Haunting Your Yard!

First off, all credit on these pictures goes to our son Dylan.

So far the witch is surviving any wind.  Yesterday we had some nice breezes.  Here she is during the day.  She is quite the sight on the peak of the roof.  The night picture didn’t turn out too bad, all things considered.  We did adjust the lighting and it is now reaching her face.

Now the ultimate picture would be a full moon behind her.  We’ll have to keep watch for when that might happen.

Her presence on the roof is bothering the dog next door!  Hopefully Ginger will get used to her.

Next we have the ghost in the mausoleum during the day and the night, after they used the Webcaster Gun to add the webbing.  Now this is a device we have tried to make ourselves, but were never able to get it to really work.  This year, I decided to just buy one and I bought the least expensive one - so I wasn’t too sure how the results would be.   Well, as you can see, the results turned out great.  It took a little experimenting - and if they had read the “tips” sheet that came with it they would have figured some things out sooner.  But they were so excited to try it out…. they had a lot of fun with it.

Basically it’s a modified glue gun hooked up to an air compressor.  It shoots the warmed glue sticks and creates the web effect.  Very cool and worth the price.  You can get them at BuyCostumes.com.

Finally, we have some general pictures of the graveyard at night with the lighting.  We still haven’t gotten the flying crank ghost set up on the front porch.  But everything else is pretty much done.

So we started the outside setup this past weekend.  Most, but not quite all is done.  From here on out, much of the work will be focused on getting the walk through ready.

So I am posting pictures of the graveyard, mausoleum, etc. during the day.  Once we get the fcg up I’ll post some more.  We have some lighting touches to do regarding the witch - so night photos will be posted later.  These photos were taken during the setup process.  So not all elements are in the photos.

One thing that Shane and Dylan really had fun playing with was the web shooter that we bought.  They webbed up the mausoleum and it looks really cool at night.  I’ll post pictures tomorrow.

So it’s done! 

We finished our Halloween headstone in honor of Edgar Allen Poe.  Shane did a great job with the carving of the raven.  I am still trying to decide if I want to add more aging though.  There is fine line and if you go over board, then the headstones become unreadable.  While we do put lighting on our headstones at night, it’s subtle lighting - so painting the headstones/tombstones too dark turns them into a blob at night.

This weekend we also started a set of custom headstones for someone who wants to use them as centerpieces on tables for a wedding rehearsal dinner that is taking place Halloween night.

For the first time we stopped at Lowes and got the foam there.  We were a bit surprised - Shane noticed that there IS a difference between the pink foam at Home Depot and the blue at Lowes - the blue foam is denser.  He said it cuts different and is more like wood.  He seemed to like working with it better.  I did notice it isn’t as porous - which means for me the priming of the foam first is even more important.  There really isn’t any difference in price, so we may be going with the blue foam from now on out.

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.

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….

So we have finally gotten started with the Halloween projects.  The first ones are adding more headstones to the graveyard.

I will do a complete how-to once we have gone through the entire process.  But for now, I’m just blogging about what we did yesterday.

Shane is actually working on a tombstone for someone else right now. The pink foam is found in sheets at Home Depot.  I believe at Lowe’s it’s the blue.  We use the 2″ thick foam.  First the basic shape is cut out with small hand saws.  Then the details begin to be added.  The router is used for cutting out insets.  He’ll also use it for the lettering when he gets to that point.

Dylan used plaster of paris to create some molds that will eventually be glued on to headstones before the painting process.  Once they are glued on and painted over, you can’t even tell that they weren’t “carved” out of the foam.

The molds we got at a hobby store and are ones used to make soaps.  Shane got these a couple of years ago - we have crosses and angels.  Since then we have not been able to find any molds that aren’t cutesy.  We got lucky finding the crosses.

Dylan and I decided to use scraps of the foam to make some small “markers”.  Now the ones shown are upside down to dry after being primed.  This is the beginning of the painting process.  First, primer goes over the foam to seal it and also help cover up that pink.  After the first cuts were made, we “distressed” the foam using saws, wood burner, etc.  These were also cut at an angle at the bottom, so that they will look crooked when put in the graveyard.

I did not get past the priming phase yesterday as they were not drying quickly.  What is still to come is a couple of coats of the main color, then the technique to “age” the stones with paint, then the moss.

On our way home we did stop by Big Lots to see if they had any Halloween decor out.  We are always on the lookout for cheap things that can be modified.  Here is what we came home with -

This skeleton will not been seen as is.  It will be heavily modified.  I have plans to mummify him.  Another thing that can be done and is relatively easy is to stain them.  Last year I did this to a couple.  But I first cut out extra plastic between the ribs, etc.

The pictures will be part of the walk through - they are the kind that change as you walk by.  Yes, the frames are the cheesy plastic, but in the setting they will be in, with dim lighting, it is not worth it to modify that and spend the money.  No one will see them long enough to notice.

This summer is flying by and we have so much to do to get ready for Halloween!  One of the things on the list obviously, is adding to the graveyard.  What better way to get inspiration than to visit an old cemetery.

Shane and I recently did this on our way up to the mountains while out for a weekend ride in the Lotus.  There is a wonderful old cemetery not too far from the house and we stopped by to take a look at some of the headstones.  

We are always looking for new ideas in regards to not only shapes and wording but also the little things - cracks and how they form, what they look like when they are weathered.  If you want headstones in your Halloween graveyard to be realistic looking, then I would suggest not buying them at your local retail store.  You really need to either do it yourself, or pay to have custom ones made.  It’s all in the detail.

I loved some of the shapes we saw at this cemetery.  Some of the carvings and intricate work.  These types of things can easily be duplicated when you have the right tools.

Now a recent trip of mine to visit my brother in Wisconsin, took me to a very old cemetery.  There is a noticeable difference in what the climate does to the markers.  Here in Colorado, due to the dry climate, we don’t get all the heavy, wonderful moss.  This is such a great element to add to custom tombstones.  A must really.  And the picture to the left - I love how they are leaning.  This is a very easy thing to duplicate as well.  We have done it to one of ours and I plan to add another like this this year.

Some of the markers were so old and falling apart, that there were rock sitting behind them in order to keep them propped up.  What a great idea.

To have a realistic looking graveyard, you need all these elements.  You don’t want perfect looking headstones all lined up.  You need small, large, cracked, mossed, broken, etc.  Will people notice every small detail on each headstone?  No - especially if your graveyard is large like ours.  People can’t get up close.  But all of them put together is what makes it look the way it does - old, creepy, realistic.