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I am really disappointed in Martha. A couple years ago I picked up an October issue of her Living magazine. It was filled with really great ideas for Halloween decor and recipes. I was shocked at how cool the ideas were.

Last year I got it again and found that the magazine had been slacking off a bit, since they decided to turn the Halloween features into more of a best-of collection. Still, there were some good ideas.

As for this year, I took a peek at the October issue, and I couldn't have had a bigger let down. Maybe I was skimming the issue too fast, but all I could find was a pumpkin carving article with some patterns. Good thing I bothered to flip through it before buying. Back to the shelf it went.

If you were looking forward to this month's mag, I'd suggest getting the Halloween Edition of Make Magazine instead.

Hmm... Mothra Stewrat... that gives me a whole slew of ideas for props.

 

I found some more pictures I took of my garage beast's eyes that watched the TOTs as they came up the driveway. These new pictures show how I put it together. Also I converted a movie of the effect into an animated GIF.

The Eye box consists of a cardboard box with bright green poster board curved inside. The curve helps prevent shadows and hides the box corners. A black foam core circle is attached to the middle of the poster board with an iris drawn on with a fluorescent colored pencil.

I mounted the black lights to my garage door frame and taped the furry fabric cut-outs over the windows.

Each eye box fit over the black light mounting bolts on the garage door frame. I taped each box in place. This was probably a BIG FIRE HAZARD!!! Next time, I'll probably paint some fire safe material, since those black lights can get really hot! Please consider fire safety if you attempt to do something like this.

Here's the final effect. No moving parts. It's all an optical illusion that take advantage of perspective.

I got my Halloween-themed Oriental Trading Co. Catalog today!  The thing that I liked most was the advances they've made in disgusting gummi candy technology.  The finger chili candy looks so appetizing!

Is anyone here ordering something from them? 

My New Arduino Board

 Another gift I got for my birthday is an Arduino USB Board.  I'm really excited about this, since it can be used for all sorts of things.  I'm hoping I can use it to create my Ouija Speller (automated Ouija Board).  It can drive stepper motors and communicate with my Mac over USB.

I doubt I'll be able to complete the Ouija Speller in time for Halloween, but I might be able to make a little progress with stepper motor control.

If you want to learn more about the Arduino Board, check out the Arduino Website. 

Make: Special Edition Halloween Magazine

As a late birthday present, my wife got me The 2007 Make: Halloween Special Edition. It's filled with lots of haunting goodness. For those hardcore prop builders out there, you might want to pass on this (or at least take a look at it before you buy it).

I wasn't impressed with the make-up and costume section. The food and decoration section was a little better (the Thorax Cake is nauseating... in a good way!). Had it not been for the Haunted House section, I would have been disappointed.

The Haunted House section has instructions for building the classic Flying Crank Ghost, styrofoam tombstones, and a hot glue web gun. There are also plans for a miniature electric chair and a prop controller board. This section is great for those of us who haven't ventured into the technical side of haunting.

There are numerous references to websites throughout the magazine, so it's a good starting point for getting haunt ideas (even though they only briefly mention The Monster Page of Halloween Projects). Overall, I think it was worth the $10.

I have one last important note. If you're considering giving this to a young person, you might like to know that one of the costumes features some fake undead bare breasts. Just a heads up.

We got 55 TOTs this year. Last year we got 41. There were even fewer the year before. There were only a couple of kids that were too scared to get candy this year. Most parents dragged them up to the door.

I think I'll need to get some better speakers for sound effects next year. The cheapo speakers I got off woot.com didn't play nearly loud enough. Oh well, at least they were dirt cheap.

It was a great Halloween night. We handed out candy while watching the Exorcism of Emily Rose with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. We also ordered some hot wings and celery for dinner.

Overall, the best part of the night was when a the braver kids told me how much they loved the decorations. That made my night, because I couldn't help but think of them as future haunters.

Do any of you remember that one house on your street that gave you the willie? Or maybe it was that house with the talking pumpkin. What do you think sparked your interest in haunting?

For our first party in 2005, we needed a set of card holders to display the dish names in our gruesome smorgasbord. While in our local party store, I saw a bin full of ten-cent green rubber witch fingers (the hollow kind you slip on your own fingers). I've always thought these were useless. Sure, you could get ten of these, but then you'd have to get a pair of gloves or something for the rest of your hand.  So my wife and I thought up this idea:




Supplies:

• Rubber witch finger


• 1-1/2 inch terra cotta pot (optionally painted)


• Black Spanish Moss


• Newspaper (wadded into a gourd shape)


• Printable business cards

 

With a sharp hobby knife, make a small slit behind the nail of the finger. I made mine about 1/8 inch deep. (In the picture, I'm squeezing the sides to emphasize the cut.)

• Stuff the pointed end of the newspaper wad into the finger
• Stick the newspaper-ball end of the finger into the pot

• Stuff black spanish moss around the finger, to hide the newspaper
• While squeezing the the finger slightly (as shown in the previous picture), slide the card into the slit

Voila! You are done!

Martha Stewart has a good base card design (not shown here) on her Halloween website. I can also post what I used (also not shown), but I'll have to find the file first. :)

I've also seen little plastic cauldrons that might work better than these pots.  Plus, you could add a simple LED circuit and replace the moss with stretched-out cotton balls to make the cauldron a bit more interesting.

 

Good evening everyone!

I've started a quick-and-easy project to give the illusion that a giant beast is hiding in my garage, watching people as they pass by. This is based on the watching portraits in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Here's my list of supplies (so far):

• 1 Sheet black foam board


• 2 Sheets white foam board or 2 cardboard boxes


• 1 Large sheet of fluorescent green poster board


• A Fluorescent highlighter pencil (sort of like a cross between a colored pencil and a fluorescent crayon)


• 1 yard faux fur fabric from Joanne's


• 2 18" Blacklight fixtures


• Scissors


• Xacto Knife


• Eye graphic <-- (download)

I created a test model out of a cardboard box with a print-out of the graphic (see my gallery). The eye is set back about 5" from the cut-out. I think the iris could be a bit bigger. As you can see, the eye appears to follow me.

It's a good idea to find the ideal iris size so it doesn't distort as you move to the side of the eye. The depth of the box will determine the 'travel' of the eye. If it's too shallow, the eye will not appear to follow you.

As you can see from the pictures in my gallery, if you make the cut-out too big (as compared to the size of the box), the 'white' of the eye appears to end abuptly at the edge of the box.

*** 10/15 Update ***

Well, I've had a really busy weekend, so I still haven't finished the garage beast. I'm getting closer though. I just have to mount the black lights and eye boxes.

*** 10/17 Update ***

I finished it last night! The only problem is that I doubt it is fire safe. The poster board comes awfully close to the black light fixtures. I'll have to do some trimming. I should keep an eye on it to be sure it's not overheating.

Be sure to look at my new pictures in the gallery!

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