Well, I certainly wasn't expecting 10 hours of Halloween day prep time hanging and arranging all the decorations to go down with zero response, but stranger things have happened. Not to mention two months of planning and an additional two months of construction.

At least the people who visited the house appreciated the efforts. Many children were afraid to come to the door. The parents were all extremely complimentary and for the fourth year running people wandered all over the yard taking photographs and filming the decorations, constantly asking how I did what I did.

I guess I don't need to post any tutorials, videos, or additional photos, either.

Nice knowing you, Craftster.

I'd say I'm as close to 100% homemade as can be with the Halloween decorations. Lights, sounds, and atmospherics (like fog) aside, I produce everything myself. I come up with different themes every year and create a unique experience that works very well in person. If I get an idea from a tutorial online, I customize it to fit my needs and never just do someone else's idea (be it in print, online, or seen in person) and throw it up in my yard.

Nope. Homemade is the Halloween philosophy I subscribe to. It guarantees a reaction because no one who visits the house has ever seen anything like it before or will see anything like it again (except for the annual knock offs in the neighborhood, and even then they just buy their items and present them in similar ways to my homemade decorations).

My Dark Green Sea entry is up over at Yard Art now.

Enjoy.

[NIGHT TIME]

Three things to know about the display.

1) The theme is the ocean, more specifically what if those creatures struck back.

2) I made everything but the garland you will see in these pictures.

3) It's actually green. The fabric creatures are stuffed with recyclable materials (newspapers, to be specific, which will go to the recycling center on Monday). The wood was left over from previous projects and not chopped down to fit the design. The fencing was removed from my grandmother's house when we got rid of a garden and will be reused for various projects. The burlap on the squid will be sewn into bags for my father to use while fishing. The muslin tentacles are going to be used for bags and stuffed creatures. The detailed wood pieces - hook, dollar bill, etc. - were scraps from my grandmother's house renovations that were close enough to the shapes I needed to be painted and used. The fishing line hanging system will be reused for mobiles. The balloons were special ordered through a friend and are 100% biodegradable. The draped fabric will be used on other projects. The eel will be separated and re-stuffed as bolster pillows, and the shark will hang in my room as is since it's pretty badass. The poultry netting was bent, but not cut. It will be removed from the wooden form, rolled up, and reused in the garden next year.

Here are day pictures. Click title of picture to get larger size. I will edit later with night shots that show off the lighting and effects scheme. After day pictures, naturally.

Two Wide Shots from different angles:



Fish Monsters:



Shark:



Electric Eel:



Fishing Line:



Squid:



NIGHT TIME

There is no mirror image. Plus, the coffin and his arm stick out further in the back than the head and have more dimension. Very strange.

This is stunning. Beautiful work.

I raided my Mom's ceramic studio and found this guy hiding, already fired, on a back shelf. It's a mostly 3-D vampire rising out of a coffin; the back is flat behind the head, which still confuses me. Painted it with a high gloss acrylic and sprayed with a matte finish.

Front


Angle


Size




Enjoy 

I'm mad that I can't get my video to upload for this. This is a headstone done with a black color wash and dry-brushed details. The color wash wouldn't take to the grooves of the epitaph, so I had to go in with a fine brush and black paint. I then sponged and stippled a stone effect to finish it off. The light inside changes colors. Finished with a matte spray.

Front (unlit):


Detail: Raven:


Detail: Epitaph:


Detail: Base:


Lit: Green:


Lit: Yellow:


Size:


Enjoy

You ever reach for a glaze, see something that's in the same container as every other glaze, has the same title as the glaze your looking for, only to realize it's a stain? That's what happened here. I think I made it work out all right for this should-have-been glazed gargoyle figure. Sprayed with gloss finish.

Front:


Side:


Back:


Size Comparison:


Enjoy.

This is a Halloween bear I painted. I used a dark brown color wash then dry-brushed with acrylic for detail. It's sprayed with a matte finishing spray.

Front:


Side:


Back:


Size Comparison: slighty taller than straight pin


Enjoy