By Kristy Locklin
As a kid, Steve Tolin wanted to be a biologist like his dad.
It’s just your average lunch break at TOLINFX.
Each day at the Beechview studio, he and other special-effects artists design and fabricate costumes and props for film, television, live performances, museum exhibits and private commissions.
Size doesn’t matter here; it’s all about illusion.
The lengthy to-do list is a series of notecards tacked to a wall. Within the next few months, the team will build adjustable stunt bodies they can rent out, fish replicas for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and a spray system that will allow stagehands on “Evil Dead: The Musical” to bathe the first few rows of audience members in red liquid.
Tolin may make a living off of simulated death, but he’s happy to give back to Beechview, a place the West Virginia native has called home for two decades.
He hosts a Halloween party each year at the Coast Avenue studio and is working to refurbish the community’s old Christmas decorations.
Curious passersby are welcome to stop in and have a look around and Tolin is dedicated to teaching the craft to anyone who is willing to trade a little sweat for it. It’s not charity, he’s simply paying it forward.
“I find my joy in helping other people discovering things they’re good at,” he says. “I like to find their X-Men power and nurture it.”
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