|
First, I didn't want the room to be too brightly lit, so I had to come up with an alternative
to the four 25 watt bulbs I usually use in here. But it has to be bright enough to see fairly well, without having to reach
for the lightswitch. I remember that christmass lights manage to shed a bit of light, but still remain dim, so I checked out
my halloween lights and found a few strings of purple.
I bought something, (forgot what it was,) but it had a lot of those clear suction cups.
I'm not one to throw away cool stuff like that, thinking, I'll use them someday. That someday is today. I
located three of those transperant beauties on the bathroom mirror, and hung a few strands of lights on them. BOTH sets came
in individual boxes, (made by different manufacturers) and both said they were purple.
One set turned out to be more of a reddish purple, (more like pinks, me thinks,)
while the other set turned out to be a deep purple, akin to the UV lightbulbs. (This is probably why my hands look purple
in this series of images.)
As it turned out, I put both sets on the mirror and they seemed to work out pretty well. The
purple & pink/purple lamps work out pretty nicely together. The pink ones were pretty bright and do most of the illumination
in here. While the purple ones add just enough accent to bring a bit of "sinister" into the mirror. Both strings are reflected
in the mirror, so it looks like there is twice as many "lights" than what is actually used, and looks a bit "classy as well.
One of the things I picked up while visiting Geneva, Illinois, (my home town along the Fox
River,) was this gargoyle light. This thing is super funky. It's based on the busts of Disney's Haunted Mansion. That
is, wherever you are in the room, it seems to be stairing right at you. Nothing makes you want to "hold it longer" like when
someone's stairing at you. What a creepy delight.
I found this little fellow at Scientific American, on the East side of the river, on Main
Street. Wonderful little store.
I now know that it's rare that halloween decorations get in the stores every
year, sometimes you find something one year, and decide to pass on them. The following years, you never see them
again. So when I saw these cool little pumpkin lanterns. I bought two as the deal was good. It has a black housing, and a
transperent orange globe with a classic pumpkin face.
But what makes it all worth it is that INSIDE the globe, is a fake fire lamp. Yes, it has
the fan and the cloth flame and it's illuminated with orange LEDs inside. What a cool little jack-o-lantern these are. I have
two... What to do with the second one???
Hmmmm....
Another little trinket I picked up last year is one of those "Scairdy Bats". This thing is
too cool! He has four or five things to say, plus he sings a song. You Spin Me 'Round Like a Record, Baby". As he
sings the song, his wings flap, and he actually spins around the tree branch that he is perched upon.
You spin me 'round baby,
right 'round, like a record baby,
'Round 'round 'round 'round,
The song also has a few lines, altered for the Halloween holiday.
But it's a funky/funny little gizmo to say the least. Plus, I kind of like the original Techno-like
song.
Play a quickie sample of the extended mix: You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)By: "Dead or Alive" (Link opens a new window)
Another little scare-tactic is the dropping spider. This is set up nearly on top of the light
fixture that is just above the HUGE mirror. I think it senses sound, so when someone makes a noise, it's gonna drop, make
an eerie noise, then it retracts slowly to it's position. Maybe it'll startle some of the girls, maybe not.
The only thing it could get hung up on is the halloween lights over the mirror. I have to
look around, and find some clear flexable plastic, and tape it to the mirror, so that the spider will slip over a smooth plastic
surface, without catching it's legs on the wires. Alternatively, I have crystal clear packing tape, which might work OK, but
it's not my first choice.
The final object I have (so far) is a candelabra with a skull moteif. This fellow has three
electric candle flame bulds and a regular screw-base nightlight style orange bulb inside. So it's eyes "glow". This also has
"jewel-like" facets in the eye sockets. It doesn't do anything 'cept look spooky.
Another idea that I plan to include is my "Behind-the-door-Pop-up-Spook". A lightweight spector
is hung at three points from fishing line. As the door is closed, the spook is revealed and rises from the depths behind the
door.
I have an El-Cheapo child-sized mask that will be used as the spooks head. It already has
something of a hood attatched to it. But the white circles around the eyeholes have got to go. I wonder where my magic marker
is?? Sometimes, it's just too easy. (Insert sinister laugh
here.)
Here's the mask I plan to use.
It's Small,
lightweight,
and creepy.
It's perfect!
I actually had this kind of rig set up behind the front door of an apartment years ago. I
forgot it was there and entered the apartment late one night, in the dark. It scared the adrenalin right out of my system.
So if it's unexpected, it's effective.
I plan to use just a black shirt for the body, as it has to be un-noticable when the door
is fully open. Which means it has to be short, like a shirt, so that fabric does not slip under the door when fully opened.
One fishing line from the door (A) to the spook, (B) to the wall (C). The second
is connected, from a slightly raised hinge pin (D) to a shoulder (E) . This is positioned so that the spook
will turn slightly as the door is OPENED, so that the spook rotates SLIGHTLY, to lay flat between the wall and the
door.
Point A: A flathead thumbtack driven into the TOP EDGE of the DOOR ITSELF.
Point B: Attatched to the top of the Prop Spook.
Point C: A Screw in the wall, at about the same height.
Point D: The pin of the TOP HINGE of the doorway.
Point E: Attatched to a shirt on a hanger with a safty-pin.
Exact measurements vary, depending on how high and how far away from behind the door you want
the spook to travel. Moving points A & C closer to the hinge, will deminish the virtical action.
By adjusting the length of fishing line of D & E, you can determine how well it will
conceal itself behind the door when the door is fully open. (closed upon the prop, consealing it.)
Additional fishing lines can be used if the shirt ends up slipping under the door, as
the door opens.
The ONLY adjustment that I had to make was the addition of a second fishing line from the
hinge pin, (point D) to the left shoulder. The added line is to keep the prop from rotating counter-clock-wise.
The series of images depict the batroom door closing and the prop,
as it twists and rises into position.
Here's the door in the open position.
(The sign above the hand towel reads...
"Is that a mask, or your real face?")
}X-{D}
The head of the prop seems to twist towards the guest before the rest of the
"body" has a chance to react. It also seems to jiggle from side to side as the door opens.
My guess is that the plastic coat hanger, (used to hold the shirt open,) wiggles
as the door is opened. So the mask responds to that movement. The action was completely unintentional, but it lends so much
to the movement that it makes it move rather errie-like.
}8-{O}
You might notice that I took a "Sharpie" Magic Marker around the eye-holes of
the mask.
I'm currently looking for eye-balls to stick in the eye-sockets, and I may even
rig up a few LEDs to illuminate them.
}:-{)}
Here's another view...
You can see that the spook is hanging in mid-air, out and away from the door.
It'll really invade their "space".
When guests go and close the door, theyll be too distracted by the
halloween decorations in the room, to be paying much attention to closing the door.
It won't be until they discover that the door doesn't actually close properly,
that they'll turn around and try to close the door, (giving it their full attention,) then WHAM! A prop has materialized while
their back was turned.
}8-{P}
As a final touch, I'm going to add "skelital-hands" to the spook.
This is a super-easy proceedure. Considering it's a cheap-scare,
and won't be much else than that.
}'-{1}
I'm using about 6 ft. of solid copper wire, an old piece of wood lathe,
and a roll of electrical tape to hold it all together. You could use duct tape,
but I don't have any of that, so the black electrical tape is going to make it
happen.
The wood lathe is cut to aproximately 15" in length.
The short wire is looped at the end, to prevent it snagging the gloves.
It's bent slightly, to prevent it twisting beneath the tape,
if I should desire to shape it somehow, inside the glove.
The longer wire is to attatch, up the sleeve and
wrapped around the clothes hanger, under the shirt.
Here's something of what it might look like, under the shirt.
}8-{o}
The button-hole of the shirt cuff is used with the push-pin, which holds the
glove in place.
This is what the finished spook looks like.
Yeah! I FINALLY got a project done in ONE DAY!
}:-{P}
Want more? Check out the "Bat-Room Trap"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please be sure to visit "How to Halloween" A new up and coming site on building your own Halloween decorations for next to
nil!
The Halloween-L is a great website & forum. You should go there NOW! Ok, after you view my website. But right after that,
go there! (If you know what's "Boo" for you!)
|
