Halloween 2019

It's just a bunch of Hocus Pocus.  Awww, another Halloween has passed.  This year was fun--the witch kitchen that covered my porch for a month was super fun to set up.  The theme this year was very well known, so a lot of kids knew it coming in--it's sometimes harder when you have to explain the theme to kids (aka, Indiana Jones, the Temple of Doom).  Started the day by finishing up my eyeball pumpkin--which tested the limits of my painting ability, but which ended up looking cool.  Sam did a fantasia demon (cherabog?) pumpkin (with a wee bit of help) as well as some pumpkins with mr. potato head parts and cookie cutter shapes. 

We Sanderson sistered up with some makeup (final looks completed after we scarfed down some pizza).  I had lots of help this year--Sarah and Sam dressed up as the rest of the Sanderson sisters, and Mondo made cameos as Billy Butcherson and scared a few kids hanging out in the graveyard.  We ended up with 162 trick or treaters, far more than I figured given the freezing cold temperatures of the previous few days.  We had a lot of people mention that they came from several streets/neighborhoods away just for this haunt, which was super sweet.  All of the little details were a hit--the spell book that vibrated at sound/touch, the projector with the spiders crawling all over the window, the spooky cauldron that you had to reach your hand in for a treat.  Sarah and I sat on the porch wrapped in blankets near the end, a space heater warming our feet and hot chocolate cupped in our hands to keep warm and got to just enjoy the atmosphere of being dressed up witches in a witch kitchen.  Very fun all around. 

Cauldron Update

So amidst getting ready for the party/Halloween, I decided to make sure that the fog machine for the cauldron was going to work alright (I know, I know, probably should have tested it earlier. *shrug*)  And found that not only was there not really enough uuumph to get the smoke through the hose properly, the machine was REALLY loud.  Especially in such a small contained space.  Nuh-uh.  So for the party I switched to dry ice and fortunately the lights were submersible lights that could go underwater.  It looked pretty cool and spooky, but the maintenance on it was pretty high.  Hot water like every 15 minutes at least.  I was not looking forward to this for Halloween.  So during a shower thought (always the best place for inspiration) I had the idea to just make a larger version of the small cauldron I've got on the witch table with some batting.  After a little trial and error, I was able to fashion something that looks like a cauldron bubbling, but without the labor intensiveness of keeping dry ice freshly bubbling over.  BUT, and this is the important bit, I think it'll still be intimidating to have kids reach their hand into the cauldron.  I have a garbage can that holds up the bowl of candy.  I taped the three lights onto the bottom of the wire wreath, then put the wire wreath over the bowl of candy.  And on top of everything, I put a large piece of white felt that I lightly tacked down some batting bunches on top.  There's also a large x cut in the middle of the batting that reaches down into the bowl of treats.  But between the felt and the fluff, it's not immediately apparent where you're putting your hand.  Now to decided if it should be green...or do a rainbow of colors.  Hmmm....

Carving Night 2019

This year's carving night went down well--some new faces as well as the usual suspects:)  Our pumpkin carving contest was neck and neck for quite a while, but Melissa pulled through with a seriously well executed pumpkin pattern.  The two batches of chili got devoured pretty quickly, and Mom and Sam's booooook brownies were scarfed down. A fun time all around. 

2nd carvings of 2019

Night 2 of pumpkin carving.  I wrapped up the hocus pocus theme with Mary and Winnifred Sanderson. The mouths were tricky on both of them, and at first I thought they turned out terrible but I think they're just more difficult patterns.  The curly hair on Winnifred especially was difficult,  lots of twists and turns. I had to spend a lot of extra time going back over the hair on both of them. 

Audio drama

One of the things I inevitably end up struggling with each year is all the music for the party as well as during Halloween.  While it's fine to play it all from my phone on Halloween night, sometimes the speaker misbehaves and insists that I be RIGHT NEXT TO IT and will start to cut out if I move even five extra feet away.  This year is tricky because I have some audio files rather than streaming that I want to play on the speaker in the front yard--the farthest my phone will probably ever get.  Add to that that I'd like quietly classical spooky music in the living room, and slightly more customized/boistrous music in the backyard. Now technically amazon music has an option if you want to play music through your alexas simultaneously.  But it also involves buying a family plan.  I don't need it all the time--just for this one night.  So I've fiddled around and found on Pandora there is an acceptable classical halloween station/playlist.  And I've created a routine on my alexa so that when I say 'spooky music' to it, it starts playing that station at a low volume.  I've created another routine when I say 'scary music' it starts playing my customized Halloween party playlist from Spotify.  And for the front yard?  That was trickier.  I have an old fire tablet that I got years ago on black friday.  But it has wifi and bluetooth, which is what I need to connect to the speaker bulb out there.  I transferred the audio files on my phone via dropbox, and tested it out so that my fire can play a shuffle playlist of 7 songs over and over.  It really doesn't like being far from the bulb, but I think I can fit the fire into the weatherproof box for the lights, which is under 6 feet away.  Shoooould work?  I'm hoping, as this would solve a few problems, namely being able to have different music at 3 different locations.  Here's hoping.

First carvings of 2019

Last night I did the first two carvings: Billy Butcherson and Sarah Sanderson.  Oddly enough, Sarah Sanderson's pattern was a little more difficult--all those long flowing locks meant that the overall stability of the pumpkin was much more precarious.  Tonight I'll attempt to get Winnie and Mary done, though they may end up being tomorrow if I get tired.

Black flame candle

I made this little prop a while ago but never posted it.  So I needed a classic black flame candle from the movie--the catalyst that sets the whole plot in motion.  Now while I can't quite accomplish the actual flame being black, I wanted to have a candle that was semi similar to the original.  There's not a whoooole lot on the internet, but there was someone who had made an approximation of it and had a few pictures of the sides.  So I took those and made a piece that was the dimensions of a battery candle that had slightly melted in the sun and was expendable.  I printed it out and trimmed it to fit with a little extra to spare.  I mod podged it on over the candle.  Once that dried and I turned it on, it looked pretty good, but a lot of the markings were a little too faint for my taste.  So I went over them with a red sharpie.  I like the finished product....even if it doesn't have actual black flames.

Hocus Pocus playlist

For how long Hocus Pocus has been around, it has been surprisingly difficult to find a soundtrack on an actual cd or playlist.  I had to resort to youtube clips and use my voice recorder to get the songs into an mp3 format.  So I've got a bit of a playlist, buy oye, seems like it should have been a little easier to obtain. I also tried out my old faithful speaker light.  This thing is great--all the colors, different modes for different effects.  And the sound quality is pretty good.  I found a blue that is similar to what I was putting up anyways, so I can switch out the bulbs.  It's verra creepy.  I need to wait until I get Sam to record a video, because every time I go to take one, it stops the music I'm playing.  Which makes sense...but is still annoying.  But on the upside, everything is looking pretty set for the party/Halloween.  Next up is to test my fog machine in the cauldron.  *crossed fingers*

Winnie's Jewelry

A side piece for the Winnifred costume.  I have an odd assortment of beads from old projects and then also just randomly picking up cheap ones.  This generally serves me well and it DEFINITELY came through for me when I went to try to assemble a necklace for my Winnifred costume.  The construction is fairly straightforward--there's a gold ring with a black bead suspended between it, then various shades of gold, red, etc.  I went with some wood beads that I've had forever but that I've never actually had a project for--they reminded me of the markings of the black flame candle, so I went with them as the filler beads.  The circle of gold I had to get a little creative--I didn't have the right gauge of gold wire without using copious amounts, but I did have a clip ring that was black...and some gold paint.  So after a little painting, I had a gold ring that I wired up with a black bead.  It's not exactly how the necklace looks, but it's definitely close enough for me.  Now I just have to figure out some suitable earrings...hmm...

Cages

This project I'm hoping doesn't look too sad.  Partly because the materials were basically cardboard and duct tape.  I wanted to have a little photo op from the scene with the guys in the cages.  And I had the idea of making a faux half of a cage that kids/adults could get behind it and pretend they were in the cage.  I thought of a couple of different mediums to use--I had started to price pvc joints when Sarah suggested that cardboard would actually get me the shape I wanted and much cheaper/easier/faster.  So I got 2 large boxes from Home Depot. One of them I cut up into strips and began making a facimile of the cages in the movie--there are large sections rather than close together bars.  The idea with this is to have fake legs hanging out over the edges, which the person providing the upper part of the body.  So I've covered it now in shiny duct tape--I realize the cages are a rustic creakiness, but there's only so much work I'm willing to extend in the name of authenticity.  And tonight I taped the cage onto the 2nd cardboard box that I've then cut a half circle in so that they can 'step into' the cage.  The final step will be to get some pants at the di (or my closet if possible) and set up some fake legs hanging out of the cage.  It'll go on the driveway on Halloween.  I've also rigged up a spotlight so that the scene setter will get some light and hopefully people will use it to take some pictures.  The spotlight also adds some light around the area where people will be coming and going near the steps--never a bad idea.