Don't call me Lucky.

Whew! *sigh of relief*

I just got through my "Hell Week".

And by "Hell Week".....I mean the most awesomely awesome spectacular high point of an already freak-tastic splendid October.

I only call it "Hell Week" because it almost broke me. (And I knew it would before I signed up for it because I'm nuts.) Seriously. I averaged 4-5 hours of sleep per night from October 12-October 19. Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining. AT ALL. Just tired of people who call me "lucky". "Lucky" is not the word that should be used for hard working tired people. You can call me "determined"....I'll take that. :) Oh, and I'm only "lucky" to have found the most supportive husband on the planet to help me through it all. I think he washed about 14 loads of dishes, 5 or 6 loads of laundry and kept our kids alive and healthy through all of this. (mmmwha kisses)

So my awesome "Hell Week" started the BEST way possible! I felt honored to have the opportunity to work with KTVB Channel 7 and do some makeup for their big political debates. Political opinions aside, I got to work on some amazing people! I'm not going to say who, because that doesn't matter as much. They were all so kind to me and it's so nice to see these people go through normal human emotions. Having a political debate on Idaho's Most Watched news station is not easy on the most experienced of candidates and I got a micro glimpse into these candidates lives. I wish them all the best!

Here's me with Dr. Weatherby behind the scenes. I got the feeling that he didn't like being in the makeup chair. My apologies Sir! ....but you looked fantastic!

Two awesome night of debates with KTVB Channel 7 was followed by:

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!

Idaho Horror Film Festival! (click on logo to check out their Facebook page)

I was asked to do some makeup for them for a promo night that they were having for the event. I had the best ever super assistant that I could ever ask for (Teagan Cameron). We had a blast! All the makeups had to be done quickly....so nothing too scary came together.  But this is what we came up with:

AND THEN CAME........TREE CITY COMIC CON!!

Boise's first Comic Con.....

My first Comic Con as a vendor....(SyFyDAD and myself doing a demo)

and My first Comic Con as a cosplayer! (Me as my alternate persona @alkali_layke)

I even got to pose with some well known beauties! @leeannavamp @joanniebrosas and the super fantastic @hotnerdgirl!

I have to say.....Hot Nerd Girl is quite impressive! She really knows her nerd knowledge...and she's super cute to boot! AND.....I loved her mom (Mama Jedi!!!). Here is SyFyDAD playing some major creeps on Mama Jedi!:

This whole weekend was a dream come true! Here I am on my VERY FIRST panel as an expert in Special effects, Cosplay Makeup and Prop Making. I'm pictured with Matthew Gray (The Klingon) and Bill Duran with Punished Props. These two guys are super awesome. I was so impressed by Bill with Punished Props! This dude really knows what he's talking about. Teach me Obi One Kenobi!

Lastly for the pics......me and SyFySIS in front of my booth. She makes a lovely Maleficent don't you think? I was so happy to share my first ever Comic Con with my kids. (The pic with SyFyBOY didn't turn out.....he's shying away from cameras lately). I've always said that I'll enjoy things more through their eyes than with my own. I swear I'm going to show these SyFyKIDS everything. I don't want to see the Sistine Chapel someday unless it's right next to them! But....that's a far off dream....so we'll start with Tree City Comic Con!

Well, that's it.....the "Best Ever Can't Wait To Do It All Again In A Week (umm....no...never again)" Hell Week ever!!

Maybe next time I'll schedule better! At least my Physical Therapist is enjoying my company (neck/back.....oucch!!).

The RAW Experience

It has been WAY to long since I posted! I did my RAW Runway Showcase way back in June and I'm finally getting around to talking about it.

First of all, what is RAW? RAW is an independent arts organization, for artists, by artists. If you're interested in showcasing as a RAW artist you can find more information at this link: http://www.rawartists.org/about  However, you'll have to showcase in another city. They have cancelled (forever??) RAW:Boise.

Dumb.

Nah, I'm not bitter. I'll just never know how well my showcase was received, and there will be no voting or opportunity to compete regionally. Worst yet...the FABULOUS Unique Irish had created a phenomenal show as well and will have to show it elsewhere. (More secret info about THAT coming soon too!!)

Anyhow....

My inspiration behind my concept for the RAW show was the hit television show Game of Thrones. I'm completely hooked! I VERY LOOSELY came up with characters inspired by ICE & FIRE. Watch the show....you'll see.

I fused the concept with the idea of a Creature Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

You know, because that was the obvious thing to do.

Duh.

This blog will talk about most of the process of getting ready for the showcase. The show was a complete success and I couldn't be happier. It feels like everyone helped me pull it off. Of course, the SyFyKIDS helped too. I specifically came up with projects that they could help me out with. Like this one: Paper Machet Evil Queen Crown

They had fun. Er.....they made a mess. SyFyMOM went SyFyCRAZY.

But really...I did my best to make my work fun for the kiddos.

Here are a few pics detailing the process of how I came up with my Whitewalker character. I sculpted and molded my creation and then poured my mold with GM Foam Latex. SyFySis is modeling the prosthetic below. My kids aren't afraid of anything anymore.

I also convinced SyFyBRO to help me clean up my sculpting armature. They'll be pros before I know it.



I'm trying to keep this short but there is SO MUCH TO TELL! I'm so proud of my husband and myself. We put it all out there and tried our best. We love special effects makeup and are so happy to share what we love with our favorite city. Here are a few of our favorite candid photos from the night:

This is our little superstar J-Eis (pronounced ICE). She shocked us all! She seemed so innocent at first and then rocked the runway! Special thanks to Adam and Eve Boise for helping us out with all of our corsets and sexy accessories.

Our Whitewalker, and also amaze-balls director of the film I worked on called The Other Side of September (which will be in a future blog post), photobombing SyFyDAD and myself.

SyFyDAD with our body paint kitties. Yes...they're naked.

This is Nadine from Serendipity Boutique. She donated the amazing jewelry that our Snow Cat wore. Thanks Nadine!

Backstage wardrobe adjustment of SyFyDAD on Dragon Princess (affectionately known as Baby Dragon by us crazy folk).

This is just one crazy bitch. She'll probably even like that I said that. Don't look in those eyes too long. Fuh-reaky.

Okay enough pics.

Okay I lied. I'm going to do another post with all my professional pics with all of the awesome photographers that helped out.

But first....

WATCH THE RUNWAY VIDEO! Put together by Peter Bumbarger of Spacetime Photography.  Stay for the credits to see all the amazing peeps involved. Click on the pic below to watch:

And then after that...

I know, I know, one more thing.

Watch the interview video that I did as a RAW ARTIST: Click the Pick!

Thanks for reading friends! I'm sorry I'm so behind on everything.....I'll blog about the film I worked on next!

May the Fourth be AGAINST YOU

Oh. Me.

So May the 4th is supposed to be a cool thing. SyFy geeks all across the globe are celebrating it's awesome significance. Still don't get the reference? Maybe this will help:

Still don't get it? Then stop reading. This blog just isn't for you.

Well, the day started off "with me". May the 4th was seriously bringing it's awesomeness. Me and my SyFyFAM went out to breakfast with one of my favorite "lost boys" (love him! Oh, and I think I'm Wendy.) We retrieved a vehicle (um....cuz we stayed out lates the night befores). I did TWO loads of dishes and TWO loads of laundry start to finish (and that's significant because I often leave clothes in the wash for days and then have to rewash.....and rewash). We also kept my SyFyKIDS alive, nourished, and happy. SyFyDAD relocated sprinkler boxes (massive undertaking). AND....sat through the 137th time of watching FROZEN.

Yes, I would say that the FOURTH was WITH ME.

I decided to finally mold the massive sculpt I've been working on for the last few days today as well. You know, because I didn't have enough going on. The sculpt was supposed to be my version of Darkness from the crap-tastically awesome 80's movie LEGEND. Here is the picture of Darkness (whom I'm obsessed with):

And.....here is the COWL portion of my sculpt: (the cowl is the portion of the mask MINUS the face)

The pic above is MINUS the horns and minus the face. These are typically made as seperate pieces.

I felt pretty much like an amazing SyFyMOM today. Especially after I molded this beauty all while watching the kids play outside and watching my husbands cute butt fix the sprinklers. This pic shows it all (minus the hubbs cute butt. he was busy doing man stuff in the garage.):

Anyhow, that's the last of the pictures BECAUSE (!!!!) May the Fourth Be With You turned into May the Fourth Be AGAINST YOU!! ARGHHH!!!

My mold locked. Badly. There was no saving it. AND....it's because I was being dumb....AND trying to save time....AND thinking I was more awesome then I am. (Insert a palm slap to the forehead HERE)

So...what does it mean when your mold "locks". Well, in my case, it happened because of a few thousand "undercuts" I chose to ignore. Probably because I was busy trying to convince SyFyKID#1 that the PinaColada Popsicle was actually orange flavored. He didn't buy it so we settled on the mysterious blue flavored one. Which basically meant I had to eat the PinaColada one or throw it out. I ate it. I HATE PinaColada. And hence.....locked mold. (Or something like that)

Also, picture this: trying to fit a square peg through a round hole. THAT is a locked mold.

Oh. Me.

I sort of wanted to cry like a little baby because my beautiful beautiful sweet sweet baby DARKNESS cowl was ruined.

But I didn't. I let my SyFyHUBBS watch me struggle for an hour while I pouted and chipped away at my disastrous 50lb piece of crap-tasticness. I thought I was pouting in that adorable damsel in distress way, but at the look of pity he gave me I'm pretty sure that I looked like a hot mess. Looking down at my size-too-small yoga paints and my plaster covered hands I knew that he was just trying to speed along the process so that my sorry ass could get in the shower.

Seriously though.....SyFyHUBBS took the hammer and chisel in his hands and had that bad boy crumbled into a million bits before I knew it. MY HERO!!

Anyhow, me and ED (that's my male armature) (that sounds dirty....but it's not) are currently on a "break". He just pissed me off with that whole "mold locking" thing. I'm pretty sure it was all his fault. Don't worry. I put a couple chisel marks in his head. AND...a few hammer dents.

MEN! Argghhh......

My "Ross" from FRIENDS tanning incident.

I've determined that sometimes I am just unlucky.

I think the universe has a way of balancing itself out. If things are going well for you and the sun is shining and the birds are singing then SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN. Balance. It's okay. I get it.

So here's the story....

I've been making my husband kinda crabby lately because I've neglected to cancel a membership that has been drawing a fee from our bank account. It's not a huge fee....just $5 a month. It was a "stay and save" package price for putting an old tanning membership on "hold".  My recent skin issues mean that I CANNOT see sun (or the artificial kind) ever again. EVER. It's my kryptonite. Knowing this, my husband has nagged me for TWO YEARS to cancel it.

Uggghhh.

Anyhow, the peeps at someplace that sounds like Calm Peach Tan hooked me up by converting those dollars to a sunless tanning package. Perfect. Right?

That's what I thought. LUCKY ME!! Boom Boom.....$120 bucks baby to spend on looking tan.

*tisk *tisk *tisk

I should have known better. I work in a salon that provides airbrush spray tanning. I've seen what the walk-in booths can do, and I've convinced TONS of people not to use booth sunless tanning.

So....the super stunning brunette girl with butterfly eyelashes (not kidding, butterfly eyelashes) takes me to the tanning room and walks me through the routine. Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm a professional. Besides, I couldn't listen to her. She blinked a lot. I mean, A LOT. It looked like butterflies were dancing before me right on her face. Odd.

Anyhow, I thanked her as she left and began the routine. Undress. Hair Net. Barrier Creme. More barrier creme. I'm so good at sunless tanning. I pretty much apply a perfect application of barrier creme every time. I could teach this stuff.  No orange hands and feet for this girl.

Step in the machine. Left foot in position #1. Right foot in position #3. Check. Check.

And...................GO!

And...................shit. Something's wrong.

The mother f-ing machine decided to lock up and spray continually on my stomach. It's a jet stream of a sticky stinky orange potion blasting at me.

Against my better judgement, I just stand there.    ----Staring at it.       ----Thinking it will stop.

A new method? It's going to move right?

No. It's not.

And..............I panic. Pure total Panic.

I'm locked in this tiny tiny room and I can't breathe. No really, I can't breathe. I'm being pummeled with icy cold ick and the room is quickly filling up with over spray. AND........THE.DOOR.WONT.OPEN.

It's stuck.

I pretty much just stand there flapping my hands up and down and shrieking like a little girl. My legs are streaming with streaks of the liquid and I'm now standing in a puddle of oopa loompa orange.

Finally, I breathe. IN/OUT....and get the door to open. It wasn't stuck. I was just pulling not pushing. *Palm smack to the head. I hop out and slam the door on the disaster that's happening in the booth and immediately start wiping my body down with the towel provided and about an entire pack of baby wipes. For those of you who don't know, baby wipes are genius. They freaking clean anything.

I think I'm pretty cleaned up, so I put the towel around me and pop my head out the door and yell (politely, i think) for the butterfly lash girl to come get me. She won't come. I'm immediately reminded that Effie from "The Hunger Games" had butterfly lashes.

This is it. I'm in  the Suburbia Hell Hunger Games. Every woman's nightmare.

They're trying to break me. I know it.

I yell again for her. I AM NOT putting my clothes back on, damn it. I wore THREE layers!

I ask for her again (umm...maybe not so politely) and this time she comes running.

She's apologizing excessively, and once again, I cannot listen. Can she see? Doesn't that bother her? It's like I'm in a trance, and before I know it I'm agreeing to try a different machine. How did she do that? I had quit I'm telling you. Quit. I was going to lay down a few choice words and leave that place in the dust. I had also already planned a scathing Google review. I was going to show them I tell ya.

Yes, I'll upgrade to the Vanilla scented tan. Thank you.

What??!!! This girl needs a raise. I hear that those butterfly lashes come in multiple colors. She'll need to order more. They're magic.

So....I'm sure you all want a pic. Well, my expert clean up skills took care of most of the mess on my body. But...here's a delightful picture of my feet. See the run marks? Yep...they go up my leg.  Grrrr.....

I might need to change my screen name from SyFyMOM to SyFyEXPERIMENT. I sure look like one. *wimper *sadface

What's next for SyFyMOM?

Let's see...where do I begin?

I think I'll start with a big THANK YOU to all of my readers and supporters. I might also need to include a "SORRY" to anyone who was around me at all in March! Boy can I get crabby when I'm stressed! I hit an all time high on the crazy-o-meter this last month. I think they need to invent a term for people who have OCD and ADD. I'm not clinically diagnosed (nor do I intend to take any intention to do so!) but I'm pretty sure I have some level of both. Sometimes the combination equals PURE AWESOMENESS! My attention to detail and hyper energy have led me to some major wins in my pocket. However, it can also lead to "What the hell is she doing now?"

Anyhow, some of you know that I applied for FaceOFF (it's a show on the SyFy channel, and it's super cool). I'm not going to talk about the processes that go behind such a venture, I certainly don't want anything I say to get in the way of me applying again someday (because I WILL apply again!). All I can say is that it was very fun and that I loved every minute of it. Guess what? People in the television industry are really nice! I've definitely been misinformed about people from Los Angeles. Every single person I spoke with was exceptionally helpful and kind.

SQUIRREL!

AND......back to why I was a crazybitch in March.....

Anytime you start something new, it's just that...NEW! I decided to launch myself into the makeup world FuLL StEaM aHEAD!! I thought that things would develop slowly and that I would walk before I ran. Nope. I should know better. That's not how I do things. >>>>>>RUN!!! My world changed quickly and took off like a rocket ship. Who knew? I certainly didn't. I generally underestimate myself. Opportunities popped up left and right and I did my best to keep up with all of them, along with work a full time job, apply for FaceOFF, and raise a family.

Cuh-razy.

So, here we are in April preparing for what's next. As mentioned in my previous post (click here to read), I have a RAW Artist show coming up in June. BUT....before then....I will be helping out a dear friend with her RAW Artist event. I will be assisting the lovely Daisy Mae with whatever she may need. Makeup! Hair! Flowers! She will be showcasing in the category of HAIR and I wish her the best. Please come! I'd love to see everyone there in support. Here is a link to buy tickets: http://www.rawartists.org/boise/spectrum

You remember Daisy Mae....she was my beautiful TIGRESS! Go support her!

AND NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS!!!

My friend Will is directing a movie that will be filmed right here in Boise! I'm so excited because he asked me to be the Department Head of Hair and Makeup. This.Is.A.BIG.Deal.For.Me! Not only will this be my first film, but I'm proud to say that it will be a great film. Will has created something that is funny and intelligent. I think all of you will fall in love with his characters. I'm excited to help bring these characters to life and CANNOT WAIT for the filming process to begin!

Just to add a little visual to this post.....I just stood up and did a happy dance. You know, typical white-girl terrible stuff. I don't drop it like it's hot. I drop it like luke-warm lumpy potatoes.

luke-warm...lumpy...potatoes...

Sexy, I know.

Zombie Horse with Blood Legs??

Our SyFyFAM activity of the week was : SKETCH!

Usually, my little miss draws beautiful creations like bunnies and rainbows. Or...she gets creative and draws rainbow bunnies. Everything in her sweet little 3 year mind is basically happiness and sunshine. Her sketches usually look like this: (I think she's super talented!)

See! Super cute! So....you could imagine my surprise one day as we were drawing when I saw her in the middle of creating this:

Hmm...."What are you drawing sweetheart?" To which she replied, "A zombie horse. It's for you, because you make monsters."

(ACKK!!!!) (mommy alarms in the head)......Say what?!

She further elaborated with "Oh, and I'm going to give it legs made out of blood. Blood legs. Oh, and zombie blood flowers."

I let her know how sweet she was and thanked her for the beautiful drawing and then sent her outside to play. Uh oh....my husband and I are doing our best to NOT raise serial killers! Where did I go wrong?! After my momentary freak out (this one will NOT go on the fridge), I decided to consult my sketch book:

Yep...I definitely like sketching monsters. But, I have a great reason! I promise! I'm trying to break into the special effects industry and bring something really cool to our little city. Sketching is where I start with my concept, and then after the sketch comes the sculpting. The sketch is a really important step in the whole process. It's also the easiest part of what I do that I can allow my kids to participate. I love having them next to me! We regularly sketch together: (Left: My devil in progress, Center: my little girl's monkey, Right: my son's rocket ship)

So, is it too much for them? I had to think>>>>and think>>>>>and think.

The answer was: NO. It's not too much for them.

What's really cool about our little SyFyFAM is that our kids have a really great perspective of what's real and what's not. They know that monsters don't exist (except for stangers. STRANGERS=BAD) and that they are something that people create. They DON'T live in their closets. They DON'T live under their beds. They are made out of foam, silicone, rubber, and paint. AND....they are fun to make.

I took a long moment that day to watch my little girl play outside in her pink tutu and bare feet. She loves the wind in her hair, flowers, rainbows and sunshine AND she's not afraid of anything. Oh, except ants. Yep, I think were doing okay. But just to be sure.....I'm going to sketch a super beautiful fairy and face paint my little miss to match. That will be next weeks SyFyFAM activity!

I like the word AMAZEBALLS....a lot.

Watch out...I'm about ready to open up! (This is hard for me. My walls rival the ones in China.)

Okay, here goes.....I don't like showing my work to people. In the past I've rarely taken pictures of what I do or even talked much about some of my skills. I'm super possessive over my sketches...much like a diary. Recently one of my co-workers (The Pixie One) saw a sketch in my sketch book, I swear, it was like 5 alarms went off in my head! I didn't know what to do in that 1/2 second of panic. But...this amazing thing happened: She liked it! I'm not sure why I do this to myself. There is absolutely no reason to put myself through so much torture.

So I've made a promise to myself. I'm going to put myself out there. I'm going to stand up for my own work and accept all forms of compliments or criticism. So there.

It's actually not the criticism that bothers me. It's the compliments. I have a really hard time accepting compliments. My awesome work friend (The Snarky One) pointed this out to me recently and it helped spark my resolve to change.

A lot of you have been asking what I've been up to lately, especially since my Facebook posts have been rather vague. I have a GIANT opportunity I'm waiting to hear about. It's a gigantic MAYBE. I'll share whenever I can. But...if that amazing-awesome-superwoman-cool-thing doesn't happen I have something else in the works (which depends on if the super-awesome-amazeballs-oh-my-God-thing happens or not).

So.....tentatively....I invite you all to witness my first public work of art. I will be presenting at the Powerhouse Event Center on June 19th as a Boise RAW Artist. Once again, UNLESS super-awesome-tummybutterflies-major-thing happens.

A link to my Artist Page can be found here: 

http://www.rawartists.org/lanawilliams

This is going to be big. REALLY BIG!I'm going to present something at this RAW show that this city has never seen before! Wake up Boise...here I come! Well....unless the super-awesome-lightningstrike-thing happens.