New Skull Armatures for 2010

Spent the last day or so developing a new skull armature technique made from recycled cardboard...total time about 20 minutes and total cost under 50 cents....sturdy and detailed, ready for coating with papier mache, monster mud or fiberglass...fast, easy and inexpensive.

Funny

This pretty much nailed it plus it's dang funny! Clicky Here.

WARNING: The link is R-rated so if you are easily offended by snarky language you may not want to clicky....you've been warned.

My Favorite ToT.

This little guy showed up at our haunt wearing one of the coolest costumes ever…the ensemble features a homemade cardboard robot costume complete with wonderful blinking lights. This ToT’er is more than welcome to visit our haunt every year. Kudos to Mom and Dad for making this great costume.

Creepy!

Our youngest son chose one of the most unsettling masks for his outing during Halloween 2009…not much freaks me out when it comes to Halloween costumes but I have to admit that I’m not a fan of clowns or creepy babies….this mask from Halloween USA definitely put the creep into our Halloween festivities.

The Photos.

The gallery of our 2009 efforts are now available on www.stolloween.com, overall a good year but honestly I'm glad it's over and ready for a little down time. Build on!

This Is Halloween......

So every year we keep track of the number of ToT's that visit our house during Halloween and this year the task fell into the capable hands of my oldest son Carter. For several hours Carter stationed himself on the front porch handing out treats (Twix, Twizzlers, Milk Duds and Paydays) all while dutifully keeping count. During the down time he doodled this little Halloween scene which made me smile and restored my enery for 2010.

This is Halloween.

Building Columns . . .

Four new columns and fencing were created for the 2009 display.

The columns were made from scrap lumber including old 2x4's, recycled lumber from an old swing set and thin plywood. The brick pattern was achieved by coating the surface with equal parts of latex paint, joint compound and pulped paper (cellulose fiber insulation). The addition of the paper to the mix created a very rough and thick texture. The brick pattern was "drawn" into the paint/joint compound/paper.

Painting consisted of painting the columns dark gray, then dry brushing with white primer. Diluted black latex paint was sprayed onto the columns creating an aged and weathered appearance.

Cat and the Rat

Good thing our cat named Krueger was willing to help out with prop construction this year.

Some New Pumpkins for 2009

A few shots of some of the new papier mache pumpkins created for this year's annual Hallowen display....some different shapes and new techniqes were used to create these pumpkins v2.0.

Dungeon Rats 2009

The Dungeon Rats were finished just in time to be included in our 2009 Halloween display. Named “Riff” and “Raff” the rats are mangy, malnourished and have a nasty disposition, their overall length is five feet long from tip of the nose to the tip of their tails.

WIP: Dungeon Rats

Finishing up several new props for this year’s Halloween display which will feature several large five foot rats named “Riff” and “Raff”. The mangy and malnourished rats are made from strip and pulp papier mache and will stand guard over the entrance to the cemetery.

WIP: Pumpkins v2.0

Eight new pumpkins are in the final phases of construction, some new techniques allow for the creation of different shapes and more extruded three dimensional faces. A few of the pumpkins are quite large standing over three feet tall.

WIP: Sentinel Modifications

The Sentinel statues created last spring received some modifications including shortening and straightening in order to make them suitable to be placed on top of cemetery columns. The addition of paper towel soaked in papier mache paste added the ragged robe/cloth effect.