the last apothecary, for burning man 2016

[sawdustbear]

Every year at Burning Man, I find myself more and more humbled to be in the company of incredible and passionate doers and makers and artists and friends, full of get-shit-done magic and hard fucking work.

This year, my amazing crew and I built The Last Apothecary, an immersive haunted house set out in deep playa. It was really great, and lots of people loved it, and I don’t quite have the words to express the experiences of the last couple weeks yet.

From the bottom of my weird little space hobo heart, every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

Hey, we made this.

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

We're building things on the moon again.

[sawdustbear]

This is starting to feel like building low poly Counter Strike maps when I was 18, except now it’s three dimensional and takes a lot more time.

[sawdustbear]

Making sure that we meet expectations. I’m not sure what else you thought would be in the Space Loofah cabinet.

#blackrockapothecary #lastapothecary

[sawdustbear]

Another behind the scenes from the shoot this weekend with @jesdru, @gregdestefano and @specialfxican. We got to see a couple of Greg’s images today(you have to wait) and it is MINDBLOWING to me what this pretty straightforward scene turned into.

(This one, however, is a pretty nice look at the Apothecary.)

[sawdustbear]

You know, I spend an awful lot of time dealing with impostor syndrome, but I am really very pleased with our project stickers for the Last Apothecary. Also, an encore for the “you are flammable” sticker, because it is great.

#lastapothecary #blackrockapothecary

[sawdustbear]

Nihilistic prop making day.

[sawdustbear]

I wanted to make a nice thing for Kickstarter backers, so I designed a batch of these Apothecary Log Books. They’ll be in the Apothecary too, to be filled with remedies for heartbreak, shipping manifests, and a drawing of that weird growth of yours.

[sawdustbear]

A temporary home for a new friend.

(We’ll relocate them all before truck load.)

#lastapothecary #blackrockapothecary

[sawdustbear]

This is starting to feel like building low poly Counter Strike maps when I was 18, except now it’s three dimensional and takes a lot more time.

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

A few of our tiny collaged details on the Apothecary’s cabinets. 

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

Hoxsey, our brilliant carpenter/painter/seamstress/cook was talking about someday building a tapestry that chronicles lineage in some way. Because we're about a month to truck load, and obviously have a surplus of time on our hands, we've decided - yeah, let's do that! 

So, we'll now have over a hundred square feet of handwoven tapestry on the ceiling of the Apothecary. And we’ve built this myth, of an old apothecary, on the edge of space, who started a tapestry to honor his dead wife. The rumor of this memorial tapestry spreading, as outer colonists began to bring him things - him finding himself as a chronicler of the history of the outer colonies, and the tapestry evolving into a memorial for loved ones lost in space. We've invented ritual, and tradition - a white strip of fabric used to commemorate a death where no other personal effects remain, the pilgrimage one must take to the Apothecary to have the memory of their dead woven into the tapestry...

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

Things are starting to come together!

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

I look at these pictures, and it feels like a hazy, filtered view of a good day - of cold beer, and a good crew, and great shop dogs, and sawdust and paint and sunburns, and it is all just really great. And then I realize that it’s not really a filtered view at all - things really are just great.

We had a good build day today. 

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

Last Apothecary - Build Week 1-ish (3 days, really).

[blackrockciviliandefensecorps]

Me, Heather, Scott, Scout and Bug.

[sawdustbear]

Before his death, the proprietor of the Black Rock Apothecary was known in the outer colonies for being generally willing to buy anything with a good story. As a result, the shelves of the Apothecary contain some fairly questionable artifacts, amongst the more “legit” items.

Featured today: a parasite infested horn, and some rather odd looking dental molds.

I set up some of our existing props in one of our cabinets today and then felt a little bit intimidated by the density of detail(very many of which are original props, and there’s gonna be things behind all those tiny doors as well) I’m trying to achieve with the Last Apothecary. We’ll do it, of course, and we are good at it. It’s just always odd to think “hey, we’re REALLY going to do this!”

I’m especially excited about the shelf or drawer of questionable dental casts that we will have around. These will be cast in plaster, because I love having varied and interesting textures.

We’re still fundraising for the Last Apothecary, which is a chance to get some of these strange props!

[sawdustbear]

We are still fundraising for the Last Apothecary on Kickstarter! This project is very near and dear to my heart. It combines Burning Man shenanigans, really intense and immersive worldbuilding, haunted houses, deserted space planets, and an exploration of the evolution of ritual and tradition in a future space diaspora. 

The Kickstarter also allows you to own a piece of the Last Apothecary, all designed and fabricated by one of the amazing craftspeople and fabricators working on this thing.

Thank you for your support. <3 

Kickstarter Link!