October 27, 2005

It's been a few days since I have had time to post anything.  I have been working both at home and for another company and dealing with a ton of things unrelated to Halloween...

I did manage to get the pizza sauce barrel set up at the pizza place.  So far the gang there seems to be having fun with it.  The only adjustments we've had to make were to the exhaust valve where the sound was designed to come from.  We tried a few different balloons with some success, but until I was finally able to find a whoopee cushion at a local department store we never quite got the sound right.

Little Pizza Paradise here in Bend Oregon is where the prop is spending it's time currently.  If you are in the area, you should stop by and have a slice of pizza and check the prop out.  Deb and Kirby (the owners) are great people and really go over the top for their customers.  Their pizza and calzones are darn good too - some of the best I have had.
The barrel prop is sitting in the corner toward the front of the restaurant. I stopped in tonight to check in on the prop and get some dinner.  While I was at it I got some video of the prop in it's home there at the restaurant.	(click on image for video)
It's hard to make out, but here's a shot of the regulator, solenoid, bypass valve & switching extension cord.  The clear vinyl tube goes to the whoopee cushion inside the barrel. The whole assembly plugs into a standard household outlet and a 60 PSI compressed air line. The staff at the pizza place have a small (little larger that matchbook sized) remote control that they can carry in their pocket and use to activate the prop from anywhere in the restaurant.

That prop is finished, but I still have one more barrel prop to get hooked up for an event this Saturday night.  I am renting out my toxic barrel prop to a local video store for the evening.  I still have not constructed the pop-up platform for that one and I have work tomorrow, so it's going to be a busy Friday night and Saturday morning to get everything finished and delivered on time.