Haunting Your Yard!

We got more done today than I thought we would.  Thank goodness for the beautiful weather!

Way back when I blogged about our “find” at a local recycle place.  It was metal work to make an arch for our existing pillars and a secondary entrance to the graveyard.

Shane finally was able to give it some time today and the second entrance is complete.  I am really happy with how this turned out.  It’s hard to see in the sun, but he also added spider webs to it by using that great Webcaster Gun.  This time though we did use fishing line to get the webbing started.

Dylan spent the day working on the voodoo guy that will go in the voodoo section of our walk through.

Voodoo guy was made using pvp pipe for the limbs, batting to give him bulk, a wig holder head to put in the mask, and some hands from another prop that broke years ago and I just happened to keep the hands.

Most of my day was spent tearing apart the walls that were used in previous years.  We had put chicken wire and paper mache on them to create cave walls.  We now want to use those walls in the “slabatorium”, so I have been taking all the chicken wire and paper mache off.  If I never see chicken wire again I’ll be happy!  After I finished that I worked on bloodying up a prop we bought and I also put the lettering on the door, and the blood.  The door we got at the recycle place for $10.  I cut out the template to put the lettering on.  Then I bloodied up my hands and put those on the window.

You may have seen what is called “creepy cloth” online and at Halloween stores.  It’s something that could be used as curtains, or just a way to create a creepier effect.

I’ve seen it being sold for up to $1.75 a yard.  Considering this is probably one of the EASIEST things you can do yourself, to go buy it is a huge rip off.

Basically what “creepy cloth” is, is cheesecloth that is dyed and ripped up.  Cheesecloth has a TON of uses in a home haunt.

For example, I have taken a basic foam skull and glued layers of cheesecloth to it, then used fishing line to string up different parts of it, to give the effect of a flying ghost.

And when you get your own cheesecloth, you can then dye it a variety of colors to fit whatever your need is.

My recommendation would be to go to a fabric store – a real one, not a store that carries fabric in a section of the store.  You can by it in bigger quantities.  We got a box of it at Hancock Fabrics.  The normal sale price is 69 cents a yard (see – you’re saving a bunch of money already!).  We happened to get extremely lucky the day we went in – it was on sale for 33 cents a yard.

One thing we plan on doing with some of ours is hanging it from the ceiling in our garage in the voodoo scene, to give the feel of a swamp.  I got some black fabric dye and Dylan and I did a batch yesterday.  The first batch came out on the blacker/grayer side – the second, because most of the black pigment went into the first batch, came out on the bluer side.  I took a picture to show the difference.  I’ll have to play around with the colors as I’m not as thrilled with the bluer color.  We did this in a large bucket as well, which watered down the dye a bit.

I then decided to start experimenting a little with colors.  I have a huge box of this stuff, so why not.  I took some green food coloring and put a few pieces on a bowl.  I really didn’t let them sit too long.  It actually came out very interesting – almost a glow in the dark effect, so I’m interested in see what it looks like under lighting.

So really, this is one project that even the most un-crafty person can do themselves and save a bit money.  Once you start really looking at the cloth, you’ll start coming up with a lot of possible uses.   Like ripping it into strips and hanging it from props to create a mossy look.  Just think outside the box and you’ll discover that cheesecloth can be a home haunters best friend!

If you are new to the home and yard haunting for Halloween, I’m sure you’ve done a lot of research on the internet regarding headstones, graveyards, etc.  There is a lot of information out there and some amazing pictures of some yard haunters set ups.

It can be a little discouraging if you are just getting started because most people, like us, with the big set ups and large Halloween graveyards have spent years building up their stash.  To have a truly cool looking graveyard takes a lot of time and well, cash.  Even if you make a lot of the props yourself.

When we started our graveyard years ago, we started out small.  Most of the headstones from the earlier days have been replaced with the more realistic, custom ones.  If you are just getting started, a great way to do that is by using things you might have just sitting around the house.  We actually used to go dumpster diving because there was a lot of new construction near where we live.  So many of our first headstones were made out of wood and painted.

Wood is definitely not as easy, in my opinion, to work with as the foam.  But it is sturdy.  We did find it more challenging to stake to the ground.  With foam you can put a metal rod right up the inside of the foam.

Another method we sometimes use to vary our headstones is to glue pieces we’ve created using plaster of paris and molds on to the foam.   Many designs we etch out of the foam, but the plaster of paris pieces are another good option and there are tons of molds to pick from.  Once you’ve primed it and painted over it, it looks like it’s just part of the headstone.

We had some questions recently regarding our tombstones that I thought we would answer:

The foam from  Home Depot is the pink sheets in the wood/building section.  You can get the same type of foam at Lowe’s – there it is blue.  Depending on the size of your tombstones, you can get multiple headstones out of one sheet.  Left over pieces make great “markers” – small, rock type pieces that have maybe only a date on them, or nothing.  We’ve seen these in many cemeteries – small little pieces propped up.

You do have to be careful about the paint you use as some (especially spray paints) will eat the foam.  Some people use that technique to carve the stone.  We use tools to do that.  Latex paint is always the way we go.  I put a primer on first, then the color.  Check the “oops” paint section  – that is where we have gotten most of our paints at a fraction of the price.  Once you put a base coat on, you can start doing more specialized techniques to “age” your stones.  Putting paint on heavier in areas where you think it would look like the stones would naturally “leach” minerals – then take a spray bottle filled with water, spray the paint, let it start to drip, and then what I do is use a dry paint brush to drag the paint down.  I keep doing that until I get the look I want.

Finish your stones off by adding moss.

The tombstone Shane is working on here in the picture he just started.  It is an Edgar Allen Poe headstone.  He is carving out a raven on a branch at the top.  With this headstone he carved out the areas around the picture to bring the raven out – sometimes he’ll do the opposite and etch the picture in – which is always easier as he can use a dremel for that.  This technique takes longer.

Shane and Dylan finished the coffin on Monday and it turned out better than I would have ever thought.

So the first picture here is the coffin completed as far as all the trim and decorative pieces put on.  They filled in all the cracks and holes with wood putty, allowed that to dry, sanded it, etc.

Sunday we went back to the shop and they started staining.  Dylan would do the brushing on while Shane would do the wiping off.

To give it a bit of an older look they would leave the stain on longer in certain areas before wiping it off.

Monday they worked on adding the lining.  I didn’t go out to the shop with them, so I have no pictures of while they were doing it, but it was pretty much putting batting down, putting the satin over the batting, and stapling it to the coffin.  They brought it home Monday night since we had plans to use the coffin in the little “mini movie” we were doing for our Halloween Party save the date.

Here is the finished coffin on the outside and the inside.

As you can see, it turned out quite nice.

Last night we did the filming and they also took a few still of me in the coffin.  Here is how that turned out:

Quick progress update since we went out to the shop last night and did a little work.

So I wasn’t sure how happy I would be with the skeleton after it dried and I planned to decide how to proceed next depending on what it looked like.  It dried better than I had hoped, so I think I am going to stick with this method and not start over.

The process I am using is to mix my latex paint with a bit of elmers glue.  I am then painting the skeleton and letting that fully dry.  That way I’m getting a bit of a base on it.  Then I am going back, repainting sections, putting batting over it, and then using the paint brush to “dab” on the paint over the batting.

This is going to be a long, long process and take many layers and repainting since the plastic does not take the paint well.  But I think in the end it won’t be too bad.  Most people won’t get close enough to notice a lot of detail and it will be dark lighting.  I’m just always picky on the detail.  We have decided it looks like a burn victim so it will end up in the slabatorium most likely.

Shane and Dylan made some further progress on my coffin.  They finished putting together the main box, then then sanded it, and started putting on some of the trim and one of the decorative pieces on the side.  Hopefully the rest of the trim can get done before the end of the week and the lid finished so we can stain it Saturday and then put the lining in Sunday.

So we were back out at the shop yesterday, working on our projects.  What we did/needed to be done:

We had to finish the tombstone we were making for the coach of a football team.  Then Shane was going to start my toe pincher coffin because we need it for the mini movie we are making that will be the “save the date” for our guests for the Halloween party.  Once the mini movie is done I’ll post it.

I was going to start changing the skeleton.  What that was going to be like, I wasn’t sure when I started.

And I got Dylan going on painting some columns we’ve had for ages.

First off, the coffin.  We want to make this one on the fancy side.  It will be completely trimmed out, with decorative pieces on the front and sides and we plan to line it as well with batting and some sort of silk.

The first thing he did was use the table saw to notch out the sides so the pieces fit together.

Then they slowly started adding the sides.  This particular coffin is designed to fit me.  We were planning on making one for everyone this year, but the cost is going to put that on hold.

They were short a bit of wood for the side so the plan this week is to get that finished, get it trimmed out and stained so that next weekend we can finish the inside.  This coffin (toe pincher) will be used as an indoor prop in our vampire mansion room.

A rough estimate of the cost would be about $200 ish for materials.

Next, I was working on the skeleton.  This whole thing is an experiment so I just got a plastic skeleton to work on.  I am not ready yet to venture into getting the expensive ones.  The first mistake made was I got the wrong batting, which I didn’t realize until I started working on the prop.  I need cotton batting and we got poly.  It isn’t taking the paint well and on the whole, the plastic skeletons don’t (I stained some last year so I knew this already).  The effect right now is of a burned victim – I only did so much and am letting it dry (takes forever) before trying any more.  If I am still not terribly happy with the outcome, I will go to plan B which is use paper towel strips to make it more mummy like.

One thing I do with these plastic skeletons is cut out pieces of plastic between the ribs, the eyes, the mouth, arms, etc.

It’s always good to have more than one project going on at a time because while something is drying you can switch to something else.  That’s what Dylan and I did with the columns he was repainting and the headstone we were working on.

The columns will be used in the vampire mansion room.  One will have a dead floral arrangement on it.  The other, a bust of a vampire we got at Michael’s.  Dylan painted them a red color and then I went back and “aged” them a bit.  I did this by taking black paint, getting as much off the brush as possible, and doing a dry brush over the columns.  Here is a before and after:

The last thing we did was finish up the headstone that was ordered.  This is not for Halloween.  A football coach had us do one to put their season from last year to rest.  He wanted something very, very basic – no distressing or aging really.  I still did a bit of aging using paint as I couldn’t stand to have it go out the door so plain.

The technique I use to do that is to put a line of black paint at the top, then use a spray bottle filled with water to spray the paint, and a dry paint brush to drag it.  I do this over and over again until I’m happy with the result.  Normally I would do a lot more of this and also add the moss.  They would also have cracks and distress – but he didn’t want any of that, so this is really a very basic headstone.

That pretty much wrapped up our day.  More to come….

I would like to say right off the bat, that I realize some of the things we incorporate into our voodoo room are not voodoo  and this year we will most likely be adding more.  But the overall feel we are going for is that voodoo feel – like what was in Pirates of the Caribbean.

This year, instead of setting up in the bathroom down in the basement, we will be setting up in our garage so that trick-or-treaters will be able to view it.  The past two years we have done it, it has been one of my favorite things we do, but has only been “enjoyed” by our Halloween party guests.  This year that will change.

I am a firm believer that gore is not needed to create a scare.  Not that well placed body parts and such aren’t effective – we have done it before and will most likely do it again this year in some capacity – but the element of the “unknown” can be just as creepy.  We also get a lot of very small children and so we are careful about what we do.

I think we are planning our first walk-through this year, and the voodoo room will be part of it.  The opportunities that can open up to us by moving it out of the bathroom and into the garage are endless.  For now, I’ll describe how we set up in the bathroom.  As the months progress and we start planning out the garage, I’ll add to this.

One thing we did was put a pentagram on the floor.  This was something that freaked people out a bit.  Dylan took great pains in trying to get it right – his advanced math skills came in handy!  I would really like to add more detail this year.

I also did some research regarding symbols.  I printed them out, tore the edges of the paper up and soaked the paper in coffee.  This gave them an older look.  We also drew symbols on mirrors.  I created a spell book – with some authentic spells and I even included the ingredients on the table, so that if anyone got adventurous enough….

The jars were quite a find – they were given to me.  I had made a request on freecycle and someone responded.

Of course you need bones and skulls lying about.  Lots and lots of candles too.  Don’t forget the shrunken heads.  Year one I made them out of apples – this past year I bought them.

This last year we also dressed up our animated butler and turned him into a bit of a voodoo witch.  This next year I will have a live person doing the honors.  I have a particular friend in mind!  The butler will have other responsibilities in another part of the walk-through.

Last but not least, the one element that creates the whole mood is the music.  I was lucky enough to find some that is actual voodoo drums playing.  The music is a must.  For me it was a good sign when some guests would not step over the threshold of the room.  Hopefully this year we can bring it up to the next level.

I’ve been sitting blogging on my personal blog and Halloween came over me a bit, so I hopped over here. I have the window to my office barely cracked and a breeze is blowing in. It is making a creepy sound….so it reminded me of Halloween, and of Halloween sounds. One of the most important elements of Halloween is the sounds, the music – creating the atmosphere. What we do wouldn’t be half as good if we didn’t have the scary Halloween sounds such as howling, screaming, heartbeats, etc., being pumped through the speakers in the graveyard. There are a lot of cd’s out there that you can use to accomplish this effect. Be careful not to get cheesy ones. Sometime you won’t know until you buy it, but generally they aren’t too expensive. If you get a crappy one, you generally aren’t out too much! When I created my voodoo bathroom, one of the most important things to include was music. It set the tone. I got my music, Ti-Roro & Ti Marcel (Voodoo Drum in Hi-Fi), off the internet a few years ago. It’s not just the drums, but the chanting as well. No one would use the bathroom. Now in the house and in our garage scene, we usually have something else playing. Our favorite choice in Halloween music is hands down Midnight Syndicate’s cd’s. These are more music set to a scary backdrop. We have always found them at the local Spirit Halloween Store when they open for the season. These are some of the best scary Halloween sounds on the market. So Halloween music and scary Halloween sounds is something you don’t want left out of your Halloween haunt. I have always found that the more subtle, the better. If you have a specific theme you are going for, try and find specific music to fit. Even the smallest of sounds can make the biggest of difference!

I’m going to attempt to give a basic “how to” of the process of building our pillars for our graveyard fence. There are a lot of great ideas out there on the web – different ways to build pillars. Some which are made of foam and very lightweight. We would eventually like to redo ours.

First off, one of the biggest issues we have here in Colorado is the wind. We can get hurricane force gusts coming off of the mountains. This makes prop building more difficult as we always have to think in terms of worst case winds and build things and set up things in the graveyard with that always in mind. We don’t want our props to end up in Kansas!

The year we built them we were also on a tight budget. Well, we are always on a tight budget. If we didn’t watch ourselves we could easily spend hundreds of dollars each year on Halloween. That year a lot of new houses were going up close by – and dumpster diving was how we got much of our materials. If you shouldhappen to use that method of acquiring materials be careful to ONLY get materials that are IN a dumpster. Otherwise it is not free game – even if it’s sitting next to the dumpster.

So we worked with what we had – which was a lot of framing material. Some of which was perfect for building our pillars.

We built 2 tall, main entrance pillars and 4 shorter pillars. What helps the pillars stay upright being that they are so tall, is a couple of things. First, since they are attached to other pillars via the fencing, they are not stand alone. We also stake them with metal stakes to give them a little extra stability.

As far as fencing goes – we did not make it. There are some techniques out there that use pvc pipe to make some pretty realistic fencing. We decided to go with real rod iron. We were able to get pieces similar enough from a local recycling place. So storage and hauling them around can be quite difficult, but they are sturdy. One of the problems we have had is that up until this year, the elementary bus stop was in front of our house. The kids loved looking at our setup while waiting for the bus, but they had a tendency to “hang” on the fencing. Which is why we chose something more stable, and the pieces of fencing are screwed into the sides of the pillars.

To finish the pillars we did some basic painting. One great way to get large amounts of paint is to see what colors they have at the local home improvement store in the “oops paint” section. You’ll save a lot of money. We did not learn that until after using spray paint on these which is very expensive. We did gray first, then did touches of black and a greenish paint to give them a different look.

Since then, this past year, I redid the pillars. I did a different paint job in which I put black paint in a line, spray it with water, then do a drag with a paint brush. It gives things an older look (I use the same technique on our tombstones and on the mausoleum). This is an example of how they looked this year. They are not quite as dark overall but look so much better at night. I also added moss.

Now back to the original year we first built them. I have mentioned that we build most of what you see. There are some exceptions. We do buy inexpensive Halloween decor at local stores and usually modify them. So these skulls in a cage we got at Big Lots one year. I have since added moss to these as well. These hang from the two tall entrance pillars. It is the small details that make the prop in my opinion. The crosses you see on the front of the pillars were also purchased at Big Lots and have also had moss added to them to give an old feeling.

No matter how well you construct your props they will need touching up and repair just about every year. Moss is a great way to hide flaws and things that happen in general while being moved around and stored. Keep bags of it on hand – it comes in very handy.

So that’s pretty much how we built our graveyard fence. I will say, the rod iron does add an extremely realistic touch. If you have a way to get a hold of some and a way to store it, I would really consider it. Each year we seem to do a little something more to add to them, which is always part of the prop process!