That's right. Stranger Things Halloween! Woot! The series has been amazingly popular and especially in my home state, so it seemed fitting to take advantage of something that's in the collective conscious...that's not toooo scary. I mean. Ish.
ANYways. Much sketching has been done and I think--idea wise--I'm further along than I have been in several years at this point. I have a pretty clear vision of all the projects I want to do. Obviously some of the details and smaller projects may develop later, but the big stuff and the scenes, I'm pretty secure on. So that's awesome. Also, most of these projects involve stuff that I've absolutely done before, just in a modified form. So I feel pretty confident going in that I won't have to learn tooooo many new skills. While it's fun to tackle some new materials every once in awhile (I do want to play around with sugru cause I think it might be ideal for this one project) but it's a bit intimidating to do it on too many projects.
So. Onto the sketches! For the front yard, the plan is to take a scene from the second season, that creepy rotting pumpkin patch. Now, as it has been pointed out, probably easier to actually buy pumpkins and just let them rot on the front lawn. Touche. BUT. There's not really a way to get them to look like that half rotten/blackened state. Plus, too many variables. Plus, smell. Icky. To that end, my thought is to make a bunch of the balloon eggs (an old friend at this point), tear/cut them in half, maybe drop some foam in the bottom for 'goo', then paint the outsides orange and the insides black. Attach a yard stake to the bottom so that they're relatively secure from the wind.
Next up, a big one. The demo dogs. These things dominate the second season and are scary af. These are what lil Dart grows into...and then grow into the serious full on demogorgon. They're kind of mindless freaky creatures...so the plan is to make like 3 of them in various poses. At this point my thought is to do one with head/flower closed, one partially open and baying/calling to the others and one in full 'bloom' with petals and teeth on full display. These things are extremely quick on camera, and not always easy to see details. Much watching of Stranger Things and examining video stills will be required. But the cool thing about them is that they're definitely more colorful than either of their other evolutions--there's lime, yellow, pink and purple coloring which will look awesome under lighting.
The full scene for the front yard will be to have the demodogs around the hole in the ground with the vines and the entrance to the upside down, but the government/lab guys either stumble on or trying to control. So I want to have a mannequin form in a hazmat suit facing down the group of demodogs. Then on the driveway, maybe another someone in a hazmat suit. The necessary fence of each year I think I can bring in the old black pvc fence and just run caution tape all around it. I was contemplating just using rebar and wrapping the caution/biohazard tape all around it...but I do like being able to get back in there pretty easily. I'm not sure...I might change my mind later I guess.
Which leads to the rift project. This one I'm excited about. Basically, the plan is to board up the porch entrance with styrofoam but for a cut out entrance. I want to put down green LED lights--probably c9s if I can get them, then build a little tunnel over them with 2 liter bottles in the shape of a rift. Then lots and lots...and lots...of the great stuff insulation. Then lots of black/brown spray paint. The hope being that the green lights underneath will make the rift glow all spooky. Which, YES, is not cannon. BUT IT'LL LOOK COOL. And I like the creepy factor. I would do red lights to be a little more authentic, but there's already going to be a lot of red with the mind flayer projection.The inside of the porch I haven't quite done a proper sketch for. But basically trying to make it look like the inside of the Byers living room. So complete with christmas lights strung up all over the ceiling, flickering on and off if I can. The window will have the classic alphabet and string lights. My costume will be Mrs. Byers in a chair trying to talk to Will, possibly with a handful of battery operated lights that I can control *snickers*
Ooh, and one of the main scares. So originally I had grand plans of creating a fake wall that someone could stand behind and stretching fabric across a frame so that the coming out of the walls scene could happen. Sam pointed out that (with significantly less work) I could also just take out the screen frame of the screen door and stretch fabric over that and then have someone behind it. Easier. *sigh* I'm still waiting for the day when I don't plan out the most complicated solution first. Oh well, got there in the end.
As far as treats go, I have some options. I found a bunch of dodecahedron (D&D) dice along with some fantasy creatures that look like game pieces for the non-food treat. And then (obviously) three musketeers. Which will be cute and goes along the theme really well.
So that's pretty much the plan! Very excited for this one, especially because I see it as very doable. Obviously lots of work, but there's definitely an advantage in figuring out plans now and having time to do a lot of the prep work for the demodogs so that summer when it gets hot I can paper mache immediately.
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Okay. I do have one more thing I want to attempt. I'm not sure how far I'll get, so at this point it's a bit preliminary. But there's this guy who made a functioning demogorgon mask. And I want to make one like his so badly. It would be the perfect addition to the haunt. But I'm genuinely not sure how tricky it's going to be, so I'm not depending on it. But check it out.
I have a bicycle cable that I'm playing with and I thiiiiink he used foam to make the petals...gah! *drools* We'll see on this one.
Three musketeers, yum! I agree with Sam, just take out the screen and stretch fabric over the opening. Looks promising so far! (But nothing about Eggo waffles?)
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