Halloween Decorating "How To"

[charp13]

zh- I absolutely giggled with excitement while reading this story!  WOW!  I loved Dick VanDyke before..but now I consider him a personal hero! What a cool fellow! He has some sweeeeet props! I love that zombie crossing road sign, that wolf on a chain, and the asylum door. He would be the BEST neighbor to have!
Cool story! Thanks for posting it    I'm going back to look again.

[Scatter]

Cool!! I always preferred his brother Jerry.........until now!!

[zombiehorror]

This is the arm I got from Michaels, it had some bits of cloth hot glued to it but I had already stripped them off before I took the picture~



First layer of cloth will be the muscle, waiting for this to dry before deciding whether to add more or go on to the skin~



One of six can lights I'll be making this year (made this one earlier this year), they are much better for controlling atmosphere on the big night than just using a flood~



Had this old cooler sitting around for awhile and finally took some time out today to start transforming it into a fog chiller~



And finally here is the beginnings of an armature for a full size body; I was trying to do this on the cheap but I'll have to buy a few parts before I can finish/continue it~

[charp13]

ZH- You are an inspiration! And....you're leaving me in the dust! WHEW! You have a lot of projects going on at the same time     I went to Target today (secretly hoping they would have the Chocula out early....no such luck)  and in that section at the front of the store where they have $1 & $2 items, they had some cool little cardboard signs for $!. I bought one of each. They say stuff like - Warning- Werewolf Zone and stuff like that.  Last week I took the head off my dancing/singing Frankenstein and replaced it with a talking vampire head I got from Grandin Rd.  and I dressed him like a ghoul.....so it looks and feels like I got a new prop- hahahaha!
I can't wait to see your finished skeleton!!

[zombiehorror]

(secretly hoping they would have the Chocula out early....no such luck)

Thanks and check Walgreens, they already have all 3 monster cereals in stock....at least around here they do!

[charp13]

Oh man! I was just at Walgreens earlier today because my sister (who lives in FLA.) told me that she bought Candy Corn flovored M&Ms. Of course, my Walgreens had none....yet! I'm gonna keep popping in until they get rid of the 2 aisles of Back-to- School supplies.  Now I have 2 obsessions! hahahaha! She said the M&Ms are delicious.
Oh, I also think that can lights are neat. I've been hanging around Halloween Forum & Haunt Forum and reading up on them. I just bought 3 solar spotlights for $7 each at Garden Ridge. They probably won't put out too much light, but I like to try new things.

[RICKH]

Dollar Tree had most of their Halloween merch. out on the shelf.  This year they have the lenticular photos of people transforming into ghouls, zombies, demons, etc.  They look pretty cool, but they are in a flimsy plastic frame.  They still have the severed hands, cool door knockers and 18 in. skeletons.

[charp13]

I darted into the Dollar Tree a few days ago and bought a couple more severed hands. I saw a really cool idea on another site, where they cut an access hole in the foot or hand and inserted a battery operated tealight. It works pretty well, and I am planning on using the light up hands/feet to pad my graveyard area. It's always nice to have some lighted props in the dark corners.
I also hang around Pinterest......and I feel better now that I've confessed 

[Hepcat]

Yay! I've managed to convince The MAN to turn our front yard and garden into a graveyard for our depredations in time for Halloween this year!



But he's wondering how one would get the styrofoam gravestones sold at places like dollar stores to stand up on the lawn. They're not sold with any stakes and don't even seem to have holes in the bottoms where they could be set onto sticks stuck into the ground.

[RICKH]

Try straightening wire coat hangers, cutting them to the appropriate length and then inserting them into the styrofoam with elmer's glue leaving enough to go into the ground and give support.

[charp13]

This is kind of weird, but this is my method- I buy 2 identical tombstones and take an old butter knife or flat metal item- and I place it between the 2 tombstones and glue them together with liquid nails.  It works for at least 1 Halloween, but you may have to re-glue them next year. I keep all my old stainless cutlery in case we have a lot of company, so I have them collecting dust in a cabinet.

[zombiehorror]

...........................how one would get the styrofoam gravestones sold at places like dollar stores to stand up on the lawn. They're not sold with any stakes and don't even seem to have holes in the bottoms where they could be set onto sticks stuck into the ground.

I took a piece of plywood and cut it roughly the same size as the tombstone then used Gorilla Glue to attach the two together; Next I took some wire (extra house wiring I had laying around) and cut small 2-3" pieces and attached those to the board with wood screws & washers so that the wire makes a loop, I then nail rebar into the ground at about the same location of my tombstone loops which I place over the rebar.  I use this method because those tombstones are so thin that they snap easily in the wind, the extra bulk of the plywood makes them impervious to such damage!

[MDG]

I took a piece of plywood and cut it roughly the same size as the tombstone then used Gorilla Glue to attach the two together; Next I took some wire (extra house wiring I had laying around) and cut small 2-3" pieces and attached those to the board with wood screws & washers so that the wire makes a loop, I then nail rebar into the ground at about the same location of my tombstone loops which I place over the rebar.  I use this method because those tombstones are so thin that they snap easily in the wind, the extra bulk of the plywood makes them impervious to such damage!

Or, if you're  cheap (and don't have rebar handy) you can grab extra chopsticks from the Chinese take-out place and jam two or three into the bottom (after making pilot holes with a nail) and then into the ground.

(Actually, I noticed that the ones at the Dollar Tree this year have stakes.)

[zombiehorror]

Or, if you're  cheap (and don't have rebar handy) you can grab extra chopsticks from the Chinese take-out place and jam two or three into the bottom (after making pilot holes with a nail) and then into the ground.

(Actually, I noticed that the ones at the Dollar Tree this year have stakes.)

If I used chopsticks or the stakes that come with these I would be constantly chasing these up and down the block after storms....or picking up the pieces and buying new ones all of the time! 

[zombiehorror]

Already started my first project for 2013!!

I've had this jello mold for a few years now and new exactly what I wanted to do with it but kept dragging my feet!


I'm going to use it to make some skulls for my fence columns.....


I'll hollow out some of the back so I can glue a block of wood to it and then screw them to the sides of the columns; This will be decorative of course but also function as further stability to keep my 1/4" pieces of foam from blowing apart.

Here are my first 5 attempts; #1-I used the back/lid that comes with the mold and it didn't let enough air in to cure.  After that I discarded the back/lid and they started turning out a lot better but I kept releasing them from the mold to early leaving a bubble every time around the brow area.


CLOSE UPS~
attempt #1 & 2; I'll still use the "messed up" ones since these are supposed to be aged/weathered anyways!


#3 & 4


#5


and #7...I know I skipped 6!  This one was the very last of the Great Stuff, and my wife started to release it from the mold a little early (she was tired of this thing sitting in the kitchen for the past few weeks) so it had some of the earlier air bubble issues!


This is a really easy project and the skulls could be used for a variety of purposes/decorations; I'll trim up some of the back off of these so they lay flatter, paint them white and them age/weather them before attaching them to my columns!  Now I just need some more Great Stuff and I'll only have about 20 more to go!

Also I do not use any kind of releasing agent, once the foam is cured (at least 24 hours) I just carefully pull it out of the mold!

I'm also thinking about buying the Walking Dead zombie jello mold and trying it with that!

9"x5"

If nothing else they'd be cool little busts to paint!