Halloween 2018

Happy Halloween!!!  The haunt was successful last night with loads of help and lots of trick or treaters.  We got 154 trick or treaters--not the lowest or the highest, but respectable.  Michael and Natalie dressed up as hazmat government guy and demogorgon, respectively.  Michael managed to creep them out coming in by scanning them with a real geiger counter (sans batteries, but still), then Natalie would freak them out as they exited, having been hidden behind the forest tapestry while they came in.  For the littler ones, there was just a wave from the scary demogorgon. 

On the inside of the porch, I was sitting with a tangled ball of lights and a bowl of candy.  Sam and Mondo were inside, working the alphabet lights and the tangled ball of lights that were on a foot pedal switch and could be flickered.  One of them was also sitting behind the wall ready to stretch their hands through.  It got even better when Mondo grabbed one of the skulls laying about and pushed that through.  The jaw was closed, and then as the fabric pushed against it, opened up, which was hella creepy.  At first a lot of the kids didn't notice the wall, so we figured out a routine where I reacted to the wall and pointing or asking the kids 'did you see that?!?' and then staring at the wall.  It was a good routine that managed to get them to notice the wall and then whoever was behind it would obligingly push a hand or skull through.  Lots of freaked out kids.  And lots of adults came as well--those were the ones that lingered and noticed all the little details from the series--a lot of the kids knew the basics, but not all the details.  Although there were quite a few kids who did.  The bulk of the kids hit us up before 8--after that we held out for a few stragglers, but by 9 we hadn't seen anyone for a good 15 minutes and our toes were freezing, so we decided to close up shop.

Memorable moments:

• The group of adults that hung out and noticed every little detail, complimenting the work and attention paid to everything.  They (apparently) come every year to check out what I put up that year.  
• The girl dressed as Pennywise from IT--nailed the costume--creepiest thing I saw all night.  Very sweet girl though who was very complimentary about the haunt.  
• The last band of teenage girls who were very good screamers and who also loved Stranger Things, so were way excited about the props.  
• Peeking out through the wall and seeing Natalie mock chase Michael in her demogorgon suit. 
• Natalie doing a dance in the demogorgon suit.  
• One boy who was convinced that the wall had robots behind it until the lights started flickering and the skull turned towards him.  
• The group (who knew what stranger things was) that I managed to keep a straight face for when the lights started creepily flickering and I scared/whispered "RUN!"...and then they did...straight into the arms of Natalie as demogorgon...and then oh the screaming!  They almost all forgot to get a treat, lol!

A very fun haunt this year--and a large part of that was due to the incredible help I got this year---THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Happy Halloween all!  

Flickering lights

Last minute tweaks are oh so fun.  Oye.  So Sam and I were trying to figure out if there was a way to get the lights over the letters to flicker.  Which is possible with the button on the timer, but a little awkward to do.  Then I vaguely remembered that I had a xmas foot switch that would be easier to manipulate.  Dug through some drawers and found it, hooked it up, and voila, instant flickering lights.  I would love to have the lights flicker one by one, but this is an easy low tech hack.  The foot switch is sensitive enough that you don't have to entirely turn them off, but just interrupt the power long enough to get the flicker effect.  And it has a cord that reaches right to the door, which is where Sam will be manipulating the curtain for some creepy hand and face stretching through the walls.  Between the lights, the wall, and Natalie hanging out a la Demogorgon when they come back out, things are looking like they're going to be super creepy!

Stretchable walls

One of the early creepy scenes from the series is when the walls have creepy things stretched out and reaching through.  So to attempt to simulate that, I've taken out the screen panel from the door and stretched some stretchable (18% spandex) fabric over the entire door.  The idea is to have someone behind the door and periodically reach out with their hands.  But admittedly this is an idea I couldn't really try out until the last minute as I didn't want the door to be set up like this for long.  So.  Tonight there will be experimenting.  I'm also going to look for a growling app or something.  I'm thinking Natalie might appreciate it as opposed to trying to growl dressed as a demogorgon.

Last carvings of 2018

I had a few carvings leftover from when I had done my mass gutting.  I went with both Stranger Things themes.  Zombie Pumpkins had an Eleven that worked well, and then for the other one, I ended up attempting something I had seen on pinterest.  They took the outline of the mindflayer, and then carved around it.  It made for an effectively creepy look.  And I think a little spookier than if I had just done a cut out mind flayer silhouette. 

Carving Night 2018

It turned out to be a nice warm night, and we didn't actually need all the thousands of blankets I brought out.  But that seems to be how it goes.  On the bright side, I now have tons of lovely smelling blankets (washed with the unstoppable scent bead things) for the winter.  Bonus.  Had a nice sized group, and had 3 carvers competing for the Trumpkin to smash, which was awarded to Melissa who did an amazing job on a new Zombie Pumpkin pattern this year, the tell tale heart.  Mom dressed up as Dustin from Stranger Things--the black wax over her front teeth nailed it.  I went as Joyce Byers, which made for easier carving and moving around.  We had a nice spread with much fewer leftovers, partly due to having the buffet in the living room with chairs--people were more apt to sit and chat with a plate of food and go back for more or graze.  So that may have to be a new thing.  All in all a fun night!

Stranger Things rises!

The porch/table cloth enclosure went up pretty easily.  I had a windless day and darted out to put it up.  I can work with rain, but not wind.  It went white on the outside (like the Byers home) and on the inside, the top was yellow, and the bottom a wood paneling/wainscoating tablecloth roll that I found.  It definitely looks much like the Byers living room.

Lil Dart

Original, side shot

Original, aerial shot

Decided to sculpt a little Dart for the porch details.  Somewhere I think we've got an old aquarium and I think I can set it up so that we can have a mini Dart display.  I used aluminum foil and wire for the frame, then covered it with oven bake clay that was leftover from the teeth.  I'm currently cooking it at 275 for 10 minutes and will see how it turns out.  I also found a glaze for sculpey in my supplies, so I'm planning on adding that as a last step to make Dart shine.  **UPDATE** Ended up cooking him for about 15 minutes, then let him cool for a solid hour, which seemed to be a good combo.

The Rift

One of the big features this year is a large entryway of the rift between our world and the upside down.  My idea to incorporate this is to make a styrofoam wall complete with lights underneath some foam, a bit like when haunters make ember props.  So to that end, I've gotten some led lights that can change color with a remote.  This was because I couldn't decide on red or green lights for the rift, especially given that there will be red lights up on the house.  I thought it might be too much red.  Anyway, these lights that change color were a nice compromise.  And they're super bright, so I don't have to worry about the green not being bright enough.

Kid review of 2018

One of the traditions I do is to listen in on some of the first impressions of the haunt from the school kids as they come home from school and it's all up.  It helps to gauge where I may have nailed it, or missed the mark.  And what things need clarification--what I think it obvious may be lost to others.

Here's what I heard with the door cracked open.

Parent: Did you guys figure it out? Kid: I think it's something from Jurassic park (?)

DEMOGORGONS!! DEMOGORGONS!! THERE'S DEMOGORGONS DAD!! COOOOOL!!
OMGOSH! WILL BYERS IS MISSING (insert squeal)

What is this even from?  Stranger Things!  You haven't seen it?!?

Ooooh, it's from Stranger Things!

THAT'S SO SICK!  That's from Stranger Things!  SO SICK! (kids still say this apparently)

Go up on the porch!  Oh, they have nothing (Wait for it young one...)

Those are the big monsters in stranger things!  That's sick

Looks like that monster from Mario brothers (?)

I wonder if they make them...are they made of cardboard?  if you only knew, kid

Look at that, it's like a venus flytrap!

That's awesome!

They're pumpkins!  Or no...cauldrons?  I mean...they're not not cauldrons...

Come see this!  Check out this setup!  Is that a fake missing poster?? A loooooad of kids were super concerned about the fake missing flyer.  I'd say a good 30-40% of them.

They make these.  They made a giant t-rex one time!  awww, Suzy, you're remembered!

What is that show?  It's really good, you should watch it (parent to another parent)

Look at this.  It's different every year.  Look at those plants!  If you touch it, you'll get stung.  STAY OUT! My kind of kid.

"Have you seen me?" (missing flyer) No, I think he's really missing! seriously, they were concerned.

There's keep out caution tape.  And missing poster signs, like for real. 

Pretty cool.  In a passing verdict tone.  I'll take it.  

Hawkins sign

A semi last minute project.  I had intended to do a welcome to Hawkins sign and put it in the front, but then I realized that at night you wouldn't be able to see it very well.  So I ended up taking a bigger piece and just putting it in the back.  Also helps people identify Stranger Things.  Pretty familiar way to do a prop at this stage.  Transfer the font via chalk paper, carve it out using the burning tool, paint the letters, dry brush over a different color all around them.  I liked how it turned out big and bold.  Two pieces of pvc got glued/taped onto the back and then put over rebar.  Makes a good prop. 

Mind flayer 'prop'

The mind flayer is one of those big bad villains that are a huge part of Stranger Things.  I wanted to have something that would bring it into the scene.  So I had the idea of casting a shadow of the mindflayer up onto the house.  Which meant that I needed a silhouette.  Clay of course was an option.  But I didn't want to mess around with all kinds of breaking issues.  So I went back to the good old instamorph.  I printed out a basic silhouette of the mindflayer, then with several reheatings, rolled out some creepy arms(?) and legs(?).  I'll spray paint him black so he doesn't stand out too much in the day.  I really like the idea of having a prop that doesn't appear until it's dark out.

Rotting Pumpkin Patch

One of the scenes I remember vividly from season 2 of Stranger Things is the rotting pumpkin patch.  My love of pumpkins bias might be showing, but that was a very creepy prop to me. So of course, that was where I went.  Plus, it ties into the idea of the demodogs emerging from the underground there.  Now, it was pointed out to me at some point that I could use real rotting pumpkins.  True. Cheaper. Less work involved.  However.  Smell--yick.  Clean up--yick.  Possible kids who think it would be okay to kick the rotting pumpkins, leading to more clean up--ugh.  So I'm left with making fake pumpkins.  Buying them is super expensive--they're like $25 each.  So instead, I got some round bowls at the dollar tree (for weight and for a base) and some of the old reliable great stuff foam.  I also got some large 16" balloons to provide a base for the foam that I could then pop.

Demodogs

Le goal

One of the main projects for this year's Halloween is several demodogs from Stranger Things.  I've started on one of these already with a 2 liter bottle body and some prominent ribs.  A long windy tail is present, and at this point the only thing missing is a head.  But I've got some styrofoam balls that I'm intending to shape some petal pieces around to simulate the petal head thing in various levels of open.

Tunnel maps

Next up was a fun project:)  The tunnel maps in second season of Stranger Things make for an easy prop to make.  Aaaand, will hide the fact that I don't actually have the proper wallpaper for the Byers living room recreation.  The background will be yellow, and I found some wood paneling scene setter, but it was just going to be a lot of either work or money to recreate the hundreds of flowers needed for the wallpaper.  So my solution was to instead cover up much of the walls with the map that possessed Will makes.  Obviously I'm not going to try to make quite as many, but it should at least take up quite a bit of space.  I looked ahead and used a small box for the width of the tunnel so that it was uniform across all the pages, which hopefully will help when I construct it.

Channeling my inner kindergartner, I went to town with lots of paper and some crayons.  I'm trying to make enough joint and dead end pieces so that I have options when I put it together, but I'm guessing I might have to make a few extra pieces. 

Stranger Things Flyers

One of the things I'd like to put up are some flyers before Halloween.  Not sure if I want to laminate them to protect from the elements--feel like it would lose some authenticity.  But I could do a couple. Anyways, just some missing posters for Will and Barb.  Debating about where to put them.  Maybe just slightly down the street?  Or just on the edge of the property.  Not sure yet. Either way, a little something to add to the scene.

Stranger Things Treats

Yay!  The treats for Halloween arrived to give out.  I found a bag of 100+ various different dice, the kind one would play D&D with.  I also found these cool plastic figurines--dragons, orcs, huntress, wizards, etc.  Those came in 2 different shades of gray.  Sam thinks I should spray paint them metallic.  I worry a bit that some of the detail would be lost.  I'm also going to mix in some 3 musketeers candy for those little twerps who complain about no candy.  (They're rare, but I always get a few each year).  Anyways, the toys turned out a lot cooler than I was hoping.  Between the dice and the figures there are 190 pieces.  Plus whatever candy I buy.  So I should be more than set. 

Demogorgon Mask

This project has been such a start/stop one.  I feel like I only sloooowly got the materials then began slowly chipping away at the whole thing.  Then today it was like zoom, major progress.  So.  I originally got my inspiration from this guy who made an epic, awesome, inspiring FULLY FUNCTIONING demogorgon costume.

*sigh*  It's just...lovely...isn't it? *dreamy sigh*

Appropriate Facebook filter

Awwwwww!  There was a facebook filter that was just a little too perfect for where my mind is lately.  Adorable Dart crawls around on top of your head and poses. 

New toy!

Normal picture of the sketch

App picture of the sketch

Technically this isn't officially a Halloween thing...except that I'm going to use it for Halloween.  So thus it becomes a Halloween tool.  Yes. SO.  I found this thing called Elfinbook online.  And it was on sale for $20, and I figured hey, if it turns out crappish, only $20 out.  So it calls itself a digital notebook, which is slightly deceiving, but what it allows for is to do a sketch and then in conjunction with the app, allows you to take a suuuuper clean picture of the sketch to use digitally...like say, on a blog:)

I was skeptical, obviously, but it actually lives up to the hype.  It takes an amazingly clean pic of the sketch.  So I took a normal pic of the sketch, and then one using the app.  Now I could probably achieve the quality of the one on the right eventually with photoshop, cropping, etc.  But this does automatic cropping via a dark border all around the sides, and then brightens the contrast without losing any of the quality or pieces of the writing.  I was impressed.  Also impressive is that if you use the correct erasable ink pen, you can pop this notebook in the microwave for a minute (or wipe with a damp cloth) and erase the whole thing after you've loaded all your sketches into the app/cloud.  So it's very reusable.  I've been using a series of notebooks which are nice...but I tend to lose them, or end up just using a piece of paper so I can get it into my phone or blog so I can access it anytime without having to search for the notebook.  So this seems like a possible solution for me.

Halloween 2018 Sketches!

We're going to do things a little...stranger...this Halloween...