Halloween Forum

Acronyms

The Halloween Goblin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:11:55 GMT

Take the word posted above and make a sentence using the letters in the word. I'll start......

TRAIN

Turtles run around in Nebraska

HALLOWEEN

Static: fireplace from cereal boxes

Winklesun — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:39:26 GMT

I made some books for a haunted bookshelf but still had a whole bunch of cereal boxes to use.
Finally decided to make a fireplace.

Attached Images

	halloween09etc 092.jpg (96.6 KB)
	halloween09etc 093.jpg (94.5 KB)
	halloween09etc 350.jpg (89.8 KB)

Yay halloween

Brougham — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:10:53 GMT

Made a little more effort on Halloween this year and came to this site!

Hope to learn a lot!

I'm heeerrreeee......

R4ZORx — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:07:26 GMT

I've been a lurker here for awhile, but now I finally joined!! The devil made me do it!!!

nah, im just kidding, he didn't make me do it..

no - seriously, he made me do it.

New-bie alert!

Mbrennan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:25:54 GMT

Just joined!! All those years of therapy, and all I really needed was this website. Finally, I'm among my people. Thank you one and all! :D

Goodwill find

Oldsguy350 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:18:40 GMT

I got this at Goodwill yesterday for 50 bucks. Now I can build a version of Terra's Beloved Tombstone......(I know you were not the first, but I think you get all the credit for inspiring all of us). I can't wait, I saw some really great ideas in the prop building group when this project was tutored.

90% off at Joanns on Halloween

victoria1313 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:21:55 GMT

It's my favorite sale time 90% off at Joann fabrics - on all Halloween decorations
there might not be alot to choose from- but a grrreat $
for all u fellow ghouls on a budget!

New for 2010

beatlerat — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:46:07 GMT

Hi, I have been doing Halloween for 10 years using Solid state relays and a parallel port on a computer with the program written in basic. I am ready to step up starting with the 3 axis skulls. I am in the middle a Christmas right now, but will continue on as soon as I have time. This is a great site and will be spending lots of time here.
Thanks to those who have contributed.
Keith

job near las vegas

Lester — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:23:37 GMT

This is probley the wrong thread but....
I work for a small animatronics company in Boulder City, NV. We presently have an opening. Starting in the paint shop as well as various odd jobs. Boulder city is located just outside Las Vegas. If you are interested email me at troy@charactersunlimitedinc.com
or call 702 498 7305 for directions. Shop hours m-f 8-4

Halloween Candy!

the big boo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:17:35 GMT

O.K., I probably sound like a little kid, but tell me all about it. What's your favorite candy to hand out? What do you like to save for yourself?:D What do you secretly hope your kids bring home so you can snitch a piece?:) Oh, I know you do. Of course, I never do that......;) But then I haven't got kids. :D

Traumatized kids

MsMeeple — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:04:50 GMT

I just heard the stupidest thing on the news here tonight. The Heath Department started the mexican flu immunizations for children under 5 today. In order to soften the blow, they had St Nick in the room to help distract the children. Now all those poor children will associate St Nick with the flu shot!
When parents tell their kids to be good or St Nick won't visit, the kids will be especially bad to make sure he doesnt come lol

MsM

Gotta Get a Zhu Zhu Hamster for Halloween

Ghost of Spookie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:49:51 GMT

So the big Xmas toy item this year seems to be the Zhu Zhu Hamster pets. Suppose to be like the Teddy Ruxpin or Cabbage Patch dolls of previous holiday seasons if you remember waiting in lines or searching for those. When I saw them I thought "that would be great to convert into a rat running in my Halloween haunt...maybe even running through clear horizontal pipes on the wall, in a scientist lab, or across the floor among my other mice and rats, etc.!" Something like $8-10 if they can be found at local stores. Anyone have any other ideas for them? At least after Xmas when the supplies get replenished they should be easier to get a hold of and in time for halloween. But if you find one for your kid for Xmas, you could always repurpose it later in the year. ;)

Here's a video of them from YouTube:

YouTube - Zhu Zhu Pets Ad

Mechanical: Advice

the halloweenie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:41:36 GMT

If I posted a used "midnight countess animatronic" prop which is still in good quality, how much do you think I could sell it for, here on the forum?

Come and Check out my new Pics..

yankeerebel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:13:52 GMT

Hey YA'll!!! Hope YA'll had a good Halloween.Sorry I toke so long to do this I been busy getting ready for Halloween.:):D Thanks YankeeRebel

Glowing "hot" coals ...

LT Scare — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:41:34 GMT

I searched the site for all the key words I could think of but didn't find anything like this so here goes ...

First, want to give credit to someone named "Goldie" at Instructables . com for the basis of this idea. My changes are not earth shaking - more like adaptations to create a "heat" source for "cooking" up some goodies in cauldrons in our new Witches Coven.

Here is a pic of the final results in low light with Cauldons setting on the prop.

Materials:

A "fire bed" shaped per your needs, made of anything from foam board to 1" plywood. Whatever suits your needs and how well you want it to hold up year after year. - Craft store or Hardware store
Several strings of lights to your choosing. I used one string of 150 Orange lights with a controller (button selects differnt flashing patterns), two strings of 50 orange lights, two strings of 25 purple lights and one string of 50 orange and purple (same bulb) lights. I think that last string was not necessary. - available anywhere - got programmable lights off of ebay, be patient there
Wiffle balls of as many different sizes as you can find. I found softbal sizes, hardball sizes, and golf ball sizes. I also used a few orange pingpong balls. The quantity will depend on your taste and the size of your fire bed. I suggest you buy one package of each size and add more later as you like. - most came from Walmart
Fire grate - optional dependent upon your application. I used four tree supports landscapers use to hold up a newly planted "small" tree. - Landscaping section of a large hardware store
A few Screws. - hardware store
One piece of 3/4" plywood about 12" x 14" (very optional). - hardware store or your scrap bin
A small bottle of acrylic craft paint in gray - think ashes. - Craft Store
Great Stuff expanding foam - my "fire bed" required alomst all of two cans. - hardware store

Tools required.
Something to cut your "Fire bed" to the size and shape for your application. Could be an exacto knife or a Utility knife for cardboard or foam board to a circular saw or jig saw for plywood shaping.
A good Hot Glue gun and lots and lots of sticks.
What ever you need to cut your grate if you use one. I use my sliding compound miter saw and a drill press (for the vericle supports), but you could get by with only a hand saw.
Screw driver

Steps:

1. Decide / cut to size and shape, your "fire bed." Keep in mind that the larger the "fire bed," the more components you will need, but the greater the impact, IMO. Also, I think the programmable lights really improve the affect but should NOT be used without some other lights staying on all the time.

For the picutured prop, I used a rectangular sheet of 1/4" plywood about 4' 6" long by 20" ... because that's what fit the intended display space.

2. If you intend to use a grate, determine where you want the verical supports and mark those locations on your bare "fire bed" material. Our plan required extra support in the middle where we have a "boiling" cauldron of eyeball soup brewing - filled with water and floating eyeballs. Water is heavy and could ruin the prop if the grate breaks. BTW the pics don't show this well because the water was low and the mist was high at the time.

3. Cut your wiffle balls in half. If you want your surface to be uneven, cut some balls at 3/4 of their height rather than half.

4. Spreadout the lights on the "fire bed" in a very irregular. Take care not to infringe upon the vertical support areas. I tried to group a good mix of the different featured lights as much as possible, but some remained by themselves and that's ok too. Have one of the cut wiffle balls handy to give you and idea of the space needed for the groupings.

Most crutial here is the placement of the control box for the programmable lights and the accessability of the male plug that will power the strings of lights. Try to have enough length to it that it can extend away from the prop to better hide the power source ( I didn't do this well on mine).

More in the next post.....