# Need Help with Cauldron Slime



## doto (Nov 20, 2009)

Looking good so far....I did a witches cauldron a few years ago and did a back and forth/zig zag technique and was pleased with it. I don't think you can go wrong with it as long as you don't have too large an amount hanging off the side, leaving it prone to stretching and seperating. If you really want an overflow look then tilt the cauldron on a 30-45 degree angle and apply and wait until that section stiffens up a little.


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

If I remember correctly, when I did mine with great stuff I started at the lip of the cauldron and worked the can up and down the side, making one triangular "stalagmite" of goo. Then moved to the right and made the next one.
Try to make them different sizes so they look random and not "cookie-cutter" alike.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Looking good ScaryPappa! 

I pretty much did the same as Dave, except that I allowed mine to clump a bit in a more bulbous fashion. There was a reason for that though, I was hiding green slime colored string lights in the foam, similar to the glowing coals effect. If you're interested in duplicating it, Walgreens and IIRC, Amazon both carry the light strings I used in mine.


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Also dont forget the trick of sticking in some toothpicks in acetone and put in the nozzle if you still have some great stuff left over. You can reuse later, just pull out the toothpics and spraywith just the nozzle.


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## Scary Papa (Jan 31, 2012)

Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips. I feel a little more confident in doing the slime now. And I never thought of using toothpicks and acetone to keep the nozzle clear. I just figured that any foan left over would just go to waste.


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

I recently made some glowing embers using this tutorial:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Burning-Embers-Halloween-prop/?ALLSTEPS

They came out pretty well, and now I'm working on the same effect for the cauldron slime. I really love the look of Raven's Hollow Cemetery's slime. 

Will I have any issues if I spray the lights directly with the foam? For the coals, I wrapped the lights in plastic bottles so they were insulated. I want to have the lights hang down for the slime though, and it seems like most people are just spraying the strand directly. I'm not using rope lights though, I'm using these string lights:

http://www.amazon.com/100-Count-Gre...822580&sr=8-1&keywords=green+christmas+lights

Should I be concerned they'll be a fire hazard if I spray them directly? Also, if the string goes out, I'll have to re-do the slime, yes? If they're insulated as per the fire tutorial, it seems like it would be easier to extract them from the bottom and keep the foam on top.


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## Michael Smith (Nov 5, 2014)

Just a quick note: Big Lots here has those same lights for $5 a string, and I've seen at least one Dollar General that had 70-light green strings for $2.50. I've been scoping them out because I'm working on something pretty similar to what you're doing. 

I've read reports of foam getting scorched from direct contact with the lights (even the LED ones), but I don't have any first-hand experience to corroborate that. Mine is a pile of radioactive sludge, so it was easy for me to keep the foam off the lights.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Creepcakes said:


> I recently made some glowing embers using this tutorial:
> 
> http://www.instructables.com/id/Burning-Embers-Halloween-prop/?ALLSTEPS
> 
> ...



Creepcakes, I haven't had any issue with applying the foam directly to the light strings. I do however, use high quality strings for this effect. I would be in remiss if I didn't mention that a couple of users have purchased bottom of the barrel cheap strings that did have problems, but those couple of strings were not UL approved or falsely labeled, and were in fact under-built fire hazards to begin with. That said, I would stick with a known brand name were I in your shoes.


If you look in the glowing coals threads, you'll find a few posts by me after having disassembled a long running glowing coals effect during a revamp of the project, constructed in the exact same manner. I conducted a close analysis of the same to allay everyone's fears, especially concentrating on the areas with bulb-to-foam direct contact (with pics), which revealed no harm to the foam nor lights themselves. 

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-and-step-by-step/98244-glowing-coals-effect-17.html


Regardless of that; there's been an awful lot of undue & unfounded paranoia by many, expressly on this topic (even some that freak over using led's in direct contact).


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## minksocks (Aug 18, 2015)

Its looking great.


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

Still waiting on my green lights to get here, but I did grab a can of this to spray the foam coming out of the cauldron:

http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/specialty/fluorescent-spray/

The color is pretty neat, but I have to figure out how to spray the foam without spraying the cauldron, hmm. I think painter's tape will pull the paint off the cauldron.


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

I realized I never got around to posting a finished version of my cauldron! I ended up spraying the foam directly on the green lights, but insulated some in plastic bottles to build up volume. Both the foam and the fire light up independently, and I uplit the skeleton with a blue lawn LED. I may replace the skeleton with a PVC frame prop this year, and at some point I'd like to motorize the arm to stir.


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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

Creepcakes. The entire setup is great!!! I love the colors of the slime!!
Great job.


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Your lighting very well done (no pun intended ha!) also....


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## CHEFJULI (Jun 3, 2012)

The colors are fantastic and the lighting turned really well!


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

matrixmom said:


> Also dont forget the trick of sticking in some toothpicks in acetone and put in the nozzle if you still have some great stuff left over. You can reuse later, just pull out the toothpics and spraywith just the nozzle.


OHHH! If only someone told me that four years ago when I was sealing cracks in the house! I'm smacking my head!


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