# NC Haunters Make 'n Take



## spookineer (Sep 25, 2005)

March 14th we'll be making tombstones. A simple and fun project for all skill levels! All are welcome to join us... 
http://www.spookineering.com/nc-haunters.html


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

Greetings NC HAunters,

I just wanted to post a note to any new North Carolina potential members that come along we have another posting on this board & the title of the thread is "Attention NC Haunters". That thread can be read & in it you will find information on what we are and the a little info on some of the members

Secondly I look forward to hosting this 1st meet but we have not heard from most of you, please oh please try to make this meet. Once again this is a pot luck, Jerry is BBQ'ing hamburgers & we are slicing onions & tomatoes & will have the buns for them. I also have plates, napkins & silverware left over from the Xmas meet. Oh yes we have catsup & mustard too so please bring a covered dish, Spookineer is making beans! We also ask that you bring along your drinks. Meet time is 10:00 am, if Mother Nature decides to misbehave Barry the neighbor said we can move the group into his workshop.

Please bring along styrofoam, tools & don't forget the to make the letters that are going on your tombstones. 

For those of you that did not make the Xmas meet email me for my address info.

Look forward to seeing everyone. 
Muffy


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

Ok here is a little bit of news about the March 14th "Make-n-Take", this is posted for all our buddies on the Halloween Forum here & also for our North Carolina Members that could not join us at this meet.....oh yes we missed you folks!!

Group members showing up for this meet were....Mr. & Mrs. Spookineer, Pleaseant Garden, Spookzilla, Lexington, Legend of the Wood & a friend, Greensboro, Haunted Neuron, Monroe, Jim & Becky, not sure of their online names, Kitty Hawk, Dave in the Grave, Concord, Muffy & Jerry, Linwood. I'll get some pictures posted here soon.

We decided to make the 1st meet an easy one, actually this was our 2nd meet as we 1st had a social gathering in Jan.. This was great fun as we stood around & had Spookineer do a demonstration on how the different tools worked for making a tombstone. It was very interesting just how much information was exchanged as we listened to each person share their way of doing things & also everybody brought along some props, some were great tombstones & some were other terrific props. Tools were also brought along so we got to try out what it was like to work with other tools.

I was taking notes but ..... gosh they are out of order, some are web sites also we needed to look at. So I will post them & if ya need more info I will try to get you hooked up with that person. I'll be sure that for the next meet I get better pictures & more organized notes. I think I was just a little excited about having everybody there & finally getting this kicked off so things are a bit out of order!!lol

Tools we worked with were a roto zip, a hot wire cutter set, a wonder cutter and the hot wire engraving tools & we talked about the control of doing engraving with an exacto. We discussed different types of styrofoam & insulation board. It was mentioned that if you use blue or pink insulation board do not use the hot wire tools inside because it gives off...oh oh...something!!lol Anyways do that outside!

We talked about sanding our tombstones down & the use of a palm sander. We talked about getting the letters on the tombstone......with doing them freehand, or with a "Wonderwall Projector" , Rabbit Hole Productions for projected images, or a "Tracktor Projector" from Michaels
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Between talking about tombstones we covered a vast array of other ideas!! Some things that got brought up is how to paint your tombstones.......that and airbrushing techniques along with aging will be covered in part at our next meet.

Stagecraft Productions: instructions on using vinegar mixed with wool for an aged look on wood. This was mentioned but I also found this on Yahoo this method of aging.
Also a black latex mixed with water & sprayed on your stones then hosed off with a water MIST.

Instructable.com was a web site mentioned

Also mentioned was the mixing of Sacrete mixed with grey paint for concrete finish on the tombstones. Mix 50/50....pat on with rollers. This method can be found on Legend of the Woods web site.

Props shown were a number of different tombstones, an Elvis Prop, the animatronic Rat, a rat that talks & spits water at the kids, the rattlesnakes that have eyes that light up and hiss & are connected to a sensor mat....seeing this stuff in person & what it did was just great!

We had a great time. I'm also proud that they all came hungry cause we had some hearty chow!! Thank you to everyone that brought along all the extras! The last people left at 5 and we started at 10. 

The next get together is at Mr. & Mrs. Spookineers house in Pleasant Garden and we will be meeting to learn to use an air brush & how to age our tombstones. A note will be sent to each of our members & we also have some interest from new members. 

Please remember members that we are still forming & figuring out how to go about planning these get togethers. Jim & Becky had great advice to offer us because they have been to Ghostess's Make-n-Takes in Florida. They had mentioned that some of the members come with projects started & then perhaps get help when they get there from other members & in some meets they build from start to finish even if the finishing of the project has to be handled at another meeting.

So we had mentioned that perhaps we should come to the next meet with a tombstone done to practice the aging & air brushing & painting. Lots of you guys have styro tombstones but for Jer & I we enjoyed the meet cause we had never made styro tombstones before we just have wooden ones. SO between now & the next meet we will make styro ones & hope you folks that are interested in learning different finishes will bring along a tombstone to try different things on it. Spookineer has an airbrushing kit & will demonstrate how it works & let us all try it.

Its also time now to talk about the next project....1st whats its going to be & 2ndly if we want to come with the materials to start it at the next meet.....which will be May 2nd. Whether we start it at the next meet or not...we need to decide what to make. SO I ask that here in this thread you folks start to post your interest & suggestions for the next project & we'll toss around the ideas!

the Muffster


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