DO NOT BETRAY US........
So my husband had a brilliant idea for how to decorate the yard for Halloween this year...we'd turn our front yard into an invasion from 'The Zanti Misfits'!
And I knew I was destined to be up to my elbows in paper mache.
If you've never seen this marvelous, campy episode of the original 1960'2 'The Outer Limits' series...well, just go watch it. When I was a kid we were equal parts scared/laughing at the alien Zantis, which looked like over sized Potato Bugs (also known as Jerusalem Crickets)--nasty, bitey little asshole bugs that have a very high creep factor.
Here's what the Zanti Misfits looked like in the TV show:
And here's a clip of the big battle scene:
Yeah.
And to up the creepyness, the prop guys gave them a stilted, just awful way of moving and gnashing their teeth...and human faces! Every kid I knew recalled these little nightmares with a hard shudder.
Our mission was clear: to introduce a whole new generation to the Zantis!
That meant a whole slew of Zantis, a setup with luckless government guys being overrun, the Zanti spaceship, and sound effects/lighting.
Some things were easier to knock out. I downloaded some audio clips from the TV show; including communications, Zanti & human screams, and the big battle. A portable stereo with speakers set up in the front yard served up the audio.
Most of the work was going to go into making a bunch of paper mache Zantis and their spaceship (which will be crashed on our roof). And since we started planning this on October 8th, there wasn't much time.
So...old-school cheap, grade school building materials to the rescue! To make the Zantis, I first tried plastic Easter eggs for head and abdomen forms, and they looked just the ticket.
Various things were considered for thorax molds. First, a Christmas ornament...
Hmmm....nope.
A track ball from a computer mouse, maybe?
Again...nope.
Then I realized that I'd been resting my molds on the perfect thorax material...the time-honored friend to paper mache artists everywhere, the humble egg carton!
Yeah baby, we got us a thorax!
Doubled-up black pipe cleaners would be used for legs and antennae.
So work began on the Zantis. The first abdomen mold I really wasn't wild about, the bump on top was too high.
But by cutting up some plastic Easter eggs and hot gluing them into place, I got a much more satisfactory abdomen, and with the help of a bunch of old dental instruments, the Zanti production line swung into gear!
Although I found out right away that I needed to cover my mold with waxed paper, so the dried paper mache would come easily off the mold without all that pesky under-the-breath cussing.
Starting to kinda see them now...thorax segments, along with abdomens. The abdomens have purple yarn to create a segmented look. I ended up making something like 28 Zantis, this project pretty much took over the entire living room.
Zanti abdomen & thorax segments progressing...
Layers of various colors add depth, I used brown and black tempera paint, and acrylics for the rest.
And short, mangy-looking tufts of 'fur', because...well, Zantis are all kinds of NASTY.
Testing the pipe cleaner legs...
The heads are made using small plastic Easter eggs as a mold...
I added noses and pointed chins.
And the heads got their first round of paint.
Now-- this is where I hit the stumbling block I'd been dreading, as I'd been thinking for days about how to do the faces.
An artist I am NOT, so I went with 'cartoonish evil' for the Zanti faces. I figured as long as they looked good from a distance...and at night...it might be okay.
Scowling eyes came first.
Then I added pipe cleaner antennae, bushy eyebrows, little scrubby beards, open mouths, and LOTS of pointed teeth. The teeth are made from white cardstock painted with two coats of pearly, luminous acrylic paint.
And--yowzers, we got Zantis!
Again--not great, but they'll do!
It worked out that each Zanti was a bit different. Some looked straight ahead, some had their heads or bodies turned, and their mouths had varied 'gonna bite ya' looks.
The critters get a coat of spray varnish so they won't disintegrate outside. After Halloween, they also got a coat of marine spar varnish--after all, I worked hard on these dumb things, and they're gonna last!
After that, it was time for the fun part--the kid and I setting up the yard.
Sticking Zantis to the house and fences was fun! The fellow on the side of the house on the right in the pic below was especially menacing.
On the screen door, in the potted plants...
Damned things were everywhere!
Even the kid's skeleton was taken down by Zantis.
The government guys were created using disposable painter's coveralls, styrofoam heads, masks and wigs. Bloodshot rubber eyeballs completed the 'death by Zanti' look.
By now it's Halloween night, and I'm still finishing up Zantis and running them out there as it's getting dark.
I lucked out and found a '60's slide projector to set up as fake radio. A round chrome showerhead serves as a microphone, and we added a lantern and a keyboard. The radio operator has a set of headphones with a mic.
Both dead guys were artfully slumped over and covered with Zantis.
Most of the kids commented on the 'giant ants', and even if the things weren't recognized as Zanti's, they were sufficiently creepy. They didn't photograph well at night, but imagine the scene lit and the sound effects playing.
One thing I forgot was to stick a Zanti to the collar of my shirt, and when I answered the door, kinda scratch at my neck and ask the kids, "Do I have a bug on me?"
Heh...
Sadly, I ran out of time and couldn't make the spaceship. But it'll be on the roof next year!
