Carol of the Bells

A lot of progress has been made this past week, and so let's jump right into it!

First off, Lillian and William's tombstones are coming along nicely. Not quite done yet, but the faux "stone" spray paint has been applied to the front and sides, while a flat gray color has been applied to the back. When I created Elizabeth's tombstone awhile back, I covered the entire thing in the stone spray paint. The reason for painting the back of these new ones a simple gray was because I ran out of the stone spray paint - and would rather use my budget on a few other things. I'll show pics of these next week when they're completely finished. All that's left to do is hand paint the inset letters a dark gray.

In addition to that (and work on what's effectively been dubbed the "shrine table,") music has been in the forefront of the drawing board. The attic is going to play host to an updated soundtrack, while the graveyard is getting a completely new one.

Particularly in the attic, our music box's tune will be changing. After conversing with some other creatives over on Youtube, it was decided that the music box may now perform "Carol of the Bells" - a charming yet creepy rendition composed by Kalin (aka Guitarbro221).  The music box previously played a version of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" from Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction. Feel free to check out the full "Carol of the Bells" song posted below. Just a note: we'll be editing the song down a bit for our haunt. Enjoy!

White

Work has continued on William and Lillian's tombstones. Since last week, we've sketched the dates onto the stones, carved out the lettering with a Dremel tool, attached both crosses on top with gorilla glue (note that William's, pictured below, only has a stump left of his cross. Lillian's still has the full cross intact), and have painted all sides with a white primer coat of paint.

If we don't paint them white, they'll appear to be infused with pink. That's not how we want these to be looking!

Pink

If you remember this post from awhile ago, New Tombstones, you'll know that we're in the process of making William and Lillian's grave markers for this coming year. Well, since my new hot knife - the Chicago Electric 130 Watt Heavy Duty Hot Knife arrived via UPS this past week, work has finally progressed.

Currently, they're still pink.

Attic Concepts 2008

This past week, I recently went through my Halloween archive, and found many, many pieces of concept art from years of Halloween extending all the way back from 2004 until 2010. I then scanned all of these images into the computer. Because of this, in coming weeks, months, and years, you'll see old concepts that never came to fruition, or ideas that did evolve into reality.

This week, I'm sharing a collage of attic concepts that I drew up in 2008.

Enjoy!

Concept to Reality: The Estate Sign

The Greywood Manor estate sign, pictured below, was one of the main projects I took on for the 2010 season. Although Greywood Manor was the name of the haunt starting all the way back in late 2008, there really was no prominent sign that told the audience they were visiting the house of the Greywood family.

Greywood Manor Estate Sign - 2010, in action!

This, however, was an idea that has it's roots all the way back, three years earlier, in 2008. Through the concept images I'm about to display, you'll get an idea of how an project grows from concept to reality.

In early 2008, one of the concept pieces I drew of the exterior of the mansion shows a Gracy Manor estate sign. Notice the design, as it is just a simple plywood board attached to a stake. "Gracy Manor" was also the name I was throwing around before I decided upon the name "Greywood." The name "Gracy" is of course a tribute to the Haunted Mansion. Master Gracey (with an "e") is the supposed owner of Disney's haunt.

This rendering is the first time that my estate sign was visualized on paper.

Estate Sign Concept: Early 2008

So the idea sat, and didn't progress at all that year. Then, in 2009, I thought it was about time to start construction on this project. I refined the look of the sign, and drew up a dimensional sketch for reference while constructing the piece. Unfortunately, I ran out of time in 2009 to actually finish. The idea did not die, however, as I just delayed construction until 2010.

Estate Sign Dimensions, 2009

Construction then began in 2010. To finalize what I wanted the piece to look like, I drew one more concept - an image of what I wanted the completed project to look like.

Estate Sign Concept, 2010

Construction then began with me choosing between some stain colors. I created test patches on a few wooden shims, and then began to stain, and paint my pieces. Note that the hanging sign portion of the prop is stained, while the letters are painted a metallic gold, and outlined with a flat black paint to create the illusion of depth on the flat surface.

So many choices...

Finally, I needed an ornate, iron piece to display on the top, horizontal bar of the sign. I went online, and found this neat door topper piece from Heavy Hitter Ind. Inc. I used one of the side pieces, painted it the same metallic gold as the letters on the sign, and finally finished this project.

Just a bit of paint, and it's perfect!

For 2011, am I going to improve upon this estate sign? Possibly. I'm throwing the idea around for adding some LED lights into the mix so the sign will light up at night, but so far, that's still Blue Sky. If not this year, possibly just the next.