Booooooook!

From the movie

This was a prop that I had been wanting to do, or at least some version of--the spellbook from Hocus Pocus that is arguably essential to the Winnifred costume.  I was pricing some paper mache books to use as a base (I wanted something lighter than a regular book), but they were all very small...or very expensive.  As I was debating, my eyes fell on a scrap of cardboard left over from the cauldron and I wondered how hard it would be to just make my own book base.  Yeah, turns out--not that hard at all.  A little cardboard cutting up and some hot glue and about an hour later, I had an excellent book base.  I had wanted it to be sizable, so I was able to make it as large and as thick as I wanted.  For the spine, I ended up scoring a piece of cardboard lightly and curving it so that it stretched a bit but didn't break.

Next, I looked up a couple of youtube videos for what others had done to achieve the leatherbound look.  Various methods popped up, but the one I liked the most was this one that used paper towels and mod podge.  So I went about adding pieces of paper towel with lots of mod podge and trying to rough it up a bit to get a wrinkled, textured look. 

After all of that was dry, I went about adding in some stitches.  I liked the video's method of adding them just with hot glue.  So I drew some lines on that mirrored the original book, then put the glue gun on the cold setting so the glue didn't just flatten everywhere.  Very easy to do once you got in a rhythm. 

Next up was a coat of darker brown to have as a base.  Oh, actually, before this, I added in the eye.  So I didn't have an eyeball from dollar store, but I did have one of those larger flat marble things that usually go in vases.  I like them for magnets and various other projects (they're actually really great for eye props).  So I picked an image of an eyeball that looked accurate and mod podged it onto the flat end of the marble.  I ended up liking this better than the eyeball just because due to the glass/curve of the marble, the eye looks like its following you at every turn.  Which I would have loved to do if I knew anything about animatronics at all.  So after the eye had dried, I attached it with a bit of glue, then folded over some pieces of towel to make a little eyelid and to make it look like it was truly a part of the book.  When doing the darker paint, I tried to be very careful to get the lid all around, but I still think I'll go over it with some acetone and a q-tip, just to make sure I got any residual paint up. 

For the snakes and other silver elements, I pulled out some oven bake clay that I had left over from various projects and made some pieces that I sprayed with silver separately before attaching.  The second coat of a lighter brown was next, focusing mostly on the areas in between the stitches, but also on the stitches.  I think it added a nice bit of depth.  I also included dabs of copper paint, which added a wee bit of shine.  Oh, and I also added an orange jewel because it was in the original..and I had one handy.  As a last step, I added some white paper to the edges of the book that had been creased accordian style to simulate pages.  I maaay go back over it with either some thinly drawn lines, or some kind of tea water to age the pages a bit.  Not sure.  I may just call it done. 

Bubble bubble, toil and trouble...

Cauldron time!  This is a key project.  It will hold the treats, and is the main porch prop, not to mention being the thing that the witches are going to interact with the most.  So I needed a gigantic cauldron.  In the movie, it's quite a large cauldron...like, child sized :)  But most cauldrons to buy that size are usually super expensive--like upwards of $200 expensive.  I found a few tutorials online about fashioning a giant cauldron.  I have several utility tubs that I have from over the years for various Halloween/yard reasons.  I grabbed a black one and some cardboard boxes from Home Depot I'd been saving.  I went with a basic 12 inches by 6 inches rectangle, which then got the edges rounded out.  I also put a pool noodle up towards the top because the edges were a little sharp, and it gave me a little extra room so that I didn't have to have the cardboard as long.  Now I first started putting the pieces about 3 inches apart with hot glue and duct tape.  This wasn't a bad start, but as it turned out, I needed quite a few more pieces.  I ended up putting two more pieces in between each section with hot glue on the edges.  Not sure how many I ended up with, but closer to 50/60.  After there was only maybe an inch or so between each section, I pulled out a big roll of duct tape and began to just slowly add a layer of tape to the whole thing.

What I'll do next will be to get a few layers of paper mache on the whole thing, partly to smooth it out and get rid of the tape lines, but also to give it a slightly more rigid structure.  Then will come some painting, and adding embers with lights and great stuff.  I also left a section undone so that I could drill some holes for tubing for the fog machine and lights.  I'll also have to figure out something that the bowl of treats can sit on--I'm thinking maybe a clear cube?  I don't want to interfere with the lights, so that might be a possibility.  I'll see.

Billy Butcherson Costume

A hunting we will go.... to the DI, to find random costume materials.  I needed a basic blazer that I could rough up, along with a white shirt.  I'll probably be wrecking it a bit so that it looks super old, so the DI is a nice place to go where I can take some of the more problematic clothing.  After some rummaging, I found a slightly longer coat along with a basic button down shirt.  I also found some spider web patterned lace that I'm thinking will work well for a cravat situation.  I may have to get some more to add lace to the cuffs.  Other than that, I'm not to concerned about the pants or shoes.  It'll be dark, and I'm more concerned about the overall look.

Mary Sanderson costume

So many of the costumes this year are a mix of finding items from DI or the closet and then just slightly altering them.  This most recent piece for Mary's costume (aka Sam) was actually from scratch.  We found an orangey top that has the right look, but we couldn't really find a cheap corset/vest.  Aaaand cue Joanns.  And borrowing of patterns from Sarah.  Specifically, Simplicity 0640.  This had a basic little corset vest and basically just ignored all the instructions about adding in lining and corset boning.  I found a faux leather red material--that looks utterly orange in my pics, but whatever.  I pulled out the ye olde grommet gun thing I inherited way back, and after a youtube tutorial (or two) I was able to make a line of official looking grommets for the stays down the front of the vest.  For the skirt, Sam and I agreed that it doesn't necessarily need to be an actual plaid skirt, just a wrap of some kind over some leggings or a different skirt.  After a little hunting, I found a plaid that, while isn't quite a replica, it goes with the rest of the outfit, and isn't tooo far from the original.  The only thing left is the wig to order and I think this costume is about done.