Cobwebs overtook the bridge to the tree house, smoke rolled over the stairs to the castle-turned-crypt, and one designer even created a giant monster head to go over his door, making anyone who entered, dinner for the beast. A full haunted house was constructed, complete with “REDRUM” painted on the walls and treats for any survivors.

While the Halloween party featured all of these and more, the biggest stars were the costumes. As to be expected of company full of “Creationeers”, each costume was chalked full of innovative thinking. While seeing Jigsaw or Papa Smurf may not be too out of the ordinary, what about a dining room table, complete with meal and flower centerpiece headdress?

That’s just the beginning. Despite the normally cheerful vibe the company radiates, some employees tapped into their darker sides for a healthy dose of macabre…The mounted head of Bambi’s mother was not a costume for the faint of heart.

But perhaps the most hilarious and ingenious is the marriage between childhood innocence and the sweets that Halloween is (in)famous for: giant PEZ dispensers of Calvin and Hobbes. Certainly not another Elsa or Minion.

Awards were handed out for categories such as: Best Group Costume, Best Company Theme Costume, Best Costume Costume, and of course, a Best Overall Costume award.

Such creativity reflects just what Inventionland is about: a creative workplace to foster innovation and make mere ideas into tangible reality. It promotes not just employee (and visitor) satisfaction, but an immersive atmosphere that proves that there’s no such thing as a bad idea.

And most certainly no bad costumes.

The post When Creativity Meets Halloween… appeared first on Inventionland.

Prototype Builder, Ryan, works with his hands each day to build innovative creations at Inventionland; that’s why we wanted to share with you his Halloween costume that he created on his own personal time.

Check out the great detail that was put into this creepily-good Halloween costume. We think it’s safe to say we never want to be on Ryan’s bad side – his zombie side!

As a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Ryan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Entertainment Design.

It was there that he learned it all: animatronics, props, set design, exhibit design and even special effects makeup.

So, with a background as described, it was only fitting that he channeled his expertise and creativity on his Inventionland Halloween Party costume.

It was at this event that he debuted and displayed his first attempt at creating an amazingly-detailed zombie mask that he molded and created on his own.

“I have done other makeup projects in the past, but I’ve never done zombie makeup before. So, I thought it was a good time to do it,” said Ryan.

The project began with Ryan having to create a “life cast” of his own head, which served as the base for the mold of the mask.

Once he sculpted the head, he then used resin to help in the mold process.

While making the mold, he used metal shims to create a “dividing mold,” so that he would end up with two separate molds – a front half and a back half of the head.

The metal shims are necessary, so that there’s a separation between the two parts of the mold.

For this project, he used Dragon Skin FX-Pro, which is a soft, stable, high-performance platinum silicone rubber that’s specifically designed for creating silicone makeup appliances and skin effects.

“I cleaned all the molds out and put it all back together and injected the silicone through it. It didn’t have enough silicone, so I had to go through a little bit more,” said Ryan.

His zombie mask wasn’t an easy task and along the way, he experienced some difficulties. That didn’t stop him from getting his zombie look just right. In fact, he was “dead” set on maintaining a positive attitude throughout the process.

“Sometimes you get a good casting; sometimes you don’t,” noted Ryan.

Once the mold of the Inventionland zombie head was completed, he worked on a separate jaw piece that was made out of dental acrylic.

“I knew going into it that I wasn’t going to be able to eat or drink anything [at the Halloween party]. It was hard to talk!” said Ryan.

Once the molds were cast and the jaw was created, it was time for the application of the special effects makeup.

“It’s also really difficult to apply makeup on yourself. It gets difficult especially when you have another skin that you have to put on top of yours. Also, the contact lens I wore ended up messing up my eye the day after, but it was well worth it,” said Ryan.

So, how long did it take to create the Inventionland zombie mask?

“The sculpture took me a couple months to do because I nit-picked,” said Ryan.

For a sculpture that took months at home to complete, it took about an hour and a half to apply for the party.

“To apply it, I glued it all down to my face and neck. It gets all glued down and then basic makeup around the eyes and highlighting some parts of the mask,” he said.

The proof is in the pictures that his hard work definitely paid off and now that Halloween is over, we must admit that if we see the Inventionland zombie roaming around our invention factory, we’ll be running in the opposite direction!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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We know that when a bunch of designers and engineers get together for Halloween, they bring their best costume game.

While not everyone at the 2015 Inventionland Halloween party could take away top prizes, there were several inventive costumes that deserve some accolades for their innovation!

Designer Tess upped the ante when she showed up to the Inventionland Halloween party with her “Masquerade Face Off” costume.

Though it might not seem too creepy at first glance, if you look again, you’d be a “bloody” liar if you didn’t think this creative costume wasn’t creepy!

Her inspiration for this costume came from something that she saw online. From there, she was inspired to create her own version.

“I’ve always loved the thought of a masquerade [costume], so it was really fun to make!” said Tess.

So, what all went into the makings of this costume? For starters, she did her usual makeup but then added stage blood where the mask would cover and allowed it to drip as though in her own words, “it was ripped off!”

From there, she turned to Bev, our talented seamstress here at Inventionland, for her expert opinion on her bustle skirt.

“I wanted to have somewhat of a 20^th century feel. I pulled a few feathers from the bustle skirt and neck piece and added it to the side of the mask to help tie it all together.” said Tess.

Finally, the mask was no easy task as Tess informed us; it took quite some time to make it look like her skin in addition to adding the stage blood and stitches. “It was a pretty messy process!” she said.

The Inventionland Halloween party wasn’t the only event where her “Masquerade Face Off” costume made an appearance. In fact, she also wore it at an art gallery showing at Lucifer’s Gallery in Pittsburgh, where she was able to showcase some of her creepier watercolor paintings!

For husband and wife Jon (Builder) and Sharon (Prototype Builder), their costume was a family affair; they even brought their little dog Willow into it, too!

“We wanted to do something together,” said Jon. “Sharon really wanted Willow to be part of it; she loves that dog,” he said.

Both Sharon and Jon worked together to create a jailhouse costume that was made of cardboard.

Sharon painted the entire exterior so that it would look like stones. “She’s an awesome painter!” said Jon, who also did some painting himself.

“I used scrap PVC and metallic paint to make the jailhouse look like it had real iron bars,” said Jon.

The entire costume took about eight to 10 hours to construct and at the party, Sharon played “Jail House Rock” from a Bluetooth speaker that they incorporated into the costume by creating an “old time speaker on the outside of the jailhouse,” Jon noted.

For their jail suits, Sharon and Jon went to Goodwill, where they found a striped baby onesie for Willow and then headed to Home Depot for painters’ suits that they taped off and spray-painted with stripes.

While the pair didn’t take home any top prizes, their jailhouse will now be incorporated in Inventionland Halloween parties for years to come!

The party may be over, but there’s one more insanely creepy character still walking around Inventionland. Check back Monday to see who we’re talking about.

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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At the party, as we previously mentioned, there were monstrous amounts of devilishly-delicious drinks and appetizers, music, masks and so much more, including a Jack-O-Lantern contest and, of course, the highly-anticipated costume contest!

But, before we reveal the three top winners, we can’t forget to mention that Inventionland Designer Tess won first place in the Best Jack-O-Lantern contest with her witchy pumpkin!

Now, on to the main event – the reveal of the three top winners for the costume contest!

This year’s top costume contest bragging rights went to Inventionland Packaging Engineer Shannon, who paraded around our invention factory like a Barrel of Monkeys! Shannon took home the crown and was awarded the Best Overall Costume!

There was no monkeying around when Shannon created this costume. It took her a lot of time to complete!

“It was all cardboard. I would say it took about 20 hours to bring it all together. All I have to say about winning Best Overall Costume is that I am glad people liked it!” she said.

Shannon went on to explain that aside from the actual construction of her costume, creating the perfect fit was also difficult!

“Some of the challenges were attaching it to me, size and proportions, and doing something with the lid. Instead of having it attach to me, it had supports that just rested on my shoulders. I made a quick input model of the bottom part of the barrel to try to get my scaling correct. I only made the bottom part, so whenever the entire barrel was made, it was a bit bigger than I anticipated. I ended up propping the lid up with wedges, but I would say that could have been a little more developed!” she laughed.

Next on the top winners’ list is Inventionland’s Senior Design Manager Clay, who won Best Overall Costume Runner-Up for his Thor costume.

We can’t help but think that Clay might have foreshadowed his costume a few months ago!

“The Thor costume is a testament to the torment I subject my team on the build line to. As a spook of the Geico ‘Hump Day’ commercial, I commonly dress as Thor and harass my fellow builders yelling, ‘Guess what day it be!’ This was the inspiration behind the video we shot a few months ago. Because the Halloween Party was held on ‘Thor’s Day,’ I could not pass up the opportunity to spread my ‘Thor’s Day’ enthusiasm with the entire company.” said Clay.

The only thing missing from his costume was the ability to call down bolts of lightning! “I decided that cookies would serve both as lightning and perhaps a bribe to the judges!”

Now, on to the third and final costume that was one of the three top winners.

Industrial Designer Sarah took home the award for Best Use of Materials for her El Capitan costume that was made from bottle caps!

“There were over 600 bottle caps. It took me about 40 hours to make it. I’ve been collecting bottle caps for over five years, so I had enough to make patterns and fun designs. It was made entirely out of wire and bottle caps. I call it El CAPitan. Get it? Caps? I took my costume out to a competition in Millvale, Pennsylvania over the weekend and won second place there, too! I love the Best Use of Materials category because it is full of handmade, unique costumes.” she said.

Congratulations to all of this year’s costume contest winners! But, the thrill of the Inventionland Halloween party doesn’t stop here! Check back this week for part two of our recap. In the meantime, if you’d like to see more pictures from this hauntingly good party, head on over to the Inventionland Facebook page.

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

The post Three Top Winners at the Inventionland Halloween Party appeared first on Inventionland.

That’s a wrap! In true mummy fashion, the 2015 Inventionland Halloween Party wrapped up without a hitch and turned out to be one of the best Halloween parties to date. Special thanks to the great efforts and planning by Industrial Engineer Sarah and Inventionland’s Michael otherwise known as “Spicy” (Special Operations).

George Davison Studios Vice President of Production Sam acted as emcee for the evening as Halloween party guests entered an extra-eerie Inventionland, filled with spooky fog and creepy music, which echoed from the new haunted house, a big attraction at the party perhaps because of its tricks, but also for its treats.

Spicy treated scared haunted house visitors with themed snacks like Hugs Fruit Barrels (Too Scared! Need a Hug?), Mountain Dew (Bravery Needs Fuel. Do the Dew.), and York Peppermint Patties (Ghost Candy. Feel the chill.).

But, these treats were not the only food that guests enjoyed.

Sarah planned and ordered the main entrees from Carnivores of Oakmont, who she notes did a great job getting the large order of food ready for the party. The Inventionland Halloween party had everything from pot stickers to pepper-jack cheese balls to chicken fingers and more, as well as the beverages.

“Obviously I am a fan of beer, so it was fun to pick out different kinds for everyone. There wasn’t a lot left over, so that had to be a good sign,” said Sarah of the food and beer.

“I really enjoyed being part of the planning committee. It is tough to please everyone in a party as big as this, but I think we did well! Hopefully everyone had as much fun at the party as I had being a part of planning it!” said Sarah.

From the looks of the photos below, it’s safe to say everyone had a ghastly good time. If you’d like to see more fun photos from the Inventionland Halloween party, head on over to the Inventionland Facebook page.

Don’t forget to check back on Monday for an exclusive look at the extremely inventive costumes that took home winning prizes!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

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