# Sold My First Prop



## jimmyMM (Jun 20, 2019)

Very cool! The price was reasonable, it is a work of art. One of a kind.


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## DandyBrit (Sep 6, 2013)

Well done you! It's worth the price because it is made with care, thought and love for the season rather than with thought of mere profit.


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## deathrisesagain (Jul 15, 2019)

That is awesome. If i have the money, I would definitely buy one of your impaled skeletons. I am not any good at that kind of stuff.


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## Syrkres (Aug 4, 2018)

Looking at the costs of other life sized props, which I would say are less than 50% quality of yours, go for 800-1000$ if not more. At $600.00 I would have purchased it in a heartbeat!

PS: Grats for making money off something you love to do!

PSS: Maybe put it up on ebay as an auction next time, see if you can get more.


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## Brooklynhaunt (Feb 4, 2018)

Amazing craftsmanship! Congrats on the first sale!


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## HauntedWyo (Apr 13, 2017)

That is awesome. Congratulations on your first sale.


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## Jaurhead (Dec 6, 2018)

I'm with @Syrkres above...your prop would have EASILY gone for twice, maybe triple that if purchased from one of the more accomplished e-commerce haunters out there. DON'T SHORT YOURSELF! But also don't get greedy  Congrats on the sale!


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## Halloweeeiner (Sep 20, 2007)

thats one hell of a piece!! I think $600 is more than fair!! well done


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## stick (Apr 2, 2009)

Great job on it Oak Lane and I will be able to say I knew him before he was rich and famous. 
I will be coming down to see the original in a few months.


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## OctoberDream (Aug 7, 2011)

I think $600 is a little low. But I guess it depend on the area you are in. I think a reasonably price would be $900 to $1000. 
Anyway congrats on your first sale.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

stick said:


> Great job on it Oak Lane and I will be able to say I knew him before he was rich and famous.
> I will be coming down to see the original in a few months.


Lol rich? Probably not.


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## yoboseiyo (Nov 14, 2015)

wow, great job!  i can totally see why it sold so fast.


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

Oak Lane Cemetery said:


> Everyone is constantly asking me why I don't sell anything I make. "You could make a killing!" they say,


Well, of course they said you would make a killing. Look at what you made. You already killed it before you even tried to sell it.  (I'm sure someone had to use that pun somewhere, but not here, not yet.)

Congratulations on the sale. You've always done wonderful work. I am curious though. Over the years your haunt has become increasingly gruesome. That's not a complaint, just an observation. I was watching your "through the years" video and noticed I didn't even see a displayed corpsed skeleton until 2014. (Pumpkin guts don't count.) Your latest prop really upped that game from anything you showed from your past.

The turn toward the grizzly is without a doubt what made your newest creation such an easy sell. Well, that and a boat load of talent in creating the critter. But if you watch any Transworld video, you can see that grizzly is where the grosses are. Still, I was wondering about the future of your actual haunt. Will the friendly skeleton yanking the other out of the coffin wind up corpsed? Will the whole haunt become more blood and guts enhanced?

We tend to cater to our youngest audience as we live next to a housing development with younger kids, but I can certainly see upping the game if your audience is older. I was just curious as to the direction your haunt will head independent of what you might make for sale.


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

chubstuff said:


> Well, of course they said you would make a killing. Look at what you made. You already killed it before you even tried to sell it.  (I'm sure someone had to use that pun somewhere, but not here, not yet.)
> 
> Congratulations on the sale. You've always done wonderful work. I am curious though. Over the years your haunt has become increasingly gruesome. That's not a complaint, just an observation. I was watching your "through the years" video and noticed I didn't even see a displayed corpsed skeleton until 2014. (Pumpkin guts don't count.) Your latest prop really upped that game from anything you showed from your past.
> 
> ...


We are definitely heading in the direction of more gore, but not a total blood soaked gut-fest. Not a fan of a haunt filled with nothing but blood and guts with no point other than just having blood splattered everywhere (or one filled with clowns) I stick more to rot and decay with my gore. My pieces fit with the theme of our haunt - A witch digging up the graveyard, cleaning the bones of the dead and reanimating the skeletons into minions to do her bidding. I DID originally plan on having the skeleton inside the coffin of the coffin puller prop as a corpsed skeleton, but weight issues kept that from happening. We will always be set up for trick or treating. There will be no blatant violence, bloodbath scenes, or actors targeting little kids. I probably will be pushing forward with more gruesome pieces for sale in the future though. Got a few really bad ideas that may come to reality.


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

Oak Lane Cemetery said:


> We are definitely heading in the direction of more gore, but not a total blood soaked gut-fest. Not a fan of a haunt filled with nothing but blood and guts with no point other than just having blood splattered everywhere (or one filled with clowns) ...
> 
> We will always be set up for trick or treating. There will be no blatant violence, bloodbath scenes, or actors targeting little kids. I probably will be pushing forward with more gruesome pieces for sale in the future though. Got a few really bad ideas that may come to reality.


I'm glad to hear that clowns aren't on the docket. My respect for you has risen many fold. hahaha. I think that having another outlet for your artistic expression beyond your own haunt is a great idea. It allows you to explore avenues that might not be suited for what you put out on your front yard, but things that will certainly fit other haunts and venues. There are days when I think corpsing a skeleton of ours is kind of a fun idea, but I think it's a few years off before it happens. For now, we're content with skeletons and the fun of watching you create stuff that's amazing.


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## Victorian (Dec 12, 2016)

Wow! Imagine a forest of those, on the front lawn.


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## spookqueen (Sep 19, 2017)

Oak Lane Cemetery said:


> Everyone is constantly asking me why I don't sell anything I make. "You could make a killing!" they say, "People would buy your stuff like crazy!" they say, "You should be doing the professionally!" they say. I've always been wary of making something I enjoy into work, but I gotta admit, the lure of making money from something I enjoy is really tempting. Long story short, I finally broke down and made something to sell. My impaled corpse was so popular I decided to make another, slightly different one and post it for sale. I considered materials and how much time it takes to make one (over 30hrs) and set my price at $600, which I honestly thought was fair, but wouldn't sell quickly. WRONG. Sold before I even finished it! I'm about 80% done with it, still need to detail the branch and carve and coat the base, but it's far enough along to post photos. I have a few other ideas for things to sell, but will not be doing any commissions or requests and I probably will only do one or two props for sale a season, but I have officially started to make a few things to sell.
> 
> Here is my first ever "for sale" prop, the Impaled Corpse #2...
> View attachment 714053
> ...


This is AMAZING!!! I need to learn your craft! I am in awe!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!


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## rmayer121 (Aug 3, 2016)

Looks awesome and congrats. I like that you didn't copy the other one so it's a unique piece.


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

How does one package & ship something like that?


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## halloweenscreamqueen (Jul 23, 2007)

Wow, wow, WOW!!! That prop is gorgeous! Any chance you'll do a tutorial?


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

RCIAG said:


> How does one package & ship something like that?


I believe the post office has a dead letter office. You probably take it to them.


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

halloweenscreamqueen said:


> Wow, wow, WOW!!! That prop is gorgeous! Any chance you'll do a tutorial?


He already has. 



 Everyone should just subscribe to his channel because you're going to find so much worthwhile stuff there. Yeah, I'm pimping out a site I don't have anything to do with, but when it's good, it's good.


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## halloweenscreamqueen (Jul 23, 2007)

I'm doing my happy dance!! You can't see it (probably a good thing), but I am!


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## lizzyborden (Sep 17, 2009)

Congratulations!


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

RCIAG said:


> How does one package & ship something like that?


One does not! lol I sold it as Local Pickup Only. The only way I could think of to ship it and have it arrive in one piece would be freight. I'd have to build a crate for it, bolt the base to the bottom so none of the prop touched the sides, then put air bags around it to keep it from getting slung around too much. Would have been expensive as hell to ship that way!


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## punkineater (Apr 26, 2014)

Bravo! Your work is excellent~worth every penny.


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## Saarkin (Aug 1, 2019)

Wow amazing work. I aim to keep my haunt kid friendly but there are times I wish I didn't and your prop is one of those times!!


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## christmascandy1 (Aug 19, 2009)

Great Job..i w have paid 600.00 and not flinch...i hve 9 animated props ...from paying 20.00 - 375.00 ..cheapest was a mad scientist that was a display model @Albertsons..and I bought the 8 foot grim reaper from Spirit store last year...but yours looks much better made!!


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## zooter (Apr 15, 2017)

saw your video, thanks for making it, gave me some ideas. What forum did you sell your prop on?


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## madmax (Dec 28, 2003)

Oak Lane Cemetery said:


> Lol rich? Probably not.


You will be surprised at the money people will spend. I sold well over $300,000 on my Breathing Grave prop and that's with a detail how to build on this forum. I had no ideal what to sell them for when I started and like you after request after request to build one for people I gave in. I first put one on ebay and the bidding war was outrages...$250 and I stopped the auction and set a price of $145 including shipping. The $250 was was too much (in my mind) for this prop. When I first started making them it took 2.5 hours and I used wood and my cost to build was around $12. The 2nd year I redesigned using PVC and got my build time down to under 1 hour and sold for around $79 to $99 (depending on where I sold it) and was making about $50 an hour after all cost. Still got burnout on it and stopped building them because I was not looking to make it into a business. Plus it was taking up my travel time and love of college football.

Forgot to add...great looking prop and one I will build at some point. Wont look as good as the one you make but I will use darkness/lighting to over come that. I dont have that type of patience for detail


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## Oak Lane Cemetery (Sep 5, 2011)

zooter said:


> saw your video, thanks for making it, gave me some ideas. What forum did you sell your prop on?


I just did it through Facebook.


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## Witchful Thinking (Jun 3, 2011)

Absolutely stunning work. Congratulations on your first sale and taking the leap to put your work out there!


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## Witchful Thinking (Jun 3, 2011)

Absolutely stunning work. Congratulations on your first sale and taking the leap to put your work out there!


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