Blade-of-the-Moon's Art

[triceratops83]

I wouldn't worry about schools not doing tours. As you get more attention, they will come around. Looking at your dinosaurs, there is a lot of educational value there, especially with the raptors. I'm just a lowly state employee but will try to send funds your way when I can. Maybe, one day, I could adopt a small dino.

At the rate Blade's park is growing, it'll soon be seen from space. I'm sure it'll grab everyone's attention! Hey Blade, can't you make a case for educational value with the local school boards?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

lol now that would something. You'd be surprised how many dinos you can wedge into a few acres.

I sent an email to every principal at the local schools last year around September about the Park with a digital version of our brochure attached. I received one reply and haven't heard back from them since. That was out of around 12 schools at the right age level that was teaching dinosaurs as part of their curriculum. One of my aunts is a school teacher and she has told her school about it or so I've been told.  Maybe the popularity of it will just spread til schools are interested. We have had local libraries doing events here, church groups, boy/girl scouts..so we are getting around some.

[fabricious]

Congrats on the Plesiosaurus, the shape came out excellent! You can almost feel the fluidity of its movement. The vinyl makes for a great surface for the marine reptiles, actually.

What material did you use for the head and neck wrinkles (I especially like those)?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Congrats on the Plesiosaurus, the shape came out excellent! You can almost feel the fluidity of its movement. The vinyl makes for a great surface for the marine reptiles, actually.

What material did you use for the head and neck wrinkles (I especially like those)?

They are made from Apoxie Sculpt. A past artistic member told me about it and I've used it more and more since the Allosaurus. Would that I could afford it I would coat the entire animal in it...runs around 30.00 for a 4lbs of it though.

[fabricious]

Ah, fair enough, I have a small portion of that here myself. Sadly it's really expensive, yeah!

Do you already have a color scheme for them?

[Paleogene Pals]

Ha! The only two objects seen from space: the Great Wall of China and Blade's dino park! Sculpting compound is very expensive which is a factor in my decision to sculpt smaller pieces.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

I sent an email to every principal at the local schools last year around September about the Park with a digital version of our brochure attached. I received one reply and haven't heard back from them since. That was out of around 12 schools at the right age level that was teaching dinosaurs as part of their curriculum.

Is it possible for you to send your info directly to the individual departments? I know they'll probably have to ultimately get approval from the principle and probably even their own school boards. But if you can at least at the beginning get your stuff in the hands of the Science and History teachers, then they will also help promote your park to their uppers. You need the these guys/gals on your side. I work for schools a lot as a music director for their plays. (As a matter of fact, I'm doing one right now that opens next week!) Trust me, the principles know 'jack' about what the individual departments would want or like for their field trips. All they care about is the cost. They get tons of advertisements all the time for different extracurricular activities. They simply don't have the time (or want to take the time) to look thru everything in much detail. But get it to the right departments first, and if they like it, then they will make the necessary meetings to get it approved. Hope this helped.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Ah, fair enough, I have a small portion of that here myself. Sadly it's really expensive, yeah!

Do you already have a color scheme for them?

So true..I'd love to coat entire animals with it, but just imagining the cost makes me cringe.

Not as of yet..I am looking through pics though. I'll happily take suggestions. They will be displayed with simulated under water lighting so take that into account.

Ha! The only two objects seen from space: the Great Wall of China and Blade's dino park! Sculpting compound is very expensive which is a factor in my decision to sculpt smaller pieces.

Ah if only...   Yeah I can do baby dinos pretty easy, claws, teeth and small heads..but it gets to taking quite a bit once you past the facial adornment.  I already only buy what's on sale..hence my random color usage.

I sent an email to every principal at the local schools last year around September about the Park with a digital version of our brochure attached. I received one reply and haven't heard back from them since. That was out of around 12 schools at the right age level that was teaching dinosaurs as part of their curriculum.

Is it possible for you to send your info directly to the individual departments? I know they'll probably have to ultimately get approval from the principle and probably even their own school boards. But if you can at least at the beginning get your stuff in the hands of the Science and History teachers, then they will also help promote your park to their uppers. You need the these guys/gals on your side. I work for schools a lot as a music director for their plays. (As a matter of fact, I'm doing one right now that opens next week!) Trust me, the principles know 'jack' about what the individual departments would want or like for their field trips. All they care about is the cost. They get tons of advertisements all the time for different extracurricular activities. They simply don't have the time (or want to take the time) to look thru everything in much detail. But get it to the right departments first, and if they like it, then they will make the necessary meetings to get it approved. Hope this helped.

Cost shouldn't be bad since after renting the bus all it would cost is around a 1.00 a child or whatever they could afford. I had asked about dropping off brochures at each school and I was told all incoming things like that had to go through the principal. I suppose we could encourage visiting kids and parents to get them to the right teacher.  I have even offered to help kids with projects for school if they wanted help. One frequent visitor did make a Backyard Terrors Dinosaur Park diorama for his class..that I didn't put him up to! lol

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Well, when I said cost, I meant the people in charge of the extracurricular monies that can be spent each year have a budget down to the penny. Haha! BUT, rules can be bent, monies can be reallocated. So my main point is get the teachers in certain departments interested first. Then they will do the footwork. Maybe invite some science and/or history teachers by themselves to see your park. Your park is your biggest promotional tool! They will see for themselves how cool it is and then word of mouth goes out to other teachers in their same field ---- chain reaction!

Just trying to think of different angles you might not have tried exactly the same way. You've got something fantastic there and I'm sure very unique for your community and the surrounding areas that I believe should be experienced. We must pass the love of and the education about dinosaurs on to our next generations. It is our lot in life!   Well, that and collect cool toys! Hehe!!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I just mean that that's about the cost and it's so low compared to other trips around here it should be viable to them...quite attractive.   I know for example one local cavern attraction normally charges 12.00 a person for a school group of 50 or more it's "only" 10.00 each.  Some parents I've talked to that visit here have a hard time finding 7.00 for their kids school projects.  I'm not sure how to locate these teachers and get in touch with them without feeling like I'm stalking them. Many don't have emails and phone numbers listed on the school's page.

Here is the message I sent out with help from another local Park manager and his ex-school teacher wife, it mentions exactly what subjects and goals of the curriculum they teach that we offer here :

Hi,

My name is Chris and I'm the Curator of Backyard Terrors Dinosaur Park here in Bluff City, TN. We are hoping we can be of use to local schools as we are now offering field trips to see our Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures here at the Park. Our Park mainly meets and exceeds Tennessee Science State Standard 1.6.1. :

TN.6.0. Life Science: Biological Change: The student will understand that living things have changed over time.

1.6.1. Recognize that some plants and animals that once lived are no longer found on earth. 64


We also touch on :

TN.4.0. Life Science: Heredity and Reproduction: The student will understand the basic principles of inheritance.

1.4.1. Recognize that living things reproduce. 276

1.4.2. Recognize that offspring tend to resemble their parents. 680

1.4.3. Recognize that the appearance of plants and animals changes as they mature. 173

TN.5.0. Life Science: Diversity and Adaptation Among Living Things: The student will understand that living things have characteristics that enable them to survive in their environment.

1.5.1. Recognize the differences among plants and animals of the same kind. 217

1.5.2. Recognize that living things have features that help them to survive in different environments. 537

We show and talk about many related subjects like:

How fossils are discovered.
How different dinosaurs developed different offensives and defenses to survive in harsh environment.
Birds and their relationship to dinosaurs.
Different theories leading up to the end of the dinosaurs reign.

We are open every day, 365 days a year from 9am-9pm.

You can email me here : [email protected]
or call here : 423-391-7017

Attached is a copy of our brochure.

Let us know what day and time you would like to schedule your visit.

Please let me know if I can be of any help answering questions or setting up your trip.



Thank you,

Chris

Chris Kastner
Curator
Backyard Terrors Dinosaur Park

I appreciate and believe the same!

[Meso-Cenozoic]

That looks excellent, Chris! Very nice and thorough.

I guess as far as price and WHO pays for it, I was wondering if possibly the schools would find it in THEIR budgets. So then, it wouldn't matter what the individual kids' families could afford, even though I totally agree that your prices are very reasonable. Then, all the kids would possibly only be responsible for their own sack lunches in case they couldn't afford to buy any food there, if you offer that too.

Yeah, finding out how to get a hold of the individual teachers of certain departments could be a trick. I do know a lot of schools have their own online web sites. And on those sites they will have their faculty listed. Maybe give that a look see.

I totally believe in your park and what you're trying to do. So since I work with the school systems, if I can think of anything else to possibly help out, I'll definitely let you know. You and your guys are doing such are great job and it would truly benefit groups of kids that you're trying to target.

[Paleogene Pals]

Excellent letter Chris! This is good how you hit core curriculum standards. Schools and teachers pay attention to that stuff.

[DinoLord]

That looks like a very well-written message. If I were an elementary schooler in your area I would be doing everything in my power to get a school field trip arranged!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

That looks excellent, Chris! Very nice and thorough.

I guess as far as price and WHO pays for it, I was wondering if possibly the schools would find it in THEIR budgets. So then, it wouldn't matter what the individual kids' families could afford, even though I totally agree that your prices are very reasonable. Then, all the kids would possibly only be responsible for their own sack lunches in case they couldn't afford to buy any food there, if you offer that too.

Yeah, finding out how to get a hold of the individual teachers of certain departments could be a trick. I do know a lot of schools have their own online web sites. And on those sites they will have their faculty listed. Maybe give that a look see.

I totally believe in your park and what you're trying to do. So since I work with the school systems, if I can think of anything else to possibly help out, I'll definitely let you know. You and your guys are doing such are great job and it would truly benefit groups of kids that you're trying to target.

Getting a school to pay for anything here is rough, they started a few years ago requiring students to bring in soap, paper towels and such to help teachers offset costs of having to provide it.  We have a local Pizza Plus restaurant that is within 10 minutes of the Park, they can deliver here or you could eat there.   We don't do food here as that requires a food service license and it would encourage squirrels, rats and mice.

Websites by schools are ones I've checked, usually they do list the faculty but not always contact info. A lot of teachers I guess are concerned about giving out info anymore.

Thank you it means a lot!

Excellent letter Chris! This is good how you hit core curriculum standards. Schools and teachers pay attention to that stuff.

That looks like a very well-written message. If I were an elementary schooler in your area I would be doing everything in my power to get a school field trip arranged!

Thanks guys, I had some help getting it together from experienced friends, I had no idea where to even look for this stuff...lol

I might list this entire message under our field trips on the web page.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Both Plesiosaurs done

2nd plesiosaurus done.

Nothosaurus head

Terrors of the Deep exhibit building progress, we need more pallets, lumber planking, 2x4 and screws if anyone has anything spare.

[triceratops83]

Easily one of the best representations of Plesiosaurus ever done, in any form!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Easily one of the best representations of Plesiosaurus ever done, in any form!

Thank you my friend, I try my best.

I do know the torso is  tad short ( we could call it individual variation) as I based it off the Favorite Plesiosaurus. The flippers in front my not angle quite enough back..after attaching during the foam stage the foam pushed them out a bit maybe it's workable, I just hope so!

The little spines and such, I had some extra Apoxie mixed and once mixed it starts to harden..so I just came up with them on the spot. 

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Woah! Those Plesiosaurs are so cool! And the Nothosaurus head.... sell this design to Papo! Haha!! Maybe they'll finally get an amazing looking marine reptile.

Are you going to keep that little raised look-out tower in the back of the last pic? I think it'd be great to have so kids could look out onto the Terrors of the Deep exhibit from up there.

[Yutyrannus]

I really like the look of those plesiosaurs. Do you plan on maybe adding some barnacles or other parasites to any of the creatures in this exhibit?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Woah! Those Plesiosaurs are so cool! And the Nothosaurus head.... sell this design to Papo! Haha!! Maybe they'll finally get an amazing looking marine reptile.

Are you going to keep that little raised look-out tower in the back of the last pic? I think it'd be great to have so kids could look out onto the Terrors of the Deep exhibit from up there.

lol thank you!

yes we are. it's going to be moved a little more then we are outfitting it with a green corkscrew slide, new steps, telescope and decor ?( if we swing it) to make a dinosaur park ranger station for kids to play on.  they can look over the terrors of the deep exhibit but it will be roofed. ( sorry for all the lower case typing, dog in my lap).

I really like the look of those plesiosaurs. Do you plan on maybe adding some barnacles or other parasites to any of the creatures in this exhibit?

not sure yet, i will be making barnacles on the walls, coral, ect..