# Oak Lane Cemetery 2014



## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Decided to start this thread for our yard display this year. I've not really started much yet as far as setting up, but I'm ready to go and will be starting the full set up next week. So far I've set up my fake tree for my spiders and put in a few of the props that can go up before I shoot the webs over the tree Monday or tuesday. Once the webs get done I'll be able to start hanging spiders and install the giant spider onto the front of the tree. Once the tree is done I'll move on to the scarecrow and cornfield, which is the second most labor intensive setup. The the graveyard and witch/cauldron creep will get set up last. I hope to have it all done by next weekend. Heres what I've done so far...

Branches secured into the fake stump base I made earlier in the year. Lines run for mounting the giant spider too.









Close up of the base/stump...









Victims secured in place with zip ties and stakes. These guys will be webbed up good with the web gun.



























Dead bird and egg sac. These will also get blended into the scene with the web gun.


















That's it for now. I'll be posting more updates as things progress.


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## WickedWino (Aug 19, 2012)

Looking good! I'd be interested to know more about how you did that stump base to secure the tree branches. I had tree branches in a big pot of rocks last year and it looked lame. Your version is fantastic!


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

I love your spider and egg sack .... looks like they are about to burst out anytime , creeps me out i hate spiders , looking forward to checking back for more photos.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

WickedWino said:


> Looking good! I'd be interested to know more about how you did that stump base to secure the tree branches. I had tree branches in a big pot of rocks last year and it looked lame. Your version is fantastic!


I have photos of the build here - TREE STUMP BUILD


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## WickedWino (Aug 19, 2012)

Thanks Nightfisher - that's a great little photo tutorial!


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## Ken F (Oct 20, 2011)

That's incredible , some trees like this would really add some depth to my yard. Bravo


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Got more done today. 90% finished. Needs a few more spiders and some webbing touch up. I'll probably need to go back over the webs on the ground in a couple of weeks as the grass grows.





































Now on to the next section of the display!


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## Darth Vader (Aug 2, 2013)




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## BarryJ (Oct 17, 2009)

How many glue sticks did that take you?


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## Cloe (Mar 18, 2013)

I thought the same thing about the tree base. I really like the way it looks. I wish I would have seen this earlier to have tried doing something like this myself. The webbing and skelly's look great too!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Took me about 10 or so of the long glue sticks lol. They are super cheap from Walmart.


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## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Nightfisher I love your artistic - not too overdone style. Always look forward to your pics....amazing spider.


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## scareme (Jan 18, 2009)

This looks fantastic! I thought the tree was real until I started reading. The webbing turned out great looking. I can't wait to see what else you come up with.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Moooorrrre pics! Got off work at 7am this morning, slept for 4 hours, then got back to work on what's important - the yard display!

Got the cemetery, witch, cauldron creep, window boards, and some of the lights up today despite off and on drizzle and lack of sleep.


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## printersdevil (Sep 7, 2009)

That is awesome! Love the sign and the boards on the windows. Great web. The witch is my favorite---of course. Where did you get her?

Is the sign on foam?


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## NotTheBatesMotel (Sep 28, 2013)

Very impressive!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

printersdevil said:


> That is awesome! Love the sign and the boards on the windows. Great web. The witch is my favorite---of course. Where did you get her?
> 
> Is the sign on foam?


Thanks! The with is about 3 years old and is made from a gothic witch dress, 2 tomato cages, 3 pool noodles, a plastic skull, an old man mask, and a long grey wig. I invested maybe $30 in building her. She is getting a little worn and faded around the face and I plan on rebuilding her using a HorrorDome mask that I really like. The signs are indeed foam, as are my window boards, graveyard sign, and the body of the giant spider.


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

That is brilliant , i so love your creep and witch , and the sign is excellent with the bones and skulls , well its just all brilliant an excellent display .


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## Ken F (Oct 20, 2011)

You did a great job!!!!! Can you tell me how you got the spider web took so realistic?


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## TropicalJewel (Aug 28, 2005)

Gorgeous display of creativity and not too scary for the little ones. I wish I lived in a town/state safe enough for me to do a yard haunt and leave it out for more than 24 hours (envious).


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Ken F said:


> You did a great job!!!!! Can you tell me how you got the spider web took so realistic?


Home made web shooter. A cheap high temp hot glue gun with a small air line attached. The only way to go for realistic webs. Safer too since these webs are made from hot glue they will melt instead of burn if a hot light gets too close. Bagged webbing burns like a torch if it gets going!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

TropicalJewel said:


> Gorgeous display of creativity and not too scary for the little ones. I wish I lived in a town/state safe enough for me to do a yard haunt and leave it out for more than 24 hours (envious).


 I keep gore to a minimum and only visual creepiness, no actors trying to scare kids. Just my oldest dressed as slenderman creeping around the background. I want the little ones to be thrilled, not terrified! I'm in a small/med sized city that has a reputation for being kind of a trashy stinky industrial town, but I'm in a decent area that does not get a lot of foot traffic, but a lot of cars passing by. No vandalism yet. Keeping my fingers crossed and planning a fence lol.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Some video of the cauldron creep up and running. I still need to put a spotlight onto the witch to get her better illuminated, but you get the basic idea. The fire and ice light looks GREAT as a backdrop for this scene!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Got a huge chunk done today! I'm nearly finished now. Gotta work the next three days, then I'll be off for the weekend and should be able to finish up then. Even managed to get most of the lighting done!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Night time pics!

I'm very, VERY pleased with how this came together!...


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## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

Your lighting is awesome! I love how your witch is lit up. I was waiting for your cornfield & scarecrow pics - I saw your photos last year and was really inspired by the way you did your cornstalks. I love this look so much - it is both creepy and elegant. I hope you feel that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, because last year we attached cornstalks to rebar in our yard haunt for the first time after seeing how you did yours.


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## xxScorpion64xx (Oct 15, 2011)

Looks great NF, lighting is awesome


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## Ken F (Oct 20, 2011)

Home made web gun! Wow!!! So I have a air compressor and glue gun, how do I combine them to make web magic?


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Ken F said:


> Home made web gun! Wow!!! So I have a air compressor and glue gun, how do I combine them to make web magic?


No tutorial, but I have photos HERE. There are several other designs out there if you search. A couple are even simpler using a plastic air line with a brass nozzle on the end.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Jenn&MattFromPA said:


> I hope you feel that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, because last year we attached cornstalks to rebar in our yard haunt for the first time after seeing how you did yours.


Plastic electrical conduit is a lot cheaper. A bundle of 10 8ft pieces is around $14 for a bundle of 10. Cuts easily with a pair of long handled pruning shears and only needs to be set into the ground about 8 inches to be stable. I cut mine to about 5 ft, then was able to piece together another 5 sticks with the scrap pieces. (Cut the flared ends off so you can connect the two scrap pieces) So you get 15 corn stalk supports for $14.


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## scareme (Jan 18, 2009)

I love how your haunt looks. I'm really going to have to learn how to work with lights. The pumpkins holding the skeleton down is cute. I've not seen the pumpkin hands used like that before.


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## frogkid11 (Aug 6, 2012)

I love the webbing and all the skeletons in your display. I hope to drive by when I'm down that way sometime during the season. I'm sure it looks even better up close in person. Great job.


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## Ken F (Oct 20, 2011)

The design of the gun seems easy enough, thanks do the pictures. Who difficult is clean up? Does it come off vegetation easily?


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

One word MAGNIFICENT absolutely magnificent , and i totally agree with the other posts your lighting just takes it to another level , i would bet that everyone who comes to your home will walk home blown away , well done for all your hard work , i will be checking back to see how you got on over the weekend , i so love how you have presented your display , thank you for sharing the details .


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## rupertoooo (Oct 1, 2007)

Nice clean display. What part of VA are you from?


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## zo6marlene (Oct 20, 2011)

I really enjoy your yard! I too thought the tree was real....great job! I love you creative types....I am not too proud to steal ideas


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks everyone! We've already had a bunch of cars stop to look and a swarm of neighborhood kids coming by. Still working on the fine details. Spent all of my free time at work today scrounging up pallet boards to make a fence with. Gonna be a quick, slap together fence across the front of the yard just to get something up to offer a little protection from vandalism and keep kids from tripping over extension cords.



> The design of the gun seems easy enough, thanks do the pictures. Who difficult is clean up? Does it come off vegetation easily?


Not too bad. it can be brushed/rubbed off most surfaces and props and any remaining webbing should just fall off any vegetation eventually. It dries in the air on it's way from the gun for the most part and if you're careful to point it down and let a glob drip off to form the strand before turning the air up you shouldn't get too many bigger blobs that do stick to things. I keep a rag handy and clean the tip often as I go.



> What part of VA are you from?


I am in Hopewell, about 20 minutes south of Richmond.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

A little bit of better video we made after working on the lights some more. Be sure to watch in HD if you've got the bandwidth!


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## DeadED (Oct 12, 2010)

Thumbs Up love the lighting and I believe the scarecrow is my fav.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

A few more pics with a camera that takes better low light shots. Hoping to get someone with a good DSLR over this weekend for some really good photos.


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

Love this! Cool to see the evolution up until now. Great lighting and the props are perfectly placed and displayed! The tots are going to love it!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

jdubbya said:


> Love this! Cool to see the evolution up until now. Great lighting and the props are perfectly placed and displayed! The tots are going to love it!


Thanks! Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and lots of little monsters begging for candy!


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

your photos are great anyway , its a fantastic display and the lighting just takes it to another level , may i ask what wattage are your colored bulbs ??


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## craftygirl (Jun 4, 2012)

Your display looks amazing!! I love your giant spider!!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

> may i ask what wattage are your colored bulbs ??


My big floods on the corner of the house that shine over the graveyard and driveway are 75w green incandescent floods. Behind one of the tombstones is a green 13w fluorescent curly bulb, another in the porch fixture, and another orange one is behind the scarecrow. The scarecrow, witch, and skeleton are uplit by these - ED27 Multi Color LED bulbs. I also have three of the Holiday LED floods from Lowes that come with the red and green lens covers. One is in the cauldron with the green lens on, another is shining on the spider with the green cover on and the third is behind my mailbox shining across the yard onto the graveyard sign.


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Nightfiaher, your displays are fantastic and your lighting really brings everything to life!! Wonderful, wonderful job!


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

Thank you for letting me know , its just such a good display and as i said and many others your lighting just adds to the effect brilliantly , excellent work .


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## StanFam3 (Oct 5, 2009)

:::::CLAPPING::::::

I love your haunt! Turned out fantastic!!!


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## im the goddess (Mar 10, 2012)

Your creep and witch look great.


Nightfisher said:


> Night time pics!
> 
> I'm very, VERY pleased with how this came together!...


 Didn't anyone ever tell this guy not to run with knives. He could fall and kill himself.


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## torturedserenity (Aug 4, 2014)

Nice yard night fisher. Wish my black lights would've shown up but my phone flas screwed that up.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Added another tombstone last night. I made this one from the last big piece of the big thick sheet I found in a dumpster behind an appliance warehouse. Instead of using the dremel on this one I hand carved it with a snap off razor knife. I think this is about as good as I'm going to get on the lettering in bead foam. It's just too crumbly for much fine detail. Good news is an old friend dropped off some scraps of blue and pink foam insulation board for me to play with so now I can practice lettering and carving some so when I finally do find some full sheets of the thicker kind I'll be ready to go!

Heres the bead foam stone. Used an online "Evil Name Generator" to come up with a name, then the name inspired an epitaph.


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## Chops6965 (Jun 11, 2009)

Love the look of your display!

How do you get such good photos of your stuff at night? I'd like to have some nice photos of our display but they keep coming out too dark or blurry...or dark and blurry.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

My camera is an older Nikon Coolpix L100 10mpx digital camera. Nothing special or super expensive. I use the low light setting on my camera and a tripod. Unless your camera has a low light setting or you can adjust the amount of time the shutter stays open you won't get good low light pics. Don't use a flash if you're trying to get pics of your lights.When you use a low light setting any movement, no matter how miniscule will cause blur because the shutter stays open longer to gather more light. If you don't have a tripod set your camera on a step ladder. It's mobile, and you can set the camera on different rungs to adjust the height. (I take a lot of pics from a "Kid's Eye View". I try not to take pics of any of the lights directly, but rather use the display to block the brightness of the bulb, or shoot at an angle where the light source is out of the frame. Having a bright light pointed right at your lens will cause lens flares, glare, and all kinds of other craziness that will screw up a photo. Take a lot of photos too. I have at least 5 bad photos for every good one I get. I have already taken well over 100 pics this year.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Guess I should have posted this video here instead of starting another thread. (Duh!)


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Another new tombstone, my first pink foam board creation!


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## Darth Vader (Aug 2, 2013)




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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

Nightfisher said:


> Another new tombstone, my first pink foam board creation!


THAT IS YOUR FIRST?!?!?!  WOW. That is gorgeous. I love it!!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Hilda said:


> THAT IS YOUR FIRST?!?!?!  WOW. That is gorgeous. I love it!!


First done with the pink foam anyways. I've had easy access to white bead foam, but around here the thicker pink or blue foam is scarce. Had a contractor friend of mine drop by some scraps for me to experiment with earlier in the week. Just the 1" thick stuff, but pretty decent for making stones with. Might try to get ahold of some more to glue together into thicker pieces that I can really work with. Waaaay better to carve lettering in than the bead foam!


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

GREAT HAUNT , AND AMAZING LIGHTING .... now excellent filming skills , way to go .


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## oaklawn Crematory (Jun 25, 2010)

Nightfisher said:


> Got more done today. 90% finished. Needs a few more spiders and some webbing touch up. I'll probably need to go back over the webs on the ground in a couple of weeks as the grass grows.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Holy Smokes! Thats Cool As Hell!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Got around installing batteries into the potion table and standing skeleton's eyes today. Went to mix up a new batch of potion and found out we are out of fabric softener so I used some hand cleaner soap instead and it seems to be working to cloud the water enough for good diffusion.


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## pacman (Oct 18, 2009)

Looking better than ever ......


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## Chops6965 (Jun 11, 2009)

Nightfisher said:


> My camera is an older Nikon Coolpix L100 10mpx digital camera. Nothing special or super expensive. I use the low light setting on my camera and a tripod. Unless your camera has a low light setting or you can adjust the amount of time the shutter stays open you won't get good low light pics. Don't use a flash if you're trying to get pics of your lights.When you use a low light setting any movement, no matter how miniscule will cause blur because the shutter stays open longer to gather more light. If you don't have a tripod set your camera on a step ladder. It's mobile, and you can set the camera on different rungs to adjust the height. (I take a lot of pics from a "Kid's Eye View". I try not to take pics of any of the lights directly, but rather use the display to block the brightness of the bulb, or shoot at an angle where the light source is out of the frame. Having a bright light pointed right at your lens will cause lens flares, glare, and all kinds of other craziness that will screw up a photo. Take a lot of photos too. I have at least 5 bad photos for every good one I get. I have already taken well over 100 pics this year.


Awesome! My wife got a nice camera from her Dad for Mother's Day, I'm sure it has a low light setting and we have a tripod. Great pics, here I come!!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Chops6965 said:


> Awesome! My wife got a nice camera from her Dad for Mother's Day, I'm sure it has a low light setting and we have a tripod. Great pics, here I come!!


Take LOTS of them. Even if they look good in the preview window many of them will be blurred or otherwise unusable. Took about 100 pics earlier this evening and deleted all but 20! Got this gem though...










You can see the smoke and bones in the cauldron are blurry like I was talking about, but it doesn't detract from the overall pic so I call it a keeper!


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## Chops6965 (Jun 11, 2009)

I took some test pics last night with my wife's camera set on low light and they turned out great! I'll take some on Halloween when all the "good stuff" has been added to our display and post them in a separate thread.

Thanks again for the advice Nightfisher!!

Your haunt looks fantastic by the way, well done!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

Chops6965 said:


> I took some test pics last night with my wife's camera set on low light and they turned out great! I'll take some on Halloween when all the "good stuff" has been added to our display and post them in a separate thread.
> 
> Thanks again for the advice Nightfisher!!
> 
> Your haunt looks fantastic by the way, well done!


Glad I could help! Took me a few seasons to figure out how to get decent pics myself.


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