Halloween already? Home/yard haunt ideas?

Here is what my yard looked like last year!
I love Halloween!!!
Kenny

Hallo-14.jpg

Hallo-6.jpg
 
Cool yard! I like the graveyard fencing & am thinkng about adding some to keep people where I want them. ;)

@howlingwind - thanks for the info... you know I can't have the wifey mad at me over this. :confused

Anybody had success pumping fog throughout the yard? I was gonna set up both machines on chillers & just let 'em go!
 
Here's an awesome idea that worked great for me for years.
You need BLACK 5 gallon buckets, turn them upside down, carve an evil face on them, put white posterboard or paper on the backside. Put a string of red XMAS lights , one under each bucket.
Saves on pumpkins because they are reusable...but the best part is the black bucket disappears in the night all you can see are very bright distinct red eyes and evil grins.
I once built a delapatated dog house, put a bucket inside with only the eyes lit up, I had a chain staked in the ground going inside the doghouse a small fogger and a CD player with a loop of growling. I also put a beat up dog dish with an arm in it and a pile of bones outside.
mike
 
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Anybody had success pumping fog throughout the yard? I was gonna set up both machines on chillers & just let 'em go!

You can use corrugated drain pipe to run the fog around the yard. I have been able use this method outside by hiding the pipe under leaves or grave mounds etc. You have to be creative with hiding it. The only real problem you have is the wind.
 
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This is great! I may just hammer out several of these skulls each year.

Anybody have good papier-mache past recipes? I thin I'd reather not use food products to avoid the bugs eating them in the spring/summer. :D
 
Anybody have good papier-mache past recipes? I thin I'd reather not use food products to avoid the bugs eating them in the spring/summer. :D
There's lots of different ways to do it. You can do the regular flower/water mixture, wallpaper paste, Elmer's Glue, Plaster of Paris..... just about anything that can be thinnned and dries hard. You can even cover the skull in a few layers of masking tape.

What you do with it after that step is the important part. Sealing it would be the best thing, so water and bugs don't eat up your hard work. ;)
 
A.C. Moore just started putting out their Halloween stuff, and they had these very nicely molded styrofoam skulls for about $5 each. They'd need a better paint job, but the detailing on them is pretty darn good.
 
:confused They're putting out Halloween stuff on the first of August?

This is the holiday I wait for all year and even I think that's a little early.

Okay, so
skulls- check
fog- there was the PVC tube idea
tombstones? any idea what you're doing there?
Don't forget the lighting. Lighting is very important.
 
Okay, so
skulls- check
fog- there was the PVC tube idea
tombstones? any idea what you're doing there?
Don't forget the lighting. Lighting is very important.

Yeah, I've got a few ideas for tombstones:
http://www.spookyblue.com/halloween/tombstones/index.htm
http://thecryptorium.com/props/tombstones.html
Probably end up layering the insulation foam they talk about using to give it more depth & size.


And will likely try to line the driveway with this type of graveyard fence:
http://www.thehalloweenasylum.com/GraveyardFence.html
http://thehorrordome.com/HDPROPS/TheFence.htm


Regarding lighting... what do you suggest? I saw some rock lights somewhere (looks like a rock from all sides except the back - wish I still had the link) that might work. I think they were battery operated though which may mean they're too dim. Dunno...
 
I'd make a mold and pour them in plaster - you can get a big bag of Hydrocal for cheap, at Home Depot.

I've never noticed Home Depot having Hydrocal, and I've looked in several departments of several Home Depots several times.

(Or did you mean plain plaster of Paris?)

The best deal on plasters is usually at a local ceramics supply place. They generally sell 50 and 100 lb. bags of p. of P. (a.k.a. No. 1 Molding Plaster), Hydrocal, Ultracal, and a few others, for half or less of what you'd pay per pound at a craft store or art supply store. It's generally in a plastic bag, too, so it stays fresh and non-messy. (Unlike hardware store plaster in a leaky paper bag.)
 
Regarding lighting... what do you suggest? I saw some rock lights somewhere (looks like a rock from all sides except the back - wish I still had the link) that might work. I think they were battery operated though which may mean they're too dim. Dunno...

Just hide lighting behind gravestones and/or in trees/bushes.

Also, check out energy saving fluorescent floodlight bulbs. They suck out very little money (minus the price tag of the bulb), give off very bright light, don't get very hot, and you can easily have them cast color with lighting gels.
 
Howlingwind do you have any schematics on how to make a cobweb gun like you did? Thanks.
I can't find the links I had for it, but I'm certain a Google search will turn up plenty. Essentially, the idea is to hook up an air compressor/blower to a glue gun just before it comes out. So instead of the hot glue dripping/oozing out, because of the now-blowing air, it comes shooting out.
 
Regarding lighting... what do you suggest? I saw some rock lights somewhere (looks like a rock from all sides except the back - wish I still had the link) that might work. I think they were battery operated though which may mean they're too dim. Dunno...

I haven't seen these. I think the primary disadvatage would be having batteries die.

Personally I'd just use outdoor colored flood lights. I'd probably just get colored bulbs. I don't think you'd see a dramatic increase in your electric bill. The colored gels can actually be a bit pricey... then again, so can the lamps themselves. The colored bulbs aren't bad though.

A couple of them strategicaly placed behind bushes or trees. Blue, red or orange. I'd change out the porch light with a colored bulb b/c a white light will ruin the effect and no light at all means Trick-or-Treaters stay away.

You shouldn't need that many. If you over- light, it'll ruin the effect... it'll go from creepy to some weird neon thing that looks like Joel Shumacher is directing a new Batman movie in your yard. If you under- light, people won't be able to see your display.

Then again, you might be able to find some reviews on the rock lights.
 
I can't find the links I had for it, but I'm certain a Google search will turn up plenty. Essentially, the idea is to hook up an air compressor/blower to a glue gun just before it comes out. So instead of the hot glue dripping/oozing out, because of the now-blowing air, it comes shooting out.

CORRECT!
prettly simple, just attach an air nozzle under the glue gun nozzle and back an inch or two. Mine was a cheap and easy home made version. Need two hands, on the air, the other on the gluegun.

I discovered it by accident before these were even invented. I was using the glue gun for halloween prop building in the basement my dad was vaccuming with a shop vac, the blower part of the vac blew the glue around a bar stool in the basement. We looked at each other seeing the stool cover in glue and ran out to hool up the air compressor.
This was 18 years ago.
mike
 
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