Madame Leota

The first of a series of videos documenting the 2008 display. Yes, I will get photos up soon.

Why You Shouldn't Play With Hot Glue Guns

Okay, so I'm normally totally opposed to gore, but I got some makeup at the after Halloween sale last week and...


Time to spoil the magic. It's a layer of liquid latex over stretched skin, followed by a piece of Kleenex, which got another layer of latex on top of it. I tore out a little hole and worked it around, then applied some black and brown creme makeup and a drop or two of blood gel. I put a third layer of latex on one side to see what it would look like, and I kind of like the paler, shiny texture it made. Perhaps we'll see more of this in the future.

November 1

WooHoo! I made it through the night (despite periodic showers)! This is what the garage looked like at 10:30 (an hour after we closed).
And here's my big score from the 80% off sale today at the party store. Guess how much. If you guessed $20, pat yourself on the back and eye me jealously. I'm planning to use this guy's body for a skeletal organist of my own design (ie: some combination of Brent Ross's DC Cemetery version (which I got a chance to see last year), Dan Oberly's, and Tom Marchak's). And yes, I am quite aware that the picture is not rotated. Just tilt your monitor on its side if it bothers you.

Actually, because of the rain, we only got somewhere around 150 people (which is 50 less than last year, which wasn't as good).

I'll post the haunt pictures soon.

2008 Countdown #6

Despite threats of rain, we WILL be open on Halloween night.

2008 Countdown #5

Having not updated this thing in a while, I am pleased to present a rather mysterious preview of upcoming events (why, yes, that was a Rear Window quote - so glad you noticed).
Anywho, this is Stanley:And this is Rear Window, quite possibly my favorite movie*:*Not that it has any connection to Halloween, but feel free to add it to your Netflix queue.

*Edit: Notice the new title of the blog. My allusions are now justified.

2008 Countdown #4

On October 1st, I put out my tombstones, and I figured I'd take the opportunity to show how I make them.
Design: You'll need to create an epitaph, preferably on the computer, and scale it to fit your styrofoam tombstone. Then, use the printout as a stencil and draw the lettering onto the foam. I've already used my Wonder Cutter to cut the shape of this one.
Carving the Letters: Okay, here's the exciting part. Use the heated tip of a hot glue gun to carve the letters into the foam without letting glue out. This works much like a hot-wire cutting tool, but it's cheap and can still be used for gluing. A smaller glue gun enables thinner, deeper cuts. Hold the gun just above the hot area and work slowly along your lines. The width can be adjusted by the depth at which you carve.
The melted foam gathers in these stringy plastic things around the letters. Pull them off carefully or you could damage the lettering.
Paint in the letters with black paint. I used tempera paint (but acrylic is longer lasting). You don't have to stay inside the letters, since the main grey color will go on top.
I use the hot-wire cuttter to make a slot in the back for about ten inches of 3/4" PVC, which is then hot glued in place.
A small paint roller or large paint brush is useful for getting the main grey painted on evenly and without slipping into the letters. If you're using a paintbrush, make your strokes diagonally for this reason. I made my grey paint with some old white house paint and a bottle of black tempra.
Detailing time! There are thousands of ways to bring a little more life into these tombstones. Here, I speckled black and white paint using an old toothbrush (you know, when you pull back on the bristles with your thumb)...
On this one, I put small blobs of black paint at the top, below he letters, etc., and wiped it down with a paper towel. Straight, downward strokes are key.
I'm sure you can come up with may better finishing ideas, but it's the glue gun that I wanted to share.

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.