David Ainsworth is the creative mind behind Alchemy FX, a Sacramento-based special-effects studio that employs creative types and engineers to build costumes and illusions for local theaters and film producers
He’s in year one of a 5-year plan that includes expanding the business to include equipment rentals, merchandise, selling prosthetics direct to theater companies, and training directors and actors in proper application and use of special-effects equipment and costumes.
“We’re looking to mature, to embrace higher technical standards, because that can yield higher quality and detail — something you can’t tell is fake,” says Ainsworth, who worked as a stage hand before launching into special effects full-time. “If you want a full-sized dinosaur, we can do that.”
David Ainsworth runs his special-effects company, Alchemy FX, out of a former haunted-house storage and repair shop on Sacramento’s D Street.
Inside the run-down Victorian, he’s making movie costumes and gearing up for local stage productions of Shrek, for which he will be crafting everything from swamp monsters to three little pigs and Pinnochio.
![“I played [Dungeons & Dragons] as a kid and was nerding out on that, drawing characters and sculpting dragons. By painting miniatures, I learned to paint, and I still sell my paintings to this day. But I didn’t know it was the groundwork for becoming a special effects artist.”](/sites/main/files/imagecache/lightbox/main-images/_S8A0322_F.jpg "“I played [Dungeons & Dragons] as a kid and was nerding out on that, drawing characters and sculpting dragons. By painting miniatures, I learned to paint, and I still sell my paintings to this day. But I didn’t know it was the groundwork for becoming a special effects artist.”")
“I played [Dungeons & Dragons] as a kid and was nerding out on that, drawing characters and sculpting dragons. By painting miniatures, I learned to paint, and I still sell my paintings to this day. But I didn’t know it was the groundwork for becoming a special effects artist.”
Photo: Ken James Captions: Christine Calvin
Mischief Maker
A haunted house of special effects