Easy Witch Makeup Tutorial with Ben Nye Pro Color Airbrush and Camera Ready Cosmetics

Ben Nye Pro Color Airbrush Death and FX Series

Halloween is approaching fast and what better excuse than this to play around with our new range of airbrush colors from Ben Nye and with many amazing products purchased from Camera Ready Cosmetics, our favorite online store in the world with its ever increasing selection of pro brands at an amazing price, the best customer service you could wish for, and fairly priced world wide shipping out of their Texas, USA head quarters. Please notice that despite of what I just wrote, this post is not sponsored by either company. I just genuinely love these brands and I am happy to spread the word about them in any way I can. So now that we have established that, let's dive in with some more details on how to create the look you see in these photos and video...

Pre made foam latex prosthetics are a fast, easy and inexpensive way to create incredible looks with a super professional finish. You can apply them to great effect even without a lot (or hardly any) experience in SFX makeup. All you have to do is make sure you have the right products and tools, which will not cost that much considering the level of the results you will achieve. Of course I am using a kit with a compressor and several airbrushes here, but please know that you can perform any of these steps with regular brushes, it will just take a little longer. 

Safety disclaimer: please test all of the products you will be using to make sure you or your model are not allergic to the materials. Please be very careful when working with an airbrush without the needle cap. Also remember never to spray directly on open eyes, or on the ear and nose canals. Have the model hold their breath while you spray around the nose.

PREPARATION

Prep the prosthetic by carefully cutting out extra latex pieces that are left in by the manufacturer (such as over the eye and mouth openings). Be mindful to leave as much as the thin edges as possible attached to the mask. Prep the skin with a skin protector such as Kryolan Pro Shield before attaching the prosthetic, and protect the eyebrows with Kryolan Eyebrow Stick smoothing the wax over the brows with a flat spatula.

APPLICATION

Apply Pros-Aide glue to the nose area inside the prosthetic, then apply that to the face first and use as a reference to place the rest of the application. Brush a thin layer of Pros-Aide directly on the area of the face that will be covered by the foam latex, then blow dry it on low heat until the glue is clear. Now you can place the rest of the prosthetic. The Pros-Aide will remain tacky and allow you to move the latex around if need be. Just be careful to lay the thin edges without having them fold under themselves. Correct placement will take some time, so be prepared. Once the prosthetic is in place, use more Pros-Aide along the edges to make sure they are flush against the skin. Once this last layer is dry, fill in any gap or discrepancy with Pros-Aide cream, and smooth everything down using a spatula. When the Pros-Aide cream is dry, you can brush a layer of clear powder along the edges to get rid of any tackiness (Pros-Aide will stay tacky indefinitely unless powder). 

PAINTING THE APPLICATION

Once the prosthetic is on, you will need to seal it with a layer of straight Pros-Aide, or you can use Pax Paint, which is a Pros-Aide based paint, to also lay a base color. This will be necessary of the latex might start to break down from the colors you will apply on top. Either way, the whole prosthetic will need another dusting of clear setting powder to set, and then you will be able to paint. There are several ways to paint the prosthetic to stunning effect. I chose to use a flesh tone base coat of Pax, then several layers of spattering and then some mottling, lowlights, highlights, veining and yet more mottling to break up the final effect. Like I was saying, applying these layers with an airbrush is definitely faster and easier for me, especially with the special Spatter Cap by Harder and Steenbeck which makes spattering super fast, clean and easy, but you can also use traditional brushes to achieve the same results. As far as colors are concerned, I have often used PPI's alcohol based palettes for these kind of jobs before, but this time I decide to try out Ben Nye's new range of water / hybrid based colors created especially for airbrushing, called Pro Color. There is an especially large selection of colors for special effects. The lines are eloquently called "Death", "FX" and "Classic", and within them you can find pretty much any color you might need for a great SFX paint job. Because of the water based composition, these colors are also more pleasant for the model, and can be sprayed on the eye area without any fear of irritation. The color tonality and pigmentation is fantastic, as you can expect from a legendary brand such as Ben Nye. 

SEALING THE PAINT JOB

The order in which you lay the colors is pretty much up to you and to the final effect you wish to achieve. You will inevitably find yourself going back and forth and adding a further layer with a technique (such as spattering, for example), long after you thought you were finished. Every artist has its own technique, but the rules are far and few in between. At the end of the day, what really matters is what works. Once you are finished painting, you will need to seal your paint job. Ben Nye is also the maker of Final Seal, an industry staple and one of the best makeup sealers around. Of course this is also ready to be applied with an airbrush, so that is just what we did. If we had used alcohol based paints we would have probably chosen PPI Green Marble sealer, which can be used after each layer of alcohol paint in order to protect it from the subsequent layer, as it basically prevents the new alcohol being applied from breaking up the alcohol in the layer previously applied.

REMOVING THE PROSTHETIC
To remove the prosthetic, loosen a hidden edge with a bit of PPI's Telesis Super Solve, then gently pull the latex off the face dusting the skin underneath with clear powder with a fan brush as you pull away. Use Super Solve to remove the residue of glue, then a good makeup remover for the rest, and proceed to restorative skin care. 

I hope this video and text might be of use to some of you makeup artists who are taking your first steps in the amazing SFX world. Whichever style of project you will embark on this Halloween, I wish you a fun experience and a wonderfully creative time.

Airbrush for Special Effects: Easy Succubus Halloween Tutorial with 3rd Degree Silicone

Halloween is many a makeup artist's dream festivity. Creativity runs amok and everybody is trying to outdo each other in coming up with the most whimsical and surprising look for the occasion. Some newbies might even feel intimidated at times, but the industry nowadays is supplying us with so many amazing products that literally anyone can create a frightfully good makeup without too much effort. Like every year we turned to our favorite online store in the world, Camera Ready Cosmetics, to put together the look you see in these photos and video tutorial. If you follow these pages you might have read our previous Camera Ready rave review of a couple of years ago. Since we wrote it the business moved to a new location in Dallas, Texas, and grew exponentially under the guidance of their amazingly talented founder and owner, makeup artist Mary Erickson. They now stock about twice as many brands, have lowered their shipping costs and continue with their policy of unrivaled customer service. Much to our delight, they stock an extensive catalogue of airbrush products and special effect supplies, and they ship all over the world at fair prices when many of their competitors still hesitate to do so. 

Let's talk about some of the products we used in our demo, hoping that what you see and read here will inspire you to get creative for Halloween 2017!

3d Degree Silicone Modeling Compound

This amazingly versatile product is made of two components that must be mixed in equal parts. It is extremely easy to blend on the skin and can be cleaned up and smoothed out while still curing with 99% alcohol. It will cure in about 5 minutes, so be sure to work fast. Also be very careful not to cross contaminate the jars when extracting the product, or you may render it unusable. This product is available in various colors. We had the clear version which can also be easily colored intrinsically by mixing pigment in powder form. Once cured the application will look very shiny, but it can be painted easily and blended perfectly.

Skin Illustrator On Set Palettes

These alcohol activated pigments are the most famous and most widely used in the professional SFX industry. The On Set Palettes are smaller, more portable (and less expensive) versions of the full size product, and the colors apply so sheer on the skin that they will look like they are coming through from underneath, with a startlingly realistic effect. They can be reduced with their special Activator, which is less irritating to the eye than straight alcohol 99. To use these colors in your airbrush, as we did in the video, simply pour

a small amount of alcohol or activator in your airbrush cup and then "tint" it by dipping a brush into the palette's well and then "rinsing it" in the airbrush reservoir. It is a simple process that is quicker to do than to describe, and require minimal experimentation in order to achieve the right color intensity. If you don't want to do this, you can also order the same colors you find in the palettes in a liquid format that is ready to be airbrushed. 

European Body Art Colors

EBA is another brand that is becoming an industry standard in the SFX world, with outstanding lines  for airbrushing and solid palettes. We used Endura Airbrush Liquid (alcohol based) in white to prime the face and get rid of the silicone compound's shine, then some flesh tone and some straight black to finish the makeup. EBA also offers Endura Vibe, a line of water based colors of extraordinary pigmentation and water and rub resistance.

Bdellium Tools Brushes

So you finally saw me using a brush or two, and these could only be coming from the amazing SFX collection by Bdellium Tools, a vegan product created especially to achieve amazing pictorial textures. These brushes are another industry favorite, and if you look hard enough in related videos, you will see them being used by the very best artists in both the beauty and the special effects fields. 

Graftobian Walk-Around System

We fully reviewed this beauty in a previous post that you can read in our Kits Reviews page, and we are happy that CRC is still stocking this beauty!

Tim Burton inspired Vampire Makeup with Nebula and Kryolan professional products

Airbrush Makeup with Nebula by Kryolan

Kryolan is one of the most famous brands of professional and theatrical makeup in the world. As Halloween approaches we were super excited to have another opportunity to try products from their catalogue to realize the Tim Burton inspired look you see in these photos and in the Video. My long time collaborator Angela had this long held dream or a vampire look that would include prosthetic cheek alterations in reminescent of Maleficent. The challenge was not an easy one, and now we're going to describe how we did it in a step by step tutorial, starting with the airbrushed beauty makeup and then revealing the process behind the proshtetics.

Step by step guide to our Vampire look:
The beauty makeup application can be recreated regardless of the prostethics. If you are curious about the prosthetic process you can find the relevant description at the end of this post.
Skin Prep: apply a light layer of Kryolan HD Micro Primer on the face, and then Kryolan Eye Shadow Primer on the eye area. Allow a couple of minutes so that these products can be absorbed. 

Foundation: mix 10 drops approx of Nebula Complexion Fir (the lightest shade in the Nebula foundation range) with as many drops of True White from the Nebula Vivid color group. You can mix the colors directly in the cup of your airbrush. Be sure to regulate the pressure of your compressor on the lowest usable setting, layering light passes until the desired consistency is achieved. For contouring you can use a mix with a darker foundation shade or a light gray achieved by mixing True White and True Black from the Nebula Vivid Range. As our prosthetic already cast a sufficient shadow we decided to enhance only the highlights by dabbing on a few drops of Liquid Brightness in Silver. As the Nebula base is totally waterproof we could apply this highlight without fear of compromising the foundation. 

Airbrushed with Nebula by Kryolan

Eyes: layering the red and black eyeshadow was super easy. Remember to keep the pressure as low as possible. Mix five drops of Nebula Iridescent in Luxurious Red and tre drops of Nebula Vivid in Fiery Red to obtain this beautiful red hue. After the main eyeshadow is applied blend Nebula Vivid in True Black on the mobile lid. This will enhance the contrast with the amazing Kryolan Contact Lenses n. 811. These lenses are perfect for a vampire look, and Kryolan's reputation guarantees their quality against cheaper but less safe alternatives available on line.
Lips: our Kryolan 18 Color Lip Palette already contained LC404, which the perfect shade of lipstick for this look. Angela added depth to the lips design by adding two different types of artificial blood by Kryoan, Transparent Blood and HD Blood.

A question of cheekbones...
The cheekbones are one of the most difficult features to alter with a partial prosthetic. The edges of the application are especially difficult to hide in such a mobile and exposed area of the face. We proceeded as follows.

Prosthetic Preparation:
Luckily Angela had a full cast of her head that I could use to sculpt the new cheekbones with sulfur free Chavant clay of medium consistency. I heated up the clay in the microwave for a few seconds to render it more pliable before sculpting the application on the cast. Once done I carefully detached the clay and I laid it on a tablet where I reconstructed the edges and blended them further. I used some tongue depressors to build sides to the tablet and sprayed the positives with Kryolan Mold Release Spray, then I poured silicone molding material and waited for it to set. Once the silicone mold was ready i washed and dried it to get rid of any residue, then sprayed it again with Mold Release, and once this was dry I spread a thin layer of Glatzan. This bald cap plastic material is Kryolan's own alternative to Baldiez, and it is useful for encapsulating the prosthetic creating a thinner edge that will be easier to melt on the face using acetone.

Airbrushed Makeup with Nebula by Kryolan

Foam Gel: in order to create our prosthetic applications we used Kryolan Gel Foam, a foam gelatin that comes in blocks that are ready to be cut up and melted. I but half a block in a small see through plastic bowl, then I heated it up in 15 seconds increments in the microwave oven. It is crucial to do this carefully and to stop after each increment to check the status of the gelatin. As soon as it starts to raise you have to remove it from the oven and pour it in the mold, using a spatula to level it and remove the excess. The melting and cooling process is very fast, so you will have to work quickly, and you'll have to make sure that the gelatin doesn't reach boiling point or it will be unusable. After pouring it will take 45 minutes or less for it to be completely cured. Once dry I applied another thin layer of Glatzan (see above) and then waited for another hour for this to be ready. A light dusting with clear powder will help to keep the edges from folding over themselves and sticking together.

Prosthetic Application: first of all I applied Pro Shield Foam primer to Angela's face in order to protect her skin from all that was to follow. Then I spread a thin layer of Kryolan Special Adhesive B (equivalent to the famous Pros Aide glue) on the area of the face that was going to be covered, and I applied a thin layer on the back of the prosthetics as well. I waited until the glue became clear and then I applied the cheekbones. After the application I melted the edges away using a q tips and acetone, which worked well on Glatzan. In some spots a little more Special Adhesive B was necessary to further fill remaining discrepancies. After a light dusting with clear powder I proceeded to airbrushing the base coat of the makeup.

How to airbrush a Zombie makeup: easy Step by Step guide for Halloween and beyond

Halloween is coming, so let's have fun with an easy, step by step tutorial for a fantastic Zombie makeup. No airbrush? No problem, you can still realize this look by traditional methods, although it may take you a little longer. You can see all the steps in our video tutorial as well. In this post we will give you more information on the materials we used and their possible alternatives. All the materials we will use come from our favorite makeup store: Camera Ready Cosmetics, who ship fast all over the world and have the best customer service imaginable (and no, they did NOT pay us to say this, lol). Let's Start!

WARNING: Safety first. Make sure that you or your model are not allergic to any of the materials used. We will be using alcohol based colors: eyes and mouth must be kept closed when spraying these areas, and be careful not to inhale when spraying around the nose. When blow drying someone else's face always keep your other hand in between the airflow and their skin, to ensure the heat remains tolerable. Finally be very careful of both your instrument and your skin when exposing the needle tip of your airbrush for spattering and veining. Contact lenses must meet safety standards and used according to guidelines.

STEP ONE: Prosthetic application

We are using a foam latex prosthetic called Whoochie Face. These are ready made, professional quality applications distributed by Graftobian. They adapt well to any face shape and the final result is amazing! Start by removing any excess oil on the skin. Prep the application by spreading a thin coat of Graftobian Pro Adhesive all over the prosthetic. Be very careful with the thin edges: they will easily fold and stick to themselves, so try to avoid this at all costs. Use a blow drier on low heat until the glue is clear, then position the prosthetic on the face and use more Pro Adhesive to glue the edges down. Once you have done that, fill any gaps between the edges and the skin with "Bondo" (Pro Adhesive mixed with silica powder), and blow dry on low heat until all glue is clear. Set the edges with Ben Nye Neutral Set, and brush the excess powder off.

ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS: Graftobian's Pro Adhesive behaves exactly like Pros Aide but is less expensive. This glue remains tacky so you can move your prosthetic a few times for optimal positioning.  Spirit gum is a cheaper alternative but it is less flexible and harsher on the skin. If Bondo is not at hand you can stipple a few layers of liquid latex to fill in the edges of the prosthetic. This will take longer as you will need to dry and powder each layer.

STEP TWO: Base Coat 

You will need to make sure the prosthetic and the face are color before starting the actual paint job. We started using alcohol based paints but found them too sheer and not very effective for this purpose. So we decided to use a product called Colair Extreme by Dinair. This is an amazing cosmetic with total blocking power, and we were able to achieve a uniform effect with just a couple of passes. Once applied, you may want to powder lightly with Neutral Set before proceeding. We actually didn't, and it worked out just fine.  

ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS: Pax paint (a mixture of Pros-Aide glue and acrylic paint) would have been the traditional choice for blocking out the application. However Colair Extreme is just as effective, much easier to clean from the airbrush, cheaper, gentler on the skin and comes in a wider variety of colors than Pax. 

  

STEP THREE: Color Application 

Spattering is the best technique you can use to create a multi layered, more realistic effect, because it mimics the natural texture of the skin. It is also ideal for blending the edge of the prosthetic into invisibility. Spattering basically means achieving a color tonality by layering a multitude of translucent speckles of color, much like the printing process where what looks like one color to the naked eye is actually obtained by tiny dots of different shades laying next to each other. While some airbrushes have specific tips to do this, but you can easily obtain a spatter effect with any airbrush simply by removing the needle cap and the nozzle cap (the two parts that unscrew at the tip), and setting your compressor on very low pressure, then use a flickering action on the trigger. We have used European Body Art's Endura colors. These are alcohol based paints used by some of the best professionals, and most famously on the set of Face Off. They are already sheer, but you may want to dilute them more with Alcohol 99% in order to get a finer, more natural effect. We didn't and we should have, but we wanted our work to "read" more quickly for the purpose of the video. If the spatter is too saturated and individual dots too visible, you can dim the effect by blotting the application, but be fast as alcohol based colors dry very quickly. Spattering can be a lengthy process, but the result is worth it. We wanted a classic "green" zombie, so we layered yellow first, then blue, then green to add more punch. 

ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS: You can used an old toothbrush or a cheap brush with short bristles to achieve a spatter with your fingers without an airbrush. We find that airbrushing offers more control and less contact between paints and skin, which we always welcome.

STEP FOUR: Highlights and Shading 

We used a less diluted amount of Endura color to create lowlights and shading. The process of is very easy as the prosthetic's sculpted shapes will make it very obvious. For a final highlight, and to simulated the thinness of the skin stretched on the features, we used Endura Face Off flesh tone in Warm Two.

STEP FIVE: Veining
Airbrushing is a wonderful, fast and easy medium for creating realistic veins. Remove the needle cap (the outermost removable part of the tip of the airbrush) and use distance and pressure to create veins of different size and intensity. Practice on paper first. Achieving a purple-ish vein color was easy: simply mix Endura Red and Blue colors.

ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS: Fine brushes. ...Yawn.

STEP SIX: Eyes and teeth 

You can create very realistic redness around the eyes with a product called Glazing Gel by PPI/Skin Illustrator. This is water based, so it will not irritate the very delicate eye area. For further punch use a red lip liner pencil on the rim of the eye. Finally, nothing is more effective to complete the makeup than a pair of Zombie lenses. We used some great disposable ones by a British company called MesmerEyez. Whatever brand you choose, make sure they meet safety standard and beware of cheap ones that can cause severe damage to your eyes. 

To achieve a more believable Zombie mouth we used black from PPI's On Set FX Palette. Be sure to dry the teeth before applying the color, and right after application use your airbrush on air only to set it.

STEP SEVEN: Blood

No Zombie look would be complete with a little bit of fake blood. We used two types: Ben Nye Thick Blood for a head wound effect, and a capsule from Ben Nye mouth Kit to create the gory mouth effect that you see at the end of the video. Ben Nye's fake blood is an industry standard, it is safe and even tastes good!

Have a fantastic, fun filled and safe Halloween!!!

Airbrushing and special effects makeup: learning online with the Stan Winston School

The reality show Face Off, now in its 9th season, has the undoubted merit of having brought the world of special effects and creature making to the attention of a much larger audience. While the show hardly focuses on any given technical aspect, it has contributed to make another thing clear for the masses: airbrushing is a fundamental skill in the creation of special effects makeup. 

The uninitiated who wants to tackle FX and creature making, but isn't ready or able to enroll in a professional school is left with one big question: is there another readily accessible, fairly priced, and above all reputable source of training and information?
The answer is yes, yes, and and even bigger YES. The source exists and it is called "Stan Winston School of Character Arts". 

Founded by the Winston family in honor of their legendary patriarch, the "School" is not a physical place, but a subscription base website with a wonderful core principle: offering comprehensive, detailed training in the form of professionally filmed web courses held by some of the very best in this field. Every aspect and technique related to special effects makeup and creature making is discussed and explained in depth: from mold making to animatronics and everything in between. I was a subscriber of the school myself for several months, and what follows here is a brief account of my experience, and a little guide to the courses that focus on my passion, which is of course airbrushing. As always these are my genuine, unsponsored opinions.

How it works: no catches!

I always approach subscribing to anything online with great caution, after I was scorched a long time ago by a bad experience with a web service offering "auto renewal". The Stan Winston School Website offers an incredible, unlimited 3 day free trial that is jut that: three days of unlimited access to its contents. This means you can watch as many courses as you like, and really get a feel of what the contents are like. You can cancel your trial at any time after it started. If you do so, you will not be billed anything, and you will still be able to enjoy your full three days. I am writing this because it is not repeated too often during the subscription process, but you can rest assured that the School is a highly ethical enterprise, and it is in no way out to defraud you of anything.

If you decide that you want to continue with your subscription, you will simply let it run and it will turn into a regular subscription at the end of the trial. There is no minimum subscription requirement, this means you can cancel any time before the next monthly renewal and your subscription will end with the current month (or year, if you selected the annual plan). There are three levels of membership: Apprentice gives you 4 tutorials on demand per month for a low price, meaning you can select up to 4 courses and watch them all or in part. At the beginning each month your total will be zeroed and if you want to finish watching a course you had started in the previous month, this will be counted against your month's 4 total.  "Monthly" and "Annual" give you unlimited tutorials. If you don't wish to subscribe at all, but are interested only in watching and keeping selected courses forever, you can also buy each webcourse in streaming or DVD format. It is always a good idea to subscribe to the school's newsletter to receive limited time offers and special promotions.

The Content: amazing teachers

The content of the website is divided in Live Web Courses and On Demand Web Courses. This is self explanatory. What you may not be prepared for is the fact that these are true seminars broadcast in real time, so the live sessions last anywhere from two to seven hours or more, with technical breaks and pauses, and moments dedicated to live interaction with on line students. The On Demand versions of the web courses are slightly edited, and of course no live interaction is possible, but you can always ask a question in each course's page and you will receive an answer, often by the teachers themselves. With a lot of courses lasting over six hours I found my Apprentice membership more than enough, and in some months I wasn't able to watch  more than a couple. The teachers are all amazing. We are talking the very best in their field, including many Academy Award and Emmy winners. I expected them to be knowledgeable ad passionate, but I wasn't prepared for how entertaining they all were. Almost each course is enriched with anecdotes, personal stories and fun tidbits that made learning really fun.

Airbrushing in Special effects: a guide to the courses

If you are new to airbrushing and want to learn it as a tool toward the creation of special effects, this by far one of the best places you could visit.

If you have some knowledge of airbrush beauty makeup or airbrushing in general, you will still be surprised to find out how many "rules" are changed or broken altogether when it comes to application for FX and creature design. While almost every course features airbrushing, a few of them give specific in depth information on techniques and tools, so these are the ones you may want to watch first:

-How To Airbrush by Craig Fraser. This is the best place to start learning about airbrushing from a true master who is not only incredibly passionate and informative, but also seriously entertaining. This course is all about introducing basic airbrush painting techniques that are the foundation for any subsequent application. Tools, materials and sources are all discussed in details. Six hours will just fly!

-Hyper Realistic Silicone Painting Techniques by Tim Gore Another exceptional artist guides you through the rather complicated process of painting on silicone. After a somewhat shy opening, Tim warms up and draws you into his passion sharing a world of useful tips, and a treasure of knowledge on what materials to use and how to make them or purchase them. While the subject material is silicone, the layering techniques shown here are fundamental for reproducing realistic skin tones on any kind of material.

-Zombie Makeup by Bill Corso This course shows very practical uses of airbrushing in creating a zombie makeup. Once again you will be able to decline the techniques you learned here into a variety of different applications. This is actually the second part of a very extensive workshop by Oscar winner Bill Corso, and I definitely suggest watching the whole thing, even though not strictly airbrush related, to get a sense of how a makeup for film is created from concept to screen test. 

-Airbrush Veining Technique mini tutorial by Steve Wang The amazing Steve Wang takes you through the process of creating veining effects with an airbrush. This is a basic technique that you will be able to use in a myriad of projects, taking full advantage of the potential of your airbrush versus slower traditional methods. 

Paiting Silicone Skin-Realistic Flesh Tones by Jamie S. Grove Antother in depth tutorial by another amazing teacher, who will illustrate all the techniques and materials used to create an ultra realistic skin texture on silicone. The methods shown will of course apply to any other material, provided you are using the appropriate paints.

The Garage Monster's Guide to Airbrushes mini tutorial by Shannon Shea   This mini tutorial focuses specifically on equipment. While all the other teachers describe their preferred tools in depth in all the other tutorial, it is good to have a further opinion by the great Shannon Shea on what prioritize in your shopping list.   

With Halloween approaching fast, I hope you will take advantage of this fantastic online resource, born of passion and following the sharing principles so dear to the legendary Dick Smith. My final advice is to start your three day trial on a quiet week end with lots of time at your disposal. You will NOT want to leave your computer screen...