I just had to make one more diorama.
It took a lot longer than I expected it to. Like, a lot. Every day I’d wake up and think, today, I’ll finish! And I did not finish.
I learned a lot, though. I bought a soldering kit, and soldered something, and it worked! I made my first wire tree, and was pretty pleased with the result.
Overall, I like it, though it has too many flaws to put it in the shop. I shall happily keep it around as part of my collection. Maybe someday I’ll give it to a friend.
We had 89 trick-or-treaters! We’ve lived here three years, and the number has steadily gone up. Might have something to do with the giant (20 feet!) cat in our front yard. We’ve become so known for him, I decided I’d better get a spare before they’re no longer available. It’s this guy, if you’re wondering. He’s $50 less on Amazon, but Fraser Hill is the source.
He’s a pain to deflate for windstorms and such because his legs tangle on the re-inflate, but we had to do it last night, because those last seven ToTs ignored the closed garage and the dark porch, marched themselves right past the recycle bin blocking the path, and came to our door. Yeah, we gave ’em candy. Then we deflated the yard.
So apparently it’s NoBloPoMo? Which I guess is November Blog Post Month, or something. NaNoWriMo has much to answer for. Well guys, I just posted for 30 days straight, so I’m not sure you’re gonna get every day for November. But the car is still in the shop, so I suppose I have to fill my time somehow.
And there’s Hallowvember to consider, right?
But not forever!
Unlike some Halloweeniacs, I also like Christmas. Not as much, but a lot. So it’s finally time for Halloween (or, well, most of it) to go into storage until next year. Before it goes away, here’s a little photographic tour of the house. Sorry some of the pics are crap. I think I need to clean my lens.
This shelf normally holds a lot of creepy collectibles, anyway. It’s just more festive now.
To the left of that shelf is the entryway. I’d already taken down the stuff in the foyer, but here is one of the several banners. I like banners.
In front of the parlor shelf lives the collection of ash globes. They are sitting on a favorite Target item this year: the ouija board tray.
For the south wall of the parlor, it’s neon and skulls. There’s always a pile of skulls that grows every year. The LED neon was also from Target this year. Love. It.
Entering the dining room is another banner. I made this one a few years ago.
Hutch #1. The vampire hunting kit is part of my normal decor. Because of course it is.
The witches were one of the first things I put up. I repainted two of their faces. They’re new this year, and I’m over the moon with them.
Here they are under cover of darkness.
The view as you enter the family room. This is where I put all the collectibles and kitsch. Yep, that’s a new Stranger Things ouija board.
I like Halloween pillows. There are more in the parlor, but I didn’t get a good picture. Please ignore the cat hair. They like pillows, too.
Hutch #2. I ended up with some Halloween Village stuff from an estate sale. I think this could become addicting.
Punkins.
Closer look at the village.
There were other odds and ends about, but this was the bulk of it. Next, Christmas Atheist gets busy.
Last weekend we made a pilgrimage to Lambertville, where Dolores Dragan, one of my all-time favorite Halloween artists, lives and haunts.
The first day was beautiful, so we decided to see New Hope, where we were staying, and save Lambertville for Sunday, when we’d have all day to wander. That was a tremendous mistake. The day started a little rainy, which never puts us off. We went into antique shops in the light drizzle. It didn’t take long for the weather to get much, much worse. Bad enough that even an Oregon native decided to travel by car.
Despite the rain, I parked by Dragan’s house and took a bunch of pictures of plastic-draped figures. Wonderful, wonderful figures.
The display has expanded down the little walkway between her house and the neighbor’s, where Dolores has put up tented vignettes. These were also covered in plastic, but I discovered gaps in the draping at the corners, where I could just fit my lens without disturbing anything.
I don’t know what she calls everyone, but I think of this figure as “Mourning.”
There are many great displays along N Union, but because of the weather, we didn’t stop to study much. I did go around a block and get back to this one with hand-painted decorations. I’m a sucker for the handmade stuff!
Since the weather was likely going to stop folks from lighting their displays, we headed on home. We may stop again next year on my next planned road trip…to be announced later.
It’s a good thing I planned on retiring the graveyard and mausoleum this year. I think The Great Pumpkin must have seduced Sif, because Thor is pissed at Halloween this year. Not only did my Lambertville plans get rained out (more on that later), but everything but a gargoyle and one tape ghost went down in the yard. The mausoleum is toast. And it didn’t even break at joints–pvc pipe snapped.
Boom.
I’m not terribly upset. The cleanup was annoying. And dammit, could it not wait ONE MORE DAY? But eh, I have plans. Plans for things that are rounded and low to the ground.
Oh wait, I misspoke…something else stayed up.
See? Build round things.
Yep, the pumpkins stayed on their overturned pots.
This…didn’t turn out like I wanted it to, but it still gives you an idea of what The Glow was like.
See, I bought some fancy editing software some time ago. It had a sharp learning curve, so it took me a while to get to it. Turns out, it’s not particularly stable. Just when I would have started polishing, adding comments, etc., it started crashing. So. Back to Movie Maker it is.
Time for the annual pictures of the yard haunt! It’s definitely best viewed after dark, and I’ll get a little tour up soon.
Full yard.
Margot and her bridesmaids.
I had a full-sized mannequin to make tape ghosts on this year. So much better. 30-second tutorial:
The mausoleum goes up another year.
I’m using the same AtmosFX ghost bride projection in the mausoleum, but there’s no skeleton hanging inside this year.
The signage rather oversells it.
That’s Sally, the mannequin, in the back there. I still need to put a knife in her hand. I needed something to cover the bottom of the screen, thus the signage. Kinda wishing I’d gone with swirls or something. I’m using the Seductive Siren animation for the screen. It looks pretty cool at night.
This vine arch by Oak Lane Cemetery is a work of art. Hard to believe it’s pool noodles and milk jug skulls!
The video below is just an overview. Here are details on forming the roots. There are about a thousand milk jug skull tutorials out there. Here’s one I grabbed from the side bar.
