2008 Countdown #3

Inspired by Dave Lowe, I decided to make myself a little homage to Nosferatu, the 1923 German silent movie (if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it). In a couple of hours, I managed to recreate the classic scene in which Count Orlock creeps up the stairs.

I began by bringing an image off Google into Photoshop, where I fixed the perspective. I then projected the image onto a scrap piece of foam core in order to trace the outline.

I cut out the outline and taped it together (hey, nobody said it had to last a hundred years).
After taping it to the back of the curtain and turning on the light......I was pleasantly surprised to see the image at the top of the post. It's worth noting that the tape line is barely visible in person.

October 1st is tomorrow!

2008 Countdown #2

Yes, Sir, I just put up my first Scarecrow. In September. Hey, it's the weekend before the first of October, and plenty of people have scarecrows up throughout the season...except theirs aren't skeletons in burlap.

2008 Countdown #1

I thought I'd share some of the artwork I've been working on for this year's yard haunt.

The Poster for my new graveyard quartet:

...and the skeletal hand that will point the way to the Magic Mirror

Halloween 2007

Well, folks, I'm back again with the pictures from last year, 2007.

Frank welcomes you to the Skeleton's Hand.
Back from the dead (or at least last year), Walter and Vern have all new pirate jokes and songs.
I finally got that Karl's oscilator to work when I want it to, and gave him some new hands.
Maggie the witch and a little pirate skeleton.
There was a crowd around the Magic Mirror all night long.
I bought the new magic mirror, Gordo, from ImaginEERIEing this year.
Isn't he just great?
My neighbor commissioned me to make a witch for her this year.
Alf, Earl, and the New Grim Reaper: the Reaper's head is an original Boris this year, though I didn't give him anything to say (Walter and Vern would have drowned him out). Incidentally, the large block on Boris' stand is exactly the right size to fit in a 3/4" pvc coupling.
Karl Again: I love the lighting in this shot. Remind me to turn his head off before taking a picture next time, though.
Will, the Mummy, Sculpted to look 90% like Boris Karloff in the 1930-something "The Mummy"
I had Walter and Vern rumming* off of a cell phone charger and an iPod this time around.*a typo, but a rather fitting one for a couple a pirates.

Halloween 2006

As I said in the last post, I'll be revisiting my past haunts before introducing the new stuff for 2008. As you (hopefully) have guessed from the title, we shall now take a look at 2006's yard haunt.
Welcome to The Skeleton's Hand 2006!
Pretty much everything in the graveyard is new for 2006.
I had to take everything in each night to prevent damage from moisture (and anybody in a bad mood who just happened to be walking by)
The Corpses: the two on the right are all paper mache, the guy closest to you is done over a blucky, and the one in the back is from Spirit.
Maggie the witch (originally called Trisha): PVC frame, the head is sculpted model magic over a wighead. You can also see the improved spider victim.
The Magic Mirror Returns!
Scary Terry audio servo drivers make my skeleton pirates sing the Pirates of the Caribbean song and tell Mark Butler's Halloween jokes.
Karl got a little makeover earlier in the month-- new clothes that fit him and a fan motor to turn his head.
The Spider and his victim (on a slow spinning motor this time).
The Reaper: very basic pvc frame, with a mask, skeleton gloves and a nice electric lantern.
The New FCG (inspired by VileThings): The '06 version is made using my skeleton technique and some clay hands. I couldn't get a good picture on location, but here he is in the garage...
...and under blacklight.

Well, that's about it for the 2006 haunt. I'll be posting 2007 soon, and then we'll move on to the wonders of 2008...

Halloween 2005

I'm going to start out by showing the history of my little yard haunt, beginning in 2005, my first year.
Well, let's see... My dad and I built a coffin to house my blucky zombie/corpse.
He's wearing thrift store clothes aged with mud and a razor blade.
The two tombstones wre made with that really overpriced green styrofoam, which I cut with a kitchen knife, carved with an x-acto blade, and painted with tempra paint.
Then there was this twine spider web that took all day to hot glue together, and behind it...
The most ghastly Frankenstein's Monster dummy you've ever seen. It looked pretty good at noght under a strobe, though.
My first Flying Crank Ghost ran off a rotisserie motor (which I wouldn't recommend--it's a bit slow).
Last, but certainly not least, was my version of Imagineerieing's Magic Mirror. Got to their website (www.imagineerieing.com) for more information.