Halloween Pre-Prop Decorum

[Daddy's Little Corpse]

Dunno if this is in the right place, but...

Amidst a streak of staggering good luck finding things for halloween at the curb (one woman's junk is another's halloween prop) I've been having a pretty good run finding things online via evil bay too. Today however I came across an interesting conundrum...

I won a LOT of baby dolls that I will have quite the time dismembering and doing all sorts of gorey improvements to for my haunt and this morning I got an e-mail from the seller about some doll in the pics being a mistake and not included, blahblahblah. I politely responded that it didn't matter and yeah, I would still like them. In her response to that she said that they've all recently been carefully hand washed and prepped for a new owner. "Are they for play? Do you collect? Are they for resale?"

No. Death and dismemberment.

I suppose play falls under that category, right? I felt a sudden pang of guilt-- a rarity to be sure. How would this person feel if they knew what it was she was sending her babydoll collection off to become? Burned, sliced, melted, gutted, sewn together, hot glued, impaled...

Of course I didn't tell her. I can only imagine how I would feel knowing something I sold was going off to a child and a happy existence, so why tell her the truth and give her a coronary OR even worse, have her cancel the sale.

I get that question a lot from people: "What are you going to do with this?" I have no shame most of the time and hone up, but I dunno.... today, this was different. Maybe because I'm in the midst of working on a kids show and I'm supposed to be tuned in to being "toned down"-- don't wanna traumatize anyone!:sick:

So how about you guys? How do you deal? Anyone ever make you feel guilty?

[Aelwyn]

Well, if she loves them so much, she wouldn't have e-bayed them, now would she????

I wouldn't feel guilty. She put them up for sale, you bought them, now you can do as you please with them.

Or maybe I'm just a callous bitch.

[Daddy's Little Corpse]

Well, if she loves them so much, she wouldn't have e-bayed them, now would she????

I wouldn't feel guilty. She put them up for sale, you bought them, now you can do as you please with them.

Or maybe I'm just a callous bitch.

I said it was a pang of guilt which has come and gone. Now I'm laughing manically in an "if she only knew" way.

[Aelwyn]

I said it was a pang of guilt which has come and gone. Now I'm laughing manically in an "if she only knew" way.

LOL! ;) That's a girl!

You should send her pics..... :eek:

[spidermonkey]

I imagine this little old lady telling her little dollies stories of their new home while she is bathing and dressing them.

LOL! As long as there only pangs of guilt.

This morning, before going to Home Depot to buy some supplies for a halloween project, my husband and I stopped for breakfast at a local diner. We're sitting there in a booth looking at plans for a toe-pincher coffin before we realized that might look a little odd to "normal" people. We got a little worried that the waitress was going to send over the cop sitting at the breakfast counter and he would be thinking that we were planning a murder or something...

[dave the dead]

Tell the seller you work closely with children and plan on displaying them in a most extraordinary way, and that you promise to send her pictures as soon as your display is all set up.

[Ghoul Friday]

Last year was my first time painting/papermaching dolls I'd picked up at Value Village (second hand store), and I DID have a pang of guilt when I was chopping some of the hair off one (the doll that became Clarissa, for those of you who remember). I actually stopped for a second, looked at this doll who must have spent most of its existence being driven around by children in little strollers, and said "I swear, I'm making you look cool and you'll be loved again".

But like you, it was fleeting. ;)

hehe and before Pyro has a chance to say it...yes, I have trouble with time and I speak to inanimate objects *grin*

[Aelwyn]

I imagine this little old lady telling her little dollies stories of their new home while she is bathing and dressing them.

That's creepier than what Ghoul Friday is planning on doing to them! O.O

[Tyler]

I know what you guys are sayin'. I often get weird looks/responses at from people at yard sales, thrift stores etc. when i tell them its for a Halloween prop...........but i get over it. Besides, yard haunts make people happy anyway. One time when i was buying a suit i am using for a new pumpkin guy this year, the guy at the trift store said, "you can try that on if you want". I just said, well its for something......else.

[Evil Eyes]

Great story DLC. I just bought a whole bunch of dolls at a thrift store this week and had the same thought. If anyone knew I was cutting out the eyes, chopping the limbs off, etc. they would probably never sell them to me. This week I also bought a bunch of old perfume bottles from a Catholic thrift store to make some potion bottles for my witches coven display. The old woman asked me what I do with them and of course I had to lie and told her I just display them. I didn't want to give her a nervous breakdown!

[Tyler]

Why do people always have to ask? Why do they care? haha:)

[Bloodhound]

I just recently decapitated a Teddy Bear for a prop. The funny thing was that no one at my house wanted to witness this. Why?

[sharpobject]

I have the same feelings about "fixing" a wedding dress. Eventually, I'd like to get my hands on one - but I'll only get it from a thrift store. I go to alot of yard sales, and I just can't buy a wedding dress off of a person knowing I'm going to damage it- I'd rather the seller be anonymous.

[Lilly]

She was probably cleaning them cuz they were in a box in the basement that is all musty or flood damage..
yeah I would say of course thier for paly "Child's Play" muahahahah

I have no prob chopping a doll up, I hate them, but a teddy bear (shame on you Blood..LOL) that I prob wouldn't do.

[Daddy's Little Corpse]

Oh man, Evil Eyes! A Catholic thrift store?! I know it's wrong, but I think I'd have to mess with them just a little, but only if it was a younger person working behind the counter. I don't mess with old people. Though I do enjoy telling my grandmother what I've got planned for things. She'll comment on something being so pretty or cute, then I explain what I have it for and she freaks out on me every time.
I just wish she'd keep her promise to disown me. Still, it's good for a laugh.

Lilly- Baby dolls and porcelain dolls ESPECIALLY, I have no qualms at all when it comes to wrecking them. They freak me out, therefor they must die.
I have some plans for teddy bears too, but I get them from thrift stores and let my dogs "play" with them so I don't have to do the dirty work.

[Esmerelda]

I love knowing I'm not the only one who "regular" people give second looks to. Today I actually had a woman who owns an old Hardware store GIVE me 10 sheets of plywood when I started telling her what I was doing with them. Seems she loves halloween and hasn't been able to celebrate it in a long time. What a great Gift!

[Daddy's Little Corpse]

Hehe. "Regular people".

That's beyond cool about the plywood. My director's giving me all the pink styrofoam scraps from our production just for Halloween! She's always shoving things in my hand from the props/set room "here, can you use this? Just take it."

[Bone Dancer]

I like Daves suggestion but I don't think I would promise pictures. If a white lie makes someone else feel better about them selves, what does it hurt.
My local hardware knows me as the halloween guy and always ask what I am making with the parts I buy. I guess if I am going to deal with someone more then once I tend to explain what I am doing. Other wise I just tell them its for craft projects and leave it at that.

[Dr Morbius]

This thread is funny as hell...LOL! There are some engineers at work that promised me motors after I told them what I do. I can't figure out if when they tell me it's cool what I do is the truth, or they are just trying to be nice.

[Bone Dancer]

Believe me Doc, they are just trying to be nice. Much in the same way you talk to a crazy person so they dont go off the deep end right there in front of you. If they have a nervous smile at the time, you'll know.

[Daddy's Little Corpse]

What really gets me are the people in stores that sell the Halloween stuff three months beforehand that give you dirty/odd/scared looks. They're the ones that are fun to mess with. Last year when everything Halloweenish went up, my Mom and I had armloads of stuff. The girl that checked us out gave us this look-- I gave her a big grin and said "we're doing our Christmas shopping" and dearest Momsy (who laughs at everything) gave this wonderfully loud strange giggle-- you should have seen how big the chicks eyes got.

I don't think I've ever been checked out of Michaels so quickly before or since.

Then there are the smart-asses who say "getting ready for Halloween?" To them I say-- "Halloween? Are you nuts? That's months away! No, I'm just redecorating."

Then there's the chick at AC Moore who's become my coupon buddy. I always seem to get her when I go in with a coupon. She's quite numb to me by now. She just shakes her head, grins and rings up whatever skellie I bring up to her-- and that's pretty much all I've been buying from them. Though I bought a mug the other day... no coupon needed though. :)

[thegothicprincess]

How come when I go into Home Depot I never can find help. Then when I finally find what I need, headed to the checkout counter. Some guy walks over and says hey can I help you. I say nope got everything covered. He says what you building. I say coffin (get the strange look) then ohh for halloween. He says to me you got a strange hobby. I shake my head. So yeah I know what you guys are talking about. I can hear them talking as I am leaving. That chick there is going to build a coffin..