a little organ grinder box. I'm not crazy happy about how it turned out but it served it's purpose. I put a red glow stick inside it and that kinda looked neat.

We also had tickets we gave out for payment of candy.

My stepfather is a computer graphic artist and also works for a canvas company. So he made the tickets and banners. He made the entire ticket design himself on the computer (I wish I had a better close up of them, because they looked so 'real') The banner seen on the top of this post was on the back of the wagon and the 'turkey boy, why, alive girls' banner was on the other side of the wagon not shown in the group photo.

Ok, Folks, If you could make your way to the exit on your left.....And don't forget to tell your friends about your amazing experience!

Tie One On ~ Mixed Media Apron

I know... I already did a Halloween apron last month but I just had to! I decided to really make it 'mixed media' by not using any fabric or sewing of any kind. It is made out of a black plastic trash bag, purple staples and orange plastic spider rings. The tie on it is actually the draw string closure. I cut the bag up the sides and horizontal under the back side of the draw string. Then snipped the draw string in the back so it could be tied. I then gathered it and stapled it to give it the ruffle~y look. Then stapled the spider rings in the folds. No fabric, No sewing! And it only took about 30 minutes to make. It reminds me of what a witch might wear while stirring her up some brew! And a big hint as to this year's Halloween costuming...I will work on getting that post up in the next couple of days...

I'm Back!

I'm baaaaack!!!

Enjoy my Jack Skellington o' lantern and some spooky cupcakes for now!

will have lots to show next week!

The severed witch's finger with a spider ring was my fave!