I've aged the dolls with crackle paint, glue, and paint. I left the real-looking baby doll as is--he's creepy. I got some barbies that will probably hang by their necks. I'm collecting and fixing up more dolls and doll heads to hang above. All of these will be set up on the food spread table area staring up at people as they get food/drinks. It should be pretty unsettling. The patio will be lined with tattered tea-stained curtains fluttering in the wind and candlelight. Should have a very eerie effect, I hope.
I made a huge long black tattered robe with hood and laid it in the yard to age in the sun and fade and get dirty from the rains. That will go on a huge tree limb as the body of a reaper. I'm making a large fake sythe. The skull I started to make out of a craft store mask. I cut the nose off and the eye holes bigger and cut the jaw off to hinge it. I started paper maiche'ing over it and will keep layering until the brow ridge and cheekbones are more prominent. Then, I'll get that painted up in bone colors and have it inside the black tattered robe on the tall tree limb. When folks arrive, it'll look down on them from above with a lightning flashing spotlight with tons of white crosses in the entry yard and a few wooden tripods with Jack O'Lanterns on them.
I'm pleased so far with the layout. I'm making bodies to float on the pool face down with the red pool light on, so that should have a nice effect. The pool is enclosed tightly by walls covered thickly in vines which will have giant spiders.
All in all, I'm getting things done. The hard part will be finding lots of scraps to fill the yard to make it into a post apocalyptic compound. We're having bulk trash pickup soon and neighbors leave furnishings, scrap wood, and all kinds of junk out front, so I might be able to get some weird creepy stuff that would fill the compound in a post-apocalyptic sort of storage way.
I have a complete cemetery ready to go and a fantastically creepy ghost that will hover over it. There'll be a slideshow against the wall of the shed flashing totally creepy pictures nonstop the whole time projected onto it. I think the live music will be the big draw.
Luckily, I have lots of "little elves" to help me out with the stuff. Even though it's two months away, there's a lot of stuff to make.
Those dolls are creepy! Sounds like you are really haunting your house and yard this year! Post lots of pics. I'd love to see. :)
ReplyDeleteNice job of creating your own decorations. I guess I need to trick-o-treat at your house this year......spooky. I'll have to scan pictures from a party Gary and I had and of all the decorations we made for it. Our friends helped and it turned out so cool.
ReplyDelete~~Julie~~
Beca; I'll keep posting pic's as I work on new projects. It's so freakin hot here lately (above 107) that I've not done anything outside. We're getting cooler temps and lots of rain from the hurricane, so I can finally dig out the yard to finish putting down a walkway that I started with flagstone and never finished. Putting things outside to age has worked great--lots of dirty muddy rain and sun bleaching... I'm going to take used white sheets from Saver's and tear the edges of them, tea stain them, and hang them around the patio and let them age and whip around in the wind too. I'm planning on having my son videotape the party so I can have fun memories. Our last Halloween party, some folks crashed the party in costumes and stole my cameras, so I was really pissed. This time, we're putting glow bracelets on people as they enter so we know they're our people and locking everything up in a back bedroom. That's pathetic! The party will be outside, but people will have to come in for the restrooms, so I think the indoors I'm just going to do with spider webs and spiders and cover the furnishings in white sheets like a haunted house.
ReplyDeleteJulie; I always set up the front yard as a haunted house for Halloween for the kids. I'm one of the favorites in the neighborhood by everyone. There's a cemetery, ghosts in the windows peering out, floating with fans and muted lights on them, lots of creepy sounds, and at the front door lots of scary dolls stacked up staring at the kids. They actually hate that part the most. Hee hee
I should have asked you for a doll picture for my "poem".
ReplyDelete@eloh;
ReplyDeleteI thought that was funny when I read the poem and then I went outside and nearly tripped over the dolls aging on the ground.
One Halloween, my son Andy was dressed in a creepy costume with an equally scary mask, sat on our front porch with the Michael Myers dummy I made (Halloween, not Austin Powers, lol)and as the kiddies got a close look at him, he would yell out "Happy Halloween". They would ususally scream at first and then laugh. He wouldn't scare the wee little kiddies, just the preteens and older. It was so fun!
ReplyDeleteJulie;
ReplyDeleteThat's a hoot! I have to admit, for about the past five years, we've been getting about a 6'2" big guy in the Michael Myers costume coming to our door. Always the same thing. Never says a word. The jumpsuit looks like the actual one from the movie--even dusty and nasty, with a long knife--looks real, and he has the perfect mask. He stares at you, but says nothing. He has a pillowcase in his hand, but no candy inside of it. We live mid-street, so if this dude is going down the street, he's starting at our house. I feel like he's an adult and no kid--he's huge and been doing it for like 5 years! I'm trying to think of what neighbor is that bent in the head, but honestly I'm not that lucky. My neighbors are mostly Catholics, Mormons, and Jehovah's, hardly the Halloween crowd. I have to admit, I'm kind of turned on and that creeps me out even more!
This sounds awesome! Please post pics when you do this.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! That is some creepy work. What talent!
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