# Murder Mushrooms



## Rahnefan

Paw always said, "you can't dry a fairy without starting some s***." Forest folk are getting pretty scarce around here anymore but dang if he wasn't right. I figured if I ever saw murder mushrooms, it'd be out behind the shed where we collect the dust - not in my basement! These ugly turds started growing just a week after we stole a favorite familiar from the Baal Witch of Beaver Ruin Road. If you are an ordained witchfinder anywhere in the Southeast, I'd sure appreciate your help moving them out into the woods.

Lumpy Teak is the oldest. Most of the young ones sprang off of him. His eyes have caved in and he doesn't move around anymore. I think.










Another pic: http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-15.jpg

The smaller ones have strange eyes.

http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-16.jpg

http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-23.jpg

http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-17.jpg

http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-18.jpg

Now, ladies, get a load of my one-eyed monster:









In addition to monocularity, he's far more veined than the average shroom, and slightly angled toward the end of the stem. Go figure. He seems bent on some unknown purpose. I try to not to get too close.

http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-20.jpg

http://www.mkdavis.net/images/props/2011/mm-21.jpg

The "family:"










These might have looked much cooler if I had the patience to wait until they were outside to photo them. But my next step is to seal them so I wanted to make photos now just in case I ruin them. I started the frames for most of these in 2009...please tell me that this is normal and I am not kidding myself when something can be "on the table" this long...


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## samhayne

WOW, very original, creative and great inspiration.

I really like them, great work and thanks for sharing.


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## TheOneAndOnlyKelly

Wow. Looks like a cool collection of fun guys!


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## Eeeekim

Those are very cool. They have a lot of personality. I can definitely picture them in a foggy swamp or a cave.

P.S. It was very hard keep my "inner middle school boy" at bay. during this post.


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## Rahnefan

Thank you guys. But the more I look at them, the more it seems they just aren't "there yet." I might have taken too much edge off of them by adding pupils to the eyes. The great stuff is far too obvious. And the drippy paint is OK but kind of incomplete looking...more like drippy paint than an actual stained, weird "thing." But then again I generally sweat a lot of details that will be missed in low light.

Oh, WWDTDD? *WWDTDD?????*


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## charlie1s

Please tell me that you did use phosfloresent sp? (black light reactive)paint ....eyes and top would be really cool...I like them, to me the stains look like just that... unless the pictures look way different than in real life i would leave them as they are.....but I usually sweat the small stuff to so I can feel for you


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## Rahnefan

I intend to use Wildfire UV on the eyes, but for now that's just blended hues of very vivid yellow and green. With a teensy weensy bit if Photoshop embellishment but only darkness and contrast, to make the photo look more like it does in real life. Thanks Charlie1s.


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## lisa48317

Those are great! Love the story that goes with them! Can't wait to see them outside. 

Lumpy Teak is awesome without the eyes!

And sure, its normal to be working on a project this long! Look at the company you're keeping on this board!! I'm sure some props have been in the beginning phases for longer!


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## TheOneAndOnlyKelly

No one caught my "fun guys" quip. That makes me a sad clown...










Agreed that phosphorescent paint would make this that much more awesome, especially under the caps.

We tend to be our own worst critic, so don't sweat it too much if you aren't 100% satisfied. I don't know if you had any source material, but I found this pic when I googled "Creepy toadstools":










I think you got the essence down fairly well...


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## sickNtwisted

Those are freakin' awesome!


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## Spooky1

I like them. Very unique!


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## niblique71

Wow those are FANTASTIC!!! They would be AWESOME in my Mine disaster/Mutant mist theme. I assume they are Mache??


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## halstead

Wow! I've been kicking around making some evil yard gnomes that would look awesome with these! My list of new projects keeps growing...oh well


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## Lunatic

Rahnefan you Rock! Those baby's are great. Love the originality and details.


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## Rahnefan

Thank you everybody. I caught your joke MacabreRob. 

Niblique, one or two of them are true mache, I forget which, but one of the small ones. Two of the small ones are rolled-up phonebooks (if you are like me you have more than enough of those to go around). The smallest one is a Pringles can. But the two largest and the one with a skirty-looking part have chickenwire frames with large complete sheets of newspaper taped on, followed by a mummy-style wrapping of 2 inch duct tape. I wish I'd photographed that stage because that turned out to be the magic number. It's all the skin you need before adding monster mud and paint. The caps for the large ones are chicken wire, newspaper, and lots of tape. For the smaller ones it's mixing bowls + paper/tape for added shape. The eyes are pingpong halves. Get all that together and make faces/lumps/protuberances from paperclay and you would basically be done. In low light you would never notice that you are only looking at a tape-wrapped wire frame. But then I added sculpey 'shrooms that I'd made in 2009 (hot glued on) and covered everything from top to bottom with 2 coats of monster mud. I used a lot of sand in the mixture to give them added texture. I wish I hadn't. Mushrooms are usually pretty smooth. But then I painted them and here we are.

They don't freely stand so well, but that was never my intention so I don't care. They'll be stood up with stakes on the inside. I might drill a wide hole into the newspaper-core ones. So far I've stood them outside just fine with a long piece of metal rod stuck in the ground. Those two are crazy heavy so wind is not an issue; but it was an awful idea because *you cannot pick those two up by the caps.* For the most part, the other caps were attached with wire which is covered by tape and stuff, plus I sprayed great stuff *inside the stem* and around the underside. It attached them well. No problem picking those up by the caps.

*Edit: plastic, dollar-store mixing bowls, that is; do not waste your time trying to mache a bowl for mushroom caps. You would have to be unemployed for that to be worth your time. Get a bowl for a dollar and use newspaper and tape to embellish the shape.

*Edit #2: If you try this, please do what I SHOULD have done and make some ragged edges. I meant to and forgot.


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## TheOneAndOnlyKelly

What might be a cool addition to this is a nearby corpse with little versions of your red caps growing out of it...


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## bobzilla

Those "shrooms" are bad A$$ 
Great idea and very original. You should be very proud of your fungi creations!!!


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## Rahnefan

MacabreRob said:


> What might be a cool addition to this is a nearby corpse with little versions of your red caps growing out of it...


Yep!


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## Rahnefan

bobzilla said:


> Those "shrooms" are bad A$$
> Great idea and very original. You should be very proud of your fungi creations!!!


Thanks Bob!


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## Marrow

These look amazing! I love the drippy black look on all of their stalks. Can't help but me reminded of Plants vs Zombies. I'll be making some (completely normal looking [mostly]) mushrooms for my next prop - Clickclick Slide. Just like what MacabreRob said. But the corpse didn't stay dead...


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## Lunatic

I think I ate some of those back in the day!


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## Wildcat

Those are awesome. Great imagination and excecution.


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## MorbidMariah

Yeah, these are great!


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## debbie5

"please tell me that this is normal and I am not kidding myself when something can be "on the table" this long... "

I dunno...a few weeks ago I found the silk robe I made in **1985** and is in a bag, waiting for a hem.


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## Rahnefan

1985

OK I feel better!


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## debbie5

debbie5 said:


> "please tell me that this is normal and I am not kidding myself when something can be "on the table" this long... "
> 
> I dunno...a few weeks ago I found the silk robe I made in **1985** and is in a bag, waiting for a hem.


I have to add a disclaimer: the robe is at my parent's house (still!) shoved in the back of a closet. No way I'd keep stuff for that long. Well, maybe....


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## Rahnefan

FYI if anyone is still here - sealing these things with spar urethane turned up the volume even more! The coat is nice and smooth, it brought out color that was very subtle before, and it gave the prop a substantially moist look! I'd have made a pic but we had to rush them into the barn because it got cloudy. Probably they'd be fine but I'm in no hurry to actually test any prop for being weatherproof.


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## fick209

I'm really liking these, very cool!


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## niblique71

The more I work on these guys the more impressed I am at your imagination... Mine look cool but yours have a creepiness that I've not been able to duplicate. I've been googling some pics of shrooms to pick a color scheme that is unusual for mine. But I'm still impressed at your creativeness. THANK YOU


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## Rahnefan

Thank you niblique.

You might try Googling "myconid." It's an old AD&D creature. At first I thought of making some of them but they have four limbs etc. and I have little patience and less time.


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## Sawtooth Jack

Great looking fungi Rahnefan. Kinda has me thinking along the lines of Lovecraft or Lumley. You should read Fruiting Bodies by Brian Lumley, might be right up your alley.


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## Rahnefan

Thanks Sawtooth.


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## paulcav151

Very Nice! This guy might look good among them...http://www.spookshop.com/Scary_Frog_Prop_p/fn58403.htm


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## Revenant

That's some pretty fearsome fungus there. Will we get to see the new shiny versions?


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## Devils Chariot

Rahn, these are awesome! Your a brilliant haunter! Bravo!


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## Rahnefan

Thanks! Sure, I'll post some pix when I can get them out in the woods. It's s'posed to rain for a few days.


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## ScreamingScarecrow

These props rock! A really cool haunting idea!


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## Rahnefan

*Update*

Here's the finished shrooms out in the ivy along the path to the Witch Hunter's Barn.


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## fick209

They look right at home out along the path! I love how unique each one is. Very cool and very well done!


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## Spooky Dave

Dang, those are awesome! Incredible detail on the painting!


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## Rahnefan

Thanks guys. 

My server was down for a while so there were no pix...looks like they fixed it.


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## lisa48317

Those are amazing! You have the perfect setting for them, too!


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## niblique71

WOW Rahnefan, They look fantastic!!! Yours look soo much better than mine..... More whimsical, and full of fantasy and evil. I especially love the mushroomlettes growing off the bigger guys. It sort of give the impression that it's thier way of reproducing. This has been a very inspirational thread for me. THANKS


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## Rahnefan

Funny niblique - I like yours better.


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## DandyBrit

I can just see these in our Halloween display at work. They would be bigger than some of the kids!


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## Great Pumpkin

Oh wow this is GREAT!!!!! LOL! Awesome idea!


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## tallahassee

Creeepppy looking mushrooms....I absolutely love them!


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## Bethene

OMG! how did I miss these,, they are SO cool! love the eyes,, and shape, curlyness of them, if that makes sense!


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## ElviraGultch

Different...


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