The 22nd Hour of Halloween - Home and Family Part 2

The entire prop crew worked late into the night the other day to dress the set with me for Home and Family's big Halloween show.

Paul discovered tying a noose is easy, but securing the victim was hard.

Cory was a master window silhouette carver...

 

But a lazy pumpkin carver. Kids these days, he used a Dremel tool. Back in my day, we only had blunt and broken popsicle sticks to carve with, and happy to have them.  

Tara ran around insisting we include baby dolls in the creepy decor. I reminded her this was for the Hallmark channel and that might be a bit too much. She said "Just parts of babies then?"

I kid, that never happened. I missed getting a picture of her working hard that night, the above is the only one I have from a whole other show.

And speaking of not having a picture of, fellow Halloween haunter, Derek Young, of Van Oaks Cemetery and Better Haunts and Gardens, joined us that night to help. Derek was more than willing to cut the baby dolls up for Tara. Awkward.

The 21st Hour of Halloween- Where Monsters Walked

Universal Studios' Court of Miracles set where Chaney and Lugosi once walked, as it looked tonight, just as I was leaving work.

The 20th Hour of Halloween- A Better Jason Mask

Making a cheap Jason hockey mask better. To the left, the before. To the right, the after.

Improving it was easy. First, being soft foam, I shaped into a more character accurate curve by heating with an ordinary hair dryer. Then it was just aging. I cut some chips and dents into the edges for a more well worn appearance and gave it a wash of watered down dark brown acrylic paint. Next I actually rubbed muddy dirt on it here and there. Once dry I sealed it with a very light coat of matte finish clear spray. Finally, a couple of random splatters of stage blood and done. Took a 1/2 hour to do. 45 minutes if you count drying time.

Photo by Jeremy Lee

The 16th Hour of Halloween: Home and Family Part 1

One upside to not being able to have my own haunt this year is using my horde of props to decorate the Home and Family set at work.

We have a signpost outside the set for the tour trams that go by. I thought a fun place to add our new crew member Mr. Myers.

The 15th Hour of Halloween: Creepy Doll

A sneak preview of niece Devin's costume this year - a creepy, undead doll.

Her idea, I love this kid.

Happy Halloween!

A happy Halloween to all.

My hopes to blog more this October have been thwarted, but I'm going to make up for it overloading today with posts counting down the hours left during the best holiday of the year.

First, a sad announcement, my own yard haunt and decorating is on hiatus this year. I've had to cancel my big night of fun for 2013.

My life has changed over the past several months. I'm no longer living in the home I did. The reason why is a long sad personal story that I don't want to dwell on today.

Needless to say, I'm going to be a bit down tonight not being what I hoped it would, but I'm determined to enjoy it all the same and look forward to next year.

17 Days 'til Halloween: Happy Columbus Day

19 Days 'til Halloween - Spooky Sign Post DIY

A few weeks back, I sketched this concept of a spooky sign post for my own Halloween yard.

 

I haven't found the time to create it until earlier this week. Home and Family producers needed a DIY project idea at the last minute for the next day's show. So I suggested the sign post and sure enough, it got made. 2 drums of midnight oil were burned getting it done, but working into the wee hours on a project like this is never painful. The completed version was a bit simpler than the original concept, but still captured the intended spirit of the sketch.

 

The complete "How-To" and video from the show explaining how the signs where made can be found over on the Hallmark Channel show site here.

My Halloween Countdown Begins - Universal Creepiness

I'm back from the dead blogging world and ashamed. It's my favorite time of year and only now starting my Countdown to Halloween posts!

I'll be honest, the day job is to blame. After a 12 hour workday, everyday, eating dinner and passing out overrides my urge to blog. But I'm determined to not let these wonderous October days slip past without celebration anymore.

With work in mind, I thought I'd start my countdown with a small portfolio of creepy images I took over the past year around the Universal Studios lot, where I'm one lucky Halloween enthusiast and able to wander.

Oh and there is this place there too...