Halloween 2021

This year halloween was on a Sunday which meant there was a very intense, very passionate debate on when it was proper for kids to trick or treat.  Most parents came down on the Saturday side,  though there were purists that Sunday was true halloween and screw anyone that said otherwise.  

*sigh*

I came down on the "ummm, couldn't we just have 2 halloweens??"  I set up for both nights.  First night I got 82, second night I got 62. So 144 over 2 nights which is actually about my usual average.  The candy chute did pretty well but much better the second night.  And my skull bowl didn't work at all the first night,  but I fixed it the second night.  

Halloween photo cutouts

This year I wanted to add a few photo cut outs for kids (and adults) to take some silly pics.  So I grabbed some plywood from home depot,  had them cut it up into 3 sections, and got some hardware so I could attach some pvc to the boards and put them up in the yard in rebar. 

For the scenes I decided to go with some pumpkins and a spider/ fly scene.  I wanted generic kind of scenes so I could use them again.  

The only trouble with the spider one is that the white spider web paint keeps mixing with the purple background and turning hot pink.  I did several layers--no luck.  I'm calling it good.  So I'm done with them and I'll add a layer of sealer onto them.  I think I'll just put them up maybe the day before Halloween weekend so as not to tempt any destructive tendencies.  

Candy Chute head 2021

 I loved my sandworm candy chute head.  It was a creative outlet last year when I was needing it.  But.  It's a very specific kind of thing and theme.  I wanted something more generic.  Or at least options.  Which leads to this project of making a rando gargoyle-esque guy.  The good news is that I'm generally aware of how I need to make this head, and in theory have learned from previous mistakes....right?  RIGHT??

Started with the head, and then I decided he needed a body for balance (a last year issue).  So I taped together one using an old juice container, wire, and foil.  It's not proportional to the head, but that's part of the weirdness about it.  For a minute I thought it was going to be more dragon-like, but I think I pulled it away from that brink. (Not that I don't want a dragon chute candy head...I do...just not right now...and I would have had to start aaaalll over...and I didn't want to)

I've got one layer of paper mache on him.  I'm debating about adding a layer of hot glue on a few areas to build up some detail structure on him.  I learned a few things from my demiguise mask which I think will transfer.  And I've got some liquid latex left that I figured I could coat the teeth with so nothing is sharp.  But so far I'm liking him.  

Oh, and I had a last minute thought and opened the juice container and filled him up with some spare gravel/rocks I had laying around before sealing him back up.  Again, balance issues, and kids bump and move him (often unintentionally), so now he has a bit of a heft to him that will hopefully help.  

**UPDATE**

I put a coat of dark gray spray paint on this guy.  Mostly because I wanted to see what he looked like-- newspaper print can be hard to see what he looks like.  I'm debating adding a clay like layer using ripped up paper towels.  Right now he's a bit boring.  At the very least I'll go over him with sine detail, maybe add on some scales and details.  

I'm debating about realistic vs statue/ gargoyle.  Maybe this year it'll be gargoyle,  next year I can get some paint on him.  

Spider lights...spider lights...

 These have been an in progress project.  When I set my spider up, I (naively) initially thought "oh perfect, the spider will fill the gap between my fake fence and the real fence and no one will try to fuck with him".  

Oh my sweet summer child.  *sigh*

LITERALLY the first thing the group of kids did was get all up in the spider's face.  Ugh.  So.  I got some poor man's 'beef netting' (aka creepy cloth) and draped it across the area.  And I threw some green led lights i had under there.  But they weren't super bright.  Then I obtained some purple led net lighting, I thought for the fence, but once it got here I realized it was too wide and not quite long enough, so I decided to instead use it on the spider web and hopefully light up the spider a bit more (she's an old school inflatable before they realized it made sense to light up the whole thing or NO ONE COULD SEE IT IN THE DARK).  

Abaddon rises once again

This year has been a recycle of stuff.  Just had other priorities this year. So I pulled out my faithful Abaddon and set him up.  There was a storm and he got knocked down--I hadn't secured him enough.  Second go around and the hole for his body is much deeper, and there is rebar and weights on him to try to balance him out.  So far so good.  

I obtained a new inflatable--this skeleton groundbreaker guy that is occasionally jauntily waving at passersby.  I liked that he was more or less generic, and especially if I pull out my graveyard.  The layout of this year's haunt is different in that I moved everything back into the yard more.  I didn't want to block off the sight of the pumpkins all strung up (again new this year).  To counter the change in layout, I put down some rope light that hopefully indicates that it's okay to walk up to the glowing line.  I'm planning on some photo cutouts on the side which will also follow the line of the rope lights.