Halloween 2000

THE PARTY!!!

We have finished up Halloween 2000.   Dano has created the much talked about Grim Organist and we are now providing the  pictures.  I've created a special section for the Grim Organist, just because it is graphics intensive and complicated to describe.  Click on the link below to check out Grimmy and please enjoy our other props we've started for Halloween 2000!!  After the party I'll have more pics and descriptions of more props.

CREEPY WINDOW

Here is a castle window I made from the styrofoam I had left over from the organ.  It was made using the same technique as the organ arches.  I then added foam board to the back and painted a moon, some tree branches and hot glued real branches to it to give it that 3D effect.  The bars are made from trim wood and painted to look like iron.  The torches are identical to the ones I made for the organ,  they are made from styrofoam coffee cups, strips of cardboard, PVC pipes and hooks.  They were then coated with Acrylic Latex caulk and painted.  They light up and flicker.  This is part of the living room castle scene.  As we get closer to the big day, we will provide more interior pictures of the completed room.

OUR FLYING CRANK GHOST

Here is our Flying Crank Ghost!  Andy put the mechanism together and we both worked on draping the cheese cloth. I made the hands out of a piece of cardboard and straws.  I cut the straws to the size of fingers, and glued them on to the cardboard cut out in the shape of a palm.  Using tachy glue, I wrapped strips of cheese cloth around each finger and the palms to give it bulk.  That was a lenghy process, but works well.  I shredded the bottom  of the cheese cloth to make the ghost look really old. We decided not to add the L.E.D. eyes.   Instead of using neon blue spray paint (which we could not find anywhere), we used a tip from Doug at Phantasmechanics...we used clothing detergent mixed with water and sprayed it on.  I cannot even begin to explain the mechanism.  Check out Phantasmechanics for those details.  By the way, Dano got Andy the video for Christmas and it was very helpful!  Plus some bonus stuff at the end.

PHANTASMECHANICS

SUITS OF ARMOR

Check out this find! Andy found a knight at a little second hand store.  He's not terribly big, but he sure is cool.  Only about $150...they go for much much more.  And he'll stay up year round!  The second picture is the knight that Dano & Andy built!  It stands at about 7 ft tall!

The 7ft suit of armor that you see on the right was handmade by Dano and Andy.  Somehow Andy acquired a large cardboard kit of a Star Wars Phantom Menace Droid.  The damn thing was propped up in my dining room and Dano had a great idea to make him into a Suit of Armor.  Dano cut up bleach bottles and added the patterns using molding cut from sheets...he painted them silver and stained them.  He made all the silver parts including the helmet using plastic pieces parts of bottles.  The hands were made from gardening gloves sprayed with a hardening spray...be careful..this stuff is dangerous if inhaled in large amounts...use in a well ventilated area.  All the plastic was tacked on using large screws drilled into the cardboard and hotglue.  Pretty cool eh?  You basically wrap everything around the cardboard cutout.  It has a counterweight on the back so he doesn't fall over.

CIRCLE OF GHOSTS

This one is kind of silly but fun to make.  This year the front yard is going to be all ghost themed.  These are 4 plastic skeleton heads I picked up for $1 each at Big lots...then glued them to 1/4" round sticks I got at Home Depot. I bought a bunch of sheets at a thrift store and this project, all together cost me $10.  You can put as many as you want in a circle, just make sure the posts are secure in the ground or else they'll fall over!  Put the sheets over the ghosts and tie it tight at the neck.  Tie the corners together to make it look like they are holding hands.  You can put anything in the center...a cauldron, a candle, etc...I put another stick cuz we have a big street light above them.

WALL OF BONES

Here's a nice pictures I call Wall of Bones.  I started using a large pre-made canvas, 2 bags of plastic bones and some various bones from Bucky Bones.  I needed 4 cans of "Great Stuff" (it's found in the insulation isle at your local hardware store).  I sprayed out the Great Stuff in patterns and put the bones in on top of it.  After it all dried, I used 2 cans of "banner red" latex paint and coated it on thickly. I then spray painted the borders and some of the bones using metallic black spray paint.  Be careful using Great Stuff...it can be very messy....use outdoors only.  I propped it up in a bay window and bought a black rectangle tablecloth (one of those cheap plastic ones) and covered the open ends.

ICE FACE

Here are a couple of different angles of the Ice Face.  This one turned out pretty good considering my first attempt at it.  This is a cool (literally!) idea to keep your punch nice and chilled for the night.  First, buy a plastic mask from any crafts store.  I highly suggest one with only the eyes cut out.  I paid about $4 for this one.  Tape up both sides of the eye holes using duct tape.  Make sure it's sealed tight or water will leak!  Fill up the mask with water and put it in the freezer nose down (I just set it in an empty ice tray) for about 2 days.  When it's done, you can toss it in the punch bowl and watch as your guests smile as the ice face smiles back at them!

OUTDOOR REAPER

Boo!  Ha ha...scare ya?  He will when you try to get to our front door!  He's propped up behind the gate near the front door.  He just sort of looms there...he's even made the dog bark at him!  This is an overside stryofoam skull head that was Dano picked up for Halloween 98.  This  year, we put him on a tripod and I draped 2 black plastic rectangle tableclothes around him and duct taped in the back.  I lightly dusted the plastic with green neon spray paint.  Dano painted the skull and added fake blood between the teeth.  In 98, this giant skull was hung over the opening to the endless hallway and draped with the same kind of tablecloth.  It was used like a portal to enter the hallway.

THE GRAVEYARD

Here is our graveyard in the backyard.  There are still a few tombstones to the left you can't see in this picture.We've certainly been collecting them over the years!  These are made from 2 inch thick styrofoam, carved and shaped.  The names and patterns on each are drilled into the styrofoam using a dremmel sander.  We painted them using styrofoam safe spraypaint.  To get the gray effect, you just hold the paint further from the tombstone.  I randomly scattered Citronella candles in buckets near the tombstones and put up a few citronella tiki torches around the perimeter.  Citronella is good for use in Florida cuz of them damn skeeters!  Don't we have a cool backyard?  Behind the tombstones are giant Azalea bushes.

ALIEN AUTOPSY ROOM

Here is all the Alien stuff from Halloween 98, recycled and put to a new use.  The Alien babies and Cryogenic alien were on both sides of Bob the Alien, who was in his own autopsy chamber.  The autopsy chamber was made from a clear plastic round cubicle that Andy found!  He was placed on a piece of plywood and we put a strobe inside to light him up.  The outside was decorated with painted styrofoam, bottle caps, tubing, whatever Dano could get his hands on.  This was in the garage and took up some space...they were on one side  of the flying crank ghost, which was in a window.  We put up all black lights and put the food in the garage.

MORE USE OF HEADS

Here are those creepy heads put to use again!  I put one in the bathroom for another bathroom lab scene...wrapped up in white plastic.  The other I put in a basket in the living room as part of the castle scene.  Sort of like a decaying decapitiation.

LIVING ROOM FUN

Every thing in these pictures pretty much explain themselves.  I used recycled Halloween props from the past few years and put them in various places.  The bloody sheets, candles, pumpkins and spiderwebs.  Candles are a wonderful accessory for Halloween...just make sure they are in a safe place so your guests don't catch on fire!  If you have any questions about any thing in these pics, feel free to email me.

OUTSIDE PROPS

Just a couple of decorations for outside.  The first pic on the left is part of the fence around the back patio.  I strung up orange lights around the fence and bought 6-8 of those cheap plastic trick or treating pumpkins. Andy drilled holes in the back of each one and installed light fixtures.  He put in a low wattage bulb, strung them all together and when plugged in, they make an excellent light source for outside. We put coffinman back to use...we propped him up in the corner of the fence with a couple of candles...it looks like we just dug him up. He was going to come inside,  but when we pulled him out of the shed some roaches were found nesting in his legs!!!! Ewwww!  I would not allow coffinman inside at that point.

I hope you've enjoyed our props for Halloween 2000, and we're very excited to start on Halloween 2001!

Got questions?

MCDONALD MANOR