Skull and Bone

I am still shocked at the news that one of the haunts that influenced me the most in making my own haunt will not be doing another display. I received a lot of help from Rob, of Skull and Bone, on several different questions I had in the past. He was always more than willing to help, and was actually one of the first experiences I had in learning how willing fellow haunters can be to help those who are just starting out. If you are familiar with his haunt, you will see some similar things in my haunt that I borrowed (stole) from his haunt. I learned to make a Bucky corpse from the great tutorial on the Skull and Bone website, and learned to make my flickering lanterns with help from Rob. I will truly miss this great haunt, and can only hope that it will make a return someday.

SkullandBone.com

Grim: Step by step

I have had a lot of questions about my "Grim" prop that I built for 2008. I plan to put a full blown tutorial on my website sometime, but for now here is a brief step-by-step tutorial with some never before seen pictures.


I stated with a basic wooden frame, made from 1X2's and 1X3's. I actually stood in the position I wanted "Grim" to be standing in so that I could get the angles of the arms and legs right. I wanted the legs and arms really long and the torso a little smaller.


I came up with this idea from seeing the three skulls on a rope decoration, and thought that Grim needed to be holding these as sort of his "captives". I wanted them to have rather happy faces, as they do not realize the terror they are about to experience. I lit these using three small candelabra sockets that I got from Lowe's, and 4 watt nightlight bulbs.


Next, I covered parts of the body in chicken wire to break up the blocky look, and made a few "thorn-like" projections. I made the hands and feet out of wire coat hangers, paper towels and duct tape. I also ran the wire at this point for the light that would be in the head, and the string of pumpkins that he would be holding.


I used paper mache for the skin, (paper towels, and an Elmer's glue and water mixture: mixed to about a 50/50 ratio). I used both brown and white paper towels... no particular reason, I just had both and was experimenting. The brown paper towels were probably stronger, but wouldn't stick as good as the white paper towels. I used about three layers of these all over the body. While it was still drying I dipped sections of different kinds of rope and cord in the Elmer's glue and water mixture, and wrapped them around the legs, body and arms randomly. I wanted these to have a vine-like appearance, and look kind of like they were just growing wildly. I also tore paper towels into long stringy looking pieces and randomly placed these around in different places.


Last, I painted him flat black as a base coat, then went back over that with a couple of shades of brown. I also added some cheesecloth that was dyed brown and shredded up. I put this around the torso area. The head was a foam "Funkin" that I carved and airbrushed. I lit it the same way that I lit the smaller pumpkins, with a candelabra socket and 4 watt bulb.

That's pretty much it, the total cost to build this was probably about $40.00, with the head being about half of that cost. (I had a lot of the materials on-hand though, if I had to buy everything to make just this prop, it might have been about $60.00.)

The Hollowmen: Year of the Scarecrows

I'm sure anyone who looks at this blog probably already keeps up with Pumpkinrot's blog. If not, you should. These are some of the pictures he has posted from his 2008 haunt. This is my favorite yard haunter of all, and he never lets me down with his amazing work.






www.pumpkinrot.com
The What's Brewing Blog
This is simply the best Halloween blog you will ever find.

Paper Mache Skulls

Out of all the new things I learned over the past year, making paper mache skulls was probably one of the best. I have to credit Spooky Blue for teaching me this through a tutorial on his website. Now that I have learned this I can make an unlimited amount of heads for zombies or anything else I need one for. Here are a few pictures of how I make mine.

I start with this basic skull, which came with a handy stand which makes things a lot easier. This one used to have some stuff inside that made it "talk", but I took all that stuff out.

Then I cover it with strips of newspaper, about three layers. I have found if you alternate the colors, it helps you keep track of what you have done. For instance, use black and white for one layer, then something like the comics for the next layer, then black and white again.

After this dries, usually overnight, I cut from below where one ear should be up and across the top of the skull and down the other side. Then start working on peeling off the pieces. Once you get them off, tape up the inside really good and fill it with expandable foam (I used Great Stuff). Be careful not to put to much in at a time as it will make the head kind of shaped wrong, which could be a good thing if you're going for that look. I usually put in a few layers at a time to prevent this, or have poked holes into the foam when it is about half setup to let the gases escape from inside, which will stop it from expanding.

I think this ended up being the head for this guy...

One of the cool things is that every one of these will end up looking different. I also do not add teeth, I think they look kind of cool without them and I was probably too lazy to make them. I also followed Spooky's groundbreaker corpse tutorial to make these guys.

Spooky Blue's Tutorial

The Haunted Trail: 2008

This is a yard haunt that is about a mile away from where I live. I had heard about it last year but didn't get a chance to go see it, so I was looking forward to it this year. It has many more props than I have shown here and a trail that goes through the front and back yards, as well as a short stretch through the woods. It also has a long tunnel at one point, complete with a Michael Myers prop who is waiting for you at the exit. I wish I had been able to see this at night, but I had my own haunt to tend to then.










Looking forward to seeing this one again next year... Good Job Pam!

Grim Hollow 2008

Halloween Night

So it's 1 o'clock in the morning and I just got done breaking everything down and put into the garage... man am I tired. It was worth it though. Had a really big turnout and everyone seemed to like the display. Even convinced a few people to start their own haunts from the sound of it. The kids seemed to like it, some laughed, some cried, some laughed at others crying. The only thing that broke was the ankle blaster that was built into the candy trunk, I think I blew the solenoid in it. It worked fine up until that point though and scared a lot of kids. I was a hooded ghost looking creature, similar to the two ghosts I have in the setup, only a different color. I had fun scraping a shovel on the driveway and shaking this little rattling thing I made at people when they walked by. I'll probably post more tomorrow, but for now I'm going to kick back and see if any scary movies are on. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!