Author Archive
Ever wonder how they made the costumes for Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers in Star Wars? Basically they did it the same way car bodies are made… in a mold with fiberglass, or a similar resin. In fact, so many things are made with plastics and resins today that it’s not likely you have any device that doesn’t have a molded part on it. I have seen some really complicated, and convincing, costumes made entirely from molded fiberglass, including ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | No Comments »
Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not here to tell you how to make a 105 minute Halloween horror blockbuster. I’m talking about a little 1 or 2 minute “tickler”, to chill the bones of people at your party or those pesky trick ‘n’ treaters who may come to your door with the intent of scaring you. Ha! And you aren’t going to need a 2 million dollar budget, either. You ARE going to have to have some kind ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | 1 Comment »
I am a firm believer in real scares, not cute stuff that might scare a two year old. So here’s a twist on window decorations that will send a chill up the spines of all those cute little trick or treaters as they approach your house: Live (or at least on video) shadow dramas taking place on a window, sound and all. Even better, how about a talking head, or if you like "cute", a singing head?
Back in the old ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | No Comments »
What was that!? Did you hear something? I KNOW I heard somethin’! Get up and check it out!!!!
You know, I still get scared when I wake up in the middle of the night and hear a noise. And I’ve been around a while. Yeah, yeah, I know: It ain’t nothin’ and when I get up to check out the noise, it always turns out to be something harmless. But it’s still scary. And, living out in the country, I still ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | 1 Comment »
There’s no way around it: Fog machines are cool. I usually don’t like expensive fancy schmancy stuff to make my Halloweens creepy. But when fog machines came on the scene, and did so inexpensively, I had to get one! I waited until they were about $35, which would have been about ten to twelve years ago. Now you can get one for about $25.
The nice thing about fog machines ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | 2 Comments »
...… or “May I make my own Fog Juice, Mommy?”
Like a lot of things (like me) fog machines have been around for a while. Originally they were designed to control insect populations by “fogging” an area with oil. It was a simple machine: pump oil into a heated metal chamber where the oil was vaporized, then the pressurized vapor exited out of a small opening. As it hit the cooler air outside, it condensed into tiny droplets; hence fog. Oil ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | No Comments »
Today’s Halloween Haunters have no idea how hard we had it way back when, before special lights made just for Halloween, strobe lights, and fog machines were part of the scene. I remember when I had to travel to Sleepy Hollow uphill both ways on a sway back horse in 3 feet of snow!
No, really, Halloween was always fun in the "good old days" because to create a really scary "set", like a stage, you had to be able to ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | 3 Comments »
Ok, moms and dads, push the children from the room and close the door. We gotta talk. Done? Good. Look, its about scarring the kids. Not scaring the kids, though that would be fun, but scarring the kids. I’m not calling the Division of Family services; in fact, I want you to scar the kids… not for life, but just for Halloween.
I think I have a pretty good idea how you’ve been doing it up ‘til now: You’ve been going ...
Posted in costumes | 2 Comments »
When building your Halloween "set", keep the traditional, but bring in the new: New if you lived in the 1700's that is! A movie that I suspect most of you have seen is the The Blair Witch Project. It is based on a legend that supposedly occurred in the 18th century.
One thing in that movie that generates fear and trembling is the "stick figures" that hang from trees around ...
Posted in 'How to' Halloween, Yard Haunters | 1 Comment »
