Does anyone make their own props, I do, I get my ideas from this site that has over 1000 different prop how-to's. Heres the link, please provide yours, If you have one.
http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/
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The "Official" do it yourself Halloween Props thre
27 posts
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Ivory Lines Lead, Oh-Wa-Ho. Oh-Wa-Ho.
I do a lot for halloween but not a lot of animatronics. All of my outlets are used up on lights! This year I spent that last month carving/painting/etc... tombstones for the front yard. I've also got a lot of other new stuff for this year. (And I finally got my strobe working so that'll be fun) But all of my tombstone are currently sitting on my trampoline drying. I've got a smoke machine, and I'm taking apart this fence, and I'm going to build this gate. Last year I tried a rough version of this and It didn't work, so I'm hoping I can do it right this year.
I make all of my own props. My two best ones are my electric chair which features a puppet with latex hands (cast from my own hands) that shakes violently when triggered, and my pneumatic zombie chick that pops up and can be installed into any area. Her first year she was a lady of the swamp coming up out of a "lake", recently she has been popping up out of coffins & ruins. I also make life sized coffins, tombstones, and the occasional guillotine (non moving - don't want to deal with the potential infractions of the law).
This year I will be making a witch that pedals a stationary bicycle, maybe adding some fog and lighting to it. It will be placed on my roof at home. My all time fav was my animatronic marionette clown. He danced when triggered, and would hold my victims attention until I could sneak up on them in the Haunted House. He was deconstructed due to space constraints, but someday I will rebuild him.  It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
Slight bump and double post, but with good reason.
So I went out into a severe thunderstorm last night and retrieved a new soon to be prop. Someone left a perfectly rotting piano on their curb. I had been looking for one for a while now to use as a prop, and now I have one. I have several ideas for what to do with it, but I wanted some input from some fairly normal individuals on what they would like to see in a haunted setting. First option - standard creepy piano possibly converted into a pipe organ with some character animatronic playing it. The question here would be what kind of character would you like to see? Vampire, Phantom of the Opera, Zombie Cowboy or Western Vampire, Skeleton - you get the idea Second Option - Stand alone piano that does different gags depending on which key is pressed. It could blast compressed air, have a monster jump out the top, have a drop panel that reveals a mutilated body, even blast an air horn . The trick would be to leave it out in the open, and when some idiot kid comes along and decides to mess with it (they always do ) Boom - instant scare
It will take me a year or so to put all the gags in it, but I wanted your thoughts and ideas to help out along the way. It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
I personally like the 2nd option the best. Left outside you know that kids will go up and mess with it therefore opening themselves up to quite a scare
Now that would be fun to see.
i dont make props but i make costumes. this year i'm thinking of doing a Quidditch type thing. Getting a set of blank-backed quidditch robes and writing Spinett on the back (for Alicia Spinett). I'm at a loss, however, for a broom. a regular old closet broom doesnt work, and a good broom from alivans is too expensive... any ideas?
Give me a link to a good picture of a quidditch broom and I'll see what I can do for ya.
It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
seriously?
http://www.alivans.com/custom/list.asp? ... geid=10277 the Phantom Flyers arent exactly good but the rest are
I enjoy putting up Halloween decorations. I like any lights. I have orange, purple, ghost lights, pumpkin lights, mixed lights (Mummy's, Frankensteins, Witches, and Werewolf lights), spider lights, mummy lights, and spider and spiderweb made of lights. I hope to get green lights this year. I have even more lights for Christmas.
I have cardboard stupid tombstones (Compared to SFGAm, they are pretty sad.), scarecrows, and other various decorations mostly in my room.
FreghtFestFreak3
Based on those pictures - Instructions for making a Quidditch Broom Handle - 3 options I bolded the route I would go. 1. Use a fallen limb, strip it of bark sand, stain it, and cut to size. This will give you the crooked look of the broom. Make sure to sand and shape the end to make that little gooseneck handle. 2. Use a beat up 2x2. Purchase a 6' 2x2 from a hardware store, and let it sit out in the weather for a week or so, let it warp. Use a jigsaw or hacksaw to create the weird nooks that will give a crooked look. Turn it on a lathe or sand it for roundness, then stain to match color. Don't forget to shape the handle 3. Use a Tiki Torch. These are readily available at any hardware shop or Wal-mart, and they are on clearance this time of year (1.50 at Menards). They already have that crooked look and color, just saw off the torch part from the pole. If you want the handle, glue on a piece of block shaped the way you want and stain it to match the tiki. Straw - Use straw or hey that you can get at any farmers market, farm supply, or craft store. Use spray paint or Aerosol model paint for color. Looks like dark brown or red orange depending on the broom. Lay the straw out flat and spray away. Do not use latex paint, it will cause the straw to bunch up and clump together. Bands - I'm having a problem with this part, but I haven't finished searching for a good replacement. For now I'll give you two options. 1. Pipe Clamps - they come in all thickness and diameters. Spray paint them gold, and use the hex nut to adjust the tightness on them until the straw is secure to the bottom of the handle. Problem - You will need to hide the hex nut either with fake jewels or something to that effect. 2. Mason lid collars - You can get these at any Grocery store in the canning supplies. They are a gold collar that fits over the flat lid, then secures onto a Mason jar. Side it into place over the straw and no one will know the difference. Problem - You will have to glue the inside of the collar to keep it in place on the straw. Assembly - Glue one layer of painted straw onto the bottom of the handle. Let dry, then add another layer. After this you can add as much straw as needed to fill out the actual sweep of your broom. Use fishing line to tie a tight circle around the straw compressing it to the handle. Circle the straw several time with the line before tying your knot. Do this in at least two spots. Place whichever band option you choose over the fishing string to hide it. Use a long pair of scissors, and a nail file to cut and shape the straw to match whichever broom you want. Touch up the paint on the straw and let dry. Hope this helps you out, it shouldn't cost more than $15 in material. I would say 2 maybe 3 days of construction. Please do not reproduce these instructions on any other site without contacting me via PM for my permission. Good luck. It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
go with this option, especially if you dont like it when your props are messed with by the littleuns. If, however, you chose to go with the first option, do a skeleton. Its the creepyest.
18 days left in the hunting season and my bike pedaling witch is now up and running. I had a small problem fusing the rear sprocket to the wheel. The end result has caused my witch to be pedaling the bike backwards. She has a green light showing off her body and bike as she moves.
My front yard / porch has to its credit 4 tombstones (including 1 for Dr. Frank N. Furter), 1 Guillotine with severed head hanging above it, 1 corpse hanging from the tree lit up by blacklight, 1 coffin with zombie chick inside, 1 electric chair,1 half corpse in a burn barrel lit up by a green flood lamp inside and a fog machine that pours smoke in the barrel then allows it to escape all around the corpse, plus the witch on the roof. I have cars that stop in the middle of my street to take a look. My neighbors across the road tried to keep up with me (I added tombstones - they added tombstones... webbing lights etc.), but they finally gave up when the electric chair, barrel, and witch made their appearances. Little kids grab their parents when they walk by, and the local hoodrat population doesn't hassle me anymore. Life is good It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
LOL. I had to take down a bunch of my stuff becuase I needed to do some yard work. Grr. But It's all going back up this weekend. I need to re-aim a bunch of the lights. Because I'm completly reorganizing it. I have a couple more things left ot paint, and then I should be ready for the big night.
I'm putting those spider web things all over the front porch, going to cover the front porch with black tarp to make it look like a dark tunnel, line it with some white christmas lights, a stereo blasting the Halloween Theme outside the tunnel, and I'm making a mini Demon sign and will have the Demon song playing behind it. When it's done I'll take pics.
I've been thinking of trying to incorporate the Demon song into my thing somehow, but haven't figured out how yet. I'm thinking of doing like a little separate thing in the side yard.
Oh crap!, I just deleted my photos! Sorry!
Last edited by [jonrev] on October 26th, 2005, 11:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
Wow.
 Demon.
Demon Sign 95% Done today.
Letters painted and drying. 
Letters done. 
This looked cool. 
Decided to paint the brick grey since I didn't have a tannish color 
Almost done... 
Working on the drain pipe 
Done. 
Almost got the eyes done... 
Lights for the eyes installed (sort of, those lights will be replaced with LEDs) 
Other than the DEMON sign I also did this... LOL 
I was working on my props last night repairing some wind damage and cleaning them when some ladies stopped and gave me a certificate for my decorations. It was from the local neighborhood association, and it came with $15. Its always nice to get money for the things I'd do for free.
These are my corny tombstones. I did the shapes and base coat, my mom takes care of the lettering. You might notice that the cross on Frank N Furter has a bustier painted on it. Then you have Ralph hanging from the tree, and a half corpse (Smoky) in the barrel. The barrel has a green flood lamp in it and a fog machine hooked up to the back. This creates mysterious green fog around the corpse which fills the barrel then flows out the top and adds green light to the black light on Ralph and his tree. The puppet (Sparky) in the chair is my electric chair. He has a strobe light on him at night, and when kids come up I trigger him. He shakes really violently (I have 5 blocks holding him down and he still moves across the porch), and scares the heck outta them. 
This is Fred the severed head, my zombie chick (never got a name), and the guillotine. The zombie chick has a black light on her to light up the webbing. Fred will move to the guillotine on halloween night when I add blood and a red light. 
This is my bike pedaling witch. She has a green spot light on her, and due to a glitch in fusing the rear gear to the wheel - she pedals backwards. I apologize for the quality of the pics, but my camera and scanner suck. I took some neat night pics of each prop up close with all effects running, but they didn't even turn out. It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
^ There is a witch on a bike on your roof. Just FYI.
Smoky.. that makes me sad
It looks great!
Hang on, I'll be able to post some pics of my yard too.
1st off- That Demon sign that Jon Revelle made... totally rocks my world
2nd- ihauntu2 if I was a little kid trick or treating all hte king sized candy bars in the world counldn't have gotten me to walk up to your house... but now I think it's wicked cool! "Jesus saves... Moses gets the rebound... HE SHOOTS! HE SCORES!!!
Looks great ihauntu2! I like the witch.
Just got the fog machine for my yard. When the kids are almost to the door I'll trigger it.
Jon - Put that fog machine behind the barrel cutout on your Demon sign. Either that or get a small trash can and make it up like the barrel in front of the Demon sign. Then place it next to your front steps like there is a Demon guarding the house. When kiddies look in the barrel and see fog with red eyes ... well it should be entertaining.
Exactly the effect I'm looking for. If the little buggers want their sugar fix, then they have to come up to the porch.
I have two rules for trick or treating. 1. The kid has to come up to my porch. I will not come down off my porch, and I will not let mommy or daddy get the candy for them. I do make exceptions for very small children, mainly infants and toddlers. 2. Any candy left behind in a state of fright becomes my stash if it isn't claimed by the time I close up shop for the night. It's the most fun in the park when your laughing in the dark.
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