Thursday, October 4, 2018

Made a groundbreaker

This year I attempted a ground breaker.  Nothing mechanical mind you, just a little paper mache' head and hands to look in the basement window and frighten my guests.  I procrastinated this project a long time, as the images in my head are always far better than reality. I started by making  paper mache' hands using Dark Jonty's video and about 20 hours later, I finally finished - what a beast of a project!

I gouged out the eye sockets of a thrifted Styrofoam wig stand, put some eyeballs in, and stapled some teeth in. For the lower jaw, I removed one from a cheap plastic skull.  

Paper mache' clay was used to build up the nose, eye sockets, lips, and cheeks.  I then covered the whole thing in Mr. Chickens zombie skin - the easiest thing about the whole project.  Really, this is a fun technique.
So here she is - I call her Melania, as she wears the perpetually bitchy face of her name sake.  She looks into the window with a lantern lit with a remote control candle.

So Dear Readers, please give me some feedback.  To clean or not clean the window - that is the question.

13 comments:

  1. Looks great! Hand shapes are perfect. A way better job than we did with our DIY scarecrow head!

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  2. Also wanted to add that the creepy cloth valance on the window is a nice touch as well. You'll have to post some night time pics of that window well! Over the years we've gravitated towards using creepy cloth in our haunt and on our props instead of the stretchy spider webs. The spider webs look great initially and then they lose tension and sag and blow in the wind, which can be fine, and there are just some scenarios that scream for a spider web. But the clean up of the stretchy spider web is more difficult and it's usually a one use type product. We collect all our creepy cloth after Halloween and store it for next year. The more tattered it gets, the better it looks!

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    1. Creepy cloth is great and I agree, a lot easier to clean up than spider webs. But there is room in my haunt for both because they are inexpensive ways to really add atmosphere. I did try to wash my creepy cloth, which totally ruined it because it shrunk and lost structure.

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  3. Woow! She´s creepily beautiful! Great Job!
    & I would leave the window uncleaned, looks more authentic :D

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  4. Melania, LOL! She's terrific and I like those creepily contorted hands. Don't clean the window. Maybe a bloody handprint or two?

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    1. Great idea! Like she is trying to claw her way in!

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  5. Those hands are wonderful, and that skin…I love her grimace. She’s definitely going to startle a few folks. I agree with everyone else, keep the windows dirty. Or maybe just clean one little spot, like she rubbed it a bit so she could peer in better.

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    1. That's a great idea too - maybe one little spot in front of her face.

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  6. OMG!!! That's so damn cool!!! So creepy!!! Great work!!!

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  7. Nice job, Lady M. She is very creepy. And I would clean the window - LOL.

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