Beetle Juice Party and Props

xyster101

New Member
I go nuts for HALLOWEEN and the past 3 years wife and I have thrown some big parties. This year our theme is Beeltejuice. I will be fabricating a bunch of stuff and putting it here.
First thing is the fireplace when Beeltejuice was going to marry Lidia.


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I did not want to waste time measuring and cutting so I drew a 2D version in Sketch up just to get measurements.


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I raided the cardboard dumpster at work and started to cut things out.


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Started to add depth. Nothing on this is square so it made it tough to work with.


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It is over 7 feet tall on the high side. It will also be placed on my hearth which is 11 inches tall.


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Then I mixed water and spackle together and applied that.


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Once this dries it will be adding some weathering and figuring out how to mount it around the fireplace.


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Some more work on the decorations. Catherine O'hara is an artist in the movie and has some weird art that later attacks them under Beetlejuice's control. I am only making the one sculpture and it is done, just need to paint it after it dries.


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I started with a wooden base made of scrap OSB.


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Then I screwed some old PVC pipe I had laying around to make the main trunk. The arms are left over 3/4 sprinkler pipe. Then I covered it with 2" chicken wire. I should have used 1" in hind sight as the paper mache was a pain to put on the larger holes.


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Then I mixed up a custom receipe for the paper mache. My dog eats things like socks, underwear and things with flour. I could not use flour as he ate something I made last year. I mixed half a quart of black paint, half a container of drywall mud (after scrapping the mold off the top) and half a gallon of Elmer's Glue All. I started with thin strips of newspaper but switched to 3-4" thick pieces later and it went much faster.


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It took a lot longer then I anticipated. I did 2 hours of work after work each day. I have about 8 hours into the laying of the paper! :eyecrazy:


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All said it stands about 7 ft tall and weighs around 40lbs. It wobbles around when it is moved and has cracked a few times. I think the final part will be to paint it and not move it. I might place it in the house and live with it there for 2 months until the party. Not sure. I could buy a paint called Jaxson which is essentially liquid rubber from a company that supplies Broadway stage crew with set materials, but it is $180 for 5 gallons and it has to last for 1 party.


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Dude! I will be buying that book. You worked on it?! Any advice would be awesome. Not much info out there on props. Ghostbusters has CAD drawings and how to's galore. Nothing for Beetlejuice.

I started to work on the sign that hangs over Betelgeuse's tomb. It is supposed to be a metal sign with lights. The light area is recessed so the light stays inside the sign. I made mine from wood and luane.


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First up was to make the frame. I used some 1x3 boards I had laying around. Some glue and pocket screws made quick work of that.


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I then framed it with luane to create the edge to keep the light inside that area. My plan is to wire up yellow LED lights inside of ping pong balls. The lights will be controlled with an arduino computer to make them blink, at least that is the plan.


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Then "holey" heck I had to drill 1.5 inch holes for the balls to fit into. Hit a few of my staples, a huge knot, ugh. I was using a forstner bit, but after hitting one of my staples I switched to a spade bit. Took a while to drill them all.


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Then I realized I made the thing too long. It was supposed to be 35 inches on the inside and 43 inches on the outside. I made it 43 inches on the inside which meant my plexi glass and lettering would not fit. So I had to cut 8 inches out of the center.


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Added the arrow that is going to point to the tombstone and drill more holes for the lights. Arrows are not attached yet as I'm waiting for the glue to dry from cutting 8 inches out of the sign.


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Bonus project. I wired up an Arduino with a motion sensor. Walk by and it trips a pneumatic solenoid that allows an air piston to push out. This might control a prop at the party. I have never used a pneumatic cylinder. We shall see.


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I did not get much done this weekend as the dog has been really sick. I primed the sign. I would have painted it, but I don't have orange or yellow paint.


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I also spray painted the back of plexi glass and applied the vinyl letters. I ordered the letters two weeks ago of the interwebz for $20 shipped. So much easier then making templates and painted it.


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I started to work on the Sand Worm(s) from the movie. These exist when the family leaves the house. I am using 8" sonotubes for concrete. I cut them with a chainsaw, I am open to better ideas.


Here is a ceiling mount I made. I plan to take a light down and then screw this metal bracket to the joist in the electric box. I will screw the wood part to the inside of the sonotube. The wood part slides onto the metal bracket and then a metal rod will slide through the outside of the tube, through the wood part, through the metal bracket and out the other side to hold it to the ceiling. Should make it look like the sand worm is coming through the ceiling.


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Holy crap this next part took me over 4 hours. I was able to have the pneumatic cylinder cause a mouth to open. There is almost nothing online on how to do this. I looked at puppet, Halloween, and industrial forums and finally just made it. This is my second attempt as my first one failed to work. I added the eyes just for fun, it will be better later.

Here is a youtube of it: https://youtu.be/_5qS5p2_SkU

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It opens really wide and fast at only 40 psi. I am a little concerned how long the wood stress points are going to last. The main parts are cedar which is about as strong as Styrofoam.


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The piston is mounted to the wood with 2 wires coming off it. Each one goes to one side of the jaw and gets pulled.


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