Halloween 2016

A few shots of our 2016 Halloween display, great weather, great friends and great fun.

Halloween 2011 Gallery

Click here to go to the gallery.

Embrace the Darkness

We decked out our back yard in a very scary fashion. Saturday, October 29^th will be the only night to view our Halloween display. This year the props are in the back yard along with a roaring fire, s’more fixings and other assorted treats. Dress warm and help us celebrate our favorite holiday.

Please park across the street and use caution crossing the road as it is currently under construction. The display is scheduled to operate from 7pm until 10pm weather permitting. Please email me if you need our address or further information.

Blocking The Yard 2011

Tool Shed Terror Pumpkins

Completed the final five pumpkins for the 2010 display, five pumpkins impaled by things you might find in a tool shed.

The pumpkins still need to be sealed which will help blend the paint job and reduce the value of the bright white eyes.

All the tools were created with recycled cardboard and covered with papier mache strips and papier clay.

Just a couple more things to finish up before everything goes on display this Friday.

WTH-Three Pelvises

So I’m really pushing the deadline this year for Halloween decorations…our yard display goes up next week and I’m still working on three bodies for my Warden characters.

Typically I just build the ribcage, forearms and hands…everything else is cloaked in fabric but for The Wardens I don’t want the fabric, I want you to be able to see the entire skeletal structure.

After laying out the head, chest, arms and hands it really became apparent that these guys needed some additional vertebrae and pelvis…they will be standing behind crates and pumpkins so legs really are not necessary.

The last thing I needed at this point was to construct three more things…but if you are going to do it then at least do it right.

Three stylized pelvises to go along with the stylized rib cages.

When completed the creatures should stand about seven feet tall.

It's Coming

And So It Begins...

Today is October 8^th and believe it or not I’m ahead of the game…or at least compared to last year.

The light at the end of the tunnel is visible although I’ve got to implement some serious time management skills.

Yesterday I managed to get some items pulled from the garage and organized such as columns, fence, shovels, barrel, etc.

The rafters of the garage are still packed with supports, crates and other things needed for the display.

My list of props that need to be built is winding down, the only things left are five more pumpkins and three bodies for some new characters that will be this year’s centerpiece.

The miscellaneous stuff is the thing that always gets me.

Still to do:

1. Make several hundred feet of barbed wire.
2. Create two new scythe blades.
3. Repair a few props that have been damaged in storage.
4. Repaint six props that are desperately in need of a fresh coat.
5. Run a lighting and audio check so I can replace some broken equipment.
6. Try to find some more apple crates.

Hopefully next week will be productive and I can get these things accomplished.

The goal is to relax the last two weeks of October.

A lovely thought.

Buster Tidbits

Here are a few tidbits of information concerning the construction of “Buster Gravesley” that did not make it into the project tutorial.

Cardboard

One RockBand box is enough to build a four foot high coffin frame.

Collar Bones

Once the ribs were attached to the spinal cord, additional tubes of newspaper were used to make the collar bones. The collar bones are not anatomically accurate, like most of my work I use diagrams for reference but freely deviate from reality.

Bones

The forearms (radius and ulna) were created by coating a rolled tube of newpaper with papier mache strips, allowing to dry, then cutting holes to create the look of two bones. Also, to support the newspaper while being papier mached the inside of the tube was filled with crumpled newspaper to prevent collapse.

Eyeball

The first eyeball created for buster was red with veins created from red thread. The result was sort of cool but I did not feel it was right for this project.

Coffin

The coffin was made using 44 individual wood planks each cut from cardboard, strip mached, textured and numbered.