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The cast and outer stitches were taken out 6 weeks later leaving a nasty, deformed pile of flesh forming an "X". Just in time for the opening of the "X-men" Movie. The inner stitches will stay inside forever. I'm too poor to afford insurance, so I had to pay to the hospital in installments. The bill? $1,200 total. I'm still paying for it. I kept on working.
As I found, defined and practiced my own definition of "Commitment" I dragged on to complete all that was left to do. I couldn't quit it now. I was in the finishing stages.
"Stop all this! It's too much for one person. You are pushing yourself too much. There is no pay and it's not worth it. You are making yourself your own bitch" stuff like that I kept telling myself. I had been through so much and come a long way to stop now. Who would ever walk half the desert and turn around when the same distance back is the same left to conquer?..I felt that I was way passed half way, so with more reason, only forward made sence.
It's not a thickheaded, "Macho thing." I always let the desirer and excitement take the best of me. I had always wanted to have one of these packs. I just had been doing it all wrong and carelessly. I feel some things could had been done faster and easier. Raw instinct can take you there, but through the bushes and torns, slowly.
The project was difficult enough on its own. I had to do it all, and by that, I don't just mean propping. I spent endless hours Driving from end to end. North to south shopping. Looking for this place someone told me they sold something, but never existed or closed out years ago. Going after work (midnight) to the home depot and then back home to put some overtime hours. Losing the damn Dremel wrench after I left it right there next to me! Working 'till the last minute before leaving to work. There was always something I forgot and I had to go back and get it. No help from no one to assist me. More shopping on a weekly basis.
Everyday I lost, needed to replace, or ran out of something. It came to a point when I was stuck. I had just lost my heart all together in the project. I kept spending money faster than I could make it. All together, the pack had become a sore subject and everything about it just depressed me. I do regret choosing this project out of tons of smaller projects I could had done instead. Let alone my original projects. But, I continued.
After starring at pack PICS for months, I decoded the different schemes of "Black" all over the prop. It took some research as well as trying out different paints, weathering techniques and happy accidents. Painting a pack glossy black can be as tempting as Britney Spears. DON'T! There is no such thing as a Glossy black pack! Yes, there is gloss here and there, but not everywhere. The gloss you see is not even gloss, but the concentrated flash of the camera bouncing back at you when photographing real packs. The trick is to combine all the different paint schemes and once done they all flow together in harmony.
My final pack cast is a complete empty shell on the inside. There is enough room to place any type of devices such as lights, sound effects,etc. The wand is hollow as well and consist of 2 half-shells joined together. The original Mount hooks, on the movie packs, were vintage Marching band drum hooks supposedly made by Yamaha or some other Japanese company. A former propper up North provided me with a life size pic of the hook before he disappeared. No machinist in the Miami Area were available for such small project or just not available at all. 2 months later, I found someone on the Westcoast who charged me a reasonable price. We worked out a deal and got me some hooks made.
And, As I had info not available to the public on the gun hook, I've had info on all other sort of pack related things. I know a lot more about the pack prop than people think I do. How? Proppers aren't all that open at revealing stuff. But, when professional proppers see the efforts that a young rookie like me places on their self-funded works to be like them, they are very likely to welcome you, take you seriously, open up and reveal a world of things that will blow your mind. People giving "Free" info like nuts simply don't care and degrade proppers work. Proppers are a bit defensive over people like that. Like the Masked Magician who revealed the secrets of illusion on national TV. Tons of people like to know how, but that little group who created it all aren't too crazy about it. |
