Happy Early Halloween  
 
Well I have been working on my Halloween display for the last couple of weeks and I have about 80% of my previous years decorations out now . You may have seen alot of this stuff I posted last year in the "good with your hands" thread already but some of the placements have changed and there are a few new smaller props mixed in here and there .
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
This is just my basic display so far - I have a couple larger props that I can't get out until closer to Halloween because I can't risk them getting wet (they have to be out in the yard) .
 
I have mainly been working on weathering ageing background type stuff and a few smaller new props so far this year .
 
Here is one example of the changes from last year to this year with my Torture Chamber :
 

 
It's just subtle changes - last year it was just a flat grey and I wasn't happy with it so this year I used wood stain to weather it and make it look older/creepier . I sprayed the latch on the door and the barbwire arround the top with muriatic acid to make it start rusting . Most people wouldn't even notice the subtle efects but they make alot of difference to me because I want everything to be as realistic as possible .
 
heres another example with the burlap on top of the cabinets :
 


 
 
I hope you like what you see so far - keep in mind that it looks much better at night with all my lights on  
 
I have alot more to do and will post pics as I make progress so stay tuned

James that looks freakin awesome!!!

I love the skeleton coming out of the ground!

You guys stateside really go for it at Halloween.

Beats my dodgy carved out pumpkin on the doorstep and few fairy lights, LOL

Your kind of display where i live here in the uk would warrant neighbour complaints and a visit
from the law to tone it down a bit i reckon  

Keep up the good work

James, absolutely love it mate
You have done a really great job with Leatherface  The cobwebs add great effect also
Looks brilliant in the day light, at night with your lights on, it must really come into effect
Keep up the good work mate

Do kids actually knock on the front door asking for lollies? I'd be : "trick or treat" actually "sorry Mr I promise I won't trick ya & you can keep your lollies " then run for my life  

Man I love that baby doll in the swing. That would scary the sh*t out everyone on my estate, and save me a small fortune.

Looking great James.  Wish I had the time to put together a display like that. 

Just brilliant  I bet lots of people stop by for photographs? Agree that baby is the most scariest freakiest display piece   bet the whole thing looks even better at nightime

Thanks guys - I am really glad you like the display so far  
 

Lee_m wrote:

I love the skeleton coming out of the ground!

You guys stateside really go for it at Halloween.  

 
 
Thanks Lee - I made that skeleton "groundbreaker" last year . The body is pvc pipe and foam and put a skull head on it that I had bought and then weathered .
 
on the block we live on we are the only house that decorates at all and only 1 or 2 other houses give out candy   I see quite a bit of houses decorated in town but I haven't seen any others in our little town that does it the extreme horror way that I do  
 

Nico wrote:

You have done a really great job with Leatherface  The cobwebs add great effect also

 
 
Thanks Andy - Leatherface is a dummy I made last year . I put on a pair of long john thermal underwear and had my wife wrap duct tape all around me , kind of like a mummy . Then she carefully cut the duct tape suit off of me , I taped the seams back togeather and then stuffed it with polyfill and added a pvc pipe inner frame to give it stability (like a skeleton) . Then I added some thrift store clothes and fake hands and a prop head and weathered / bloodied it all up . I purchased the leatherface mask but I did alot of custom painting etc on it to make it look as movie accurate as possible .
 
I like the cobwebs too - they do add a great effect but it is probably my least favorite part of decorating each year because it is very tedious and time consuming  .
 

aussiejames wrote:

Do kids actually knock on the front door asking for lollies? I'd be : "trick or treat" actually "sorry Mr I promise I won't trick ya & you can keep your lollies " then run for my life

 
 
  we actually hang out outside - my wife looks kind and friendly and is able to coax to children up on our porch with promises of candy . After she gives them candy and while they are distacted by all the props I will come out of my hiding place and sneak in behind them (dressed as Jason) and give them the scare of their lives  
 
This prop is one I can't get out until closer to Halloween (these pics are from last year) . The body is a animated prop that sits up when triggered and makes a heavy breathing sound : 
 


 
I made the table he is on mainly for a hiding place - I hide under the table while my wife lures the children onto the porch - then , bam , I'm out and making the kids pee down their legs  
 

walkie wrote:

Man I love that baby doll in the swing. That would scary the sh*t out everyone on my estate, and save me a small fortune

 
 
Thanks Stef - The zombie baby is one of our favs too and believe it or not most of the kids love it - particularly teenage girls . My wife actually took a regular old baby doll and painted it to look like a dead zombie baby - I added the gore and blood . I bought the swing thing at a thrift store last year and then gored the hell out of it ....
 

Commander Clint wrote:

Looking great James.  Wish I had the time to put together a display like that.

 
 
Thanks Clint - it does take quite a bit of time but the good thing is I can use everything year after year and once I get a prop made or modified to suit me it is pretty easy to get set up the next year . I can usually manage to get between 5 to 10 new additions to the display completed each year . Our dream is to eventually buy a property , like a old warehouse , and turn it into a real haunted house . If I was able to leave everything up and be able to work on it year round I could really put a cool display togeather

What a gore fest.  Nice work James!

quite an amazing spectacle you've created Jim, it would scare the crap out of any kids that dared to set foot in your front yard after dark, hell it would scare the crap out of me!!! I like the basket of innards being pecked at by the vulture, that's quite a disturbing imagination you've got There Jim. Awesome work    

Love it James such a great job I to love the skeleton coming out of the ground. I can just pitcher what that looks like at night so awesome

Holy crap, I'm freaked out looking at that display during the day, I can only imagine how amazing it is at night. Awesome!

 That looks awesome.
Your display at night with all the lights,
would scare the shite out of me.
i would have nightmares for weeks.

Awesome!

Dude, you got problems  

That is so freaking awesome!!!

Godd work, James!

Thanks again guys for all the kind words  
 
  @ John - yes , I have problems .... problems like not being able to find enough dead bodies to add to my collection   mwa ha ha
 
heres a prop zombie head I just bought a week ago ...
 
what it looked like before ... 

 
what it looks like after I customized it ...

 
heres some closeups of another custom prop I did a couple years ago (it sits on my grill) ...

That's just fucking cool. I'd love to do a setup like that at our house. But a big problem for me would be a place to store the stuff during the year.

heres a small prop I just finished reworking ... it was just a zombie/corpse mask that I hung on a Tiki Torch last year and decided it needed a little attention .
 
here it is last year ...

 
pre-makeover...

 
I stuffed it with polyfill and then used latex and paper towels to seal over the neck and eye holes and then built up the neck area using the same method . I happen to have a nice fake vertabrae that worked out nicely glued to the neck .
 
After a little work and a new paint job this is what it looks like now ...



 
now its back on display with its Tiki Torch (Tiki Torch has been weathered a little too) ...

Your modifications look brilliant James. I love the attention to detail!  

Thanks Steve  
 
I forgot to post this next pic ... while I was in the process of working on the neck area I had set the head outside to speed up the drying process . When I went back outside to get the head I found that a praying mantis climbed on top of it and posed for some photos for me  
 


I'm very fond of insects so I just thought it was kind of cool  

Even the Praying Mantis likes your display mate  
It's all coming along great James

Been working on my Jason costume  
 
I found a seller on ebay with some really cool latex pieces that will work great with my costume - I got a good deal on them because I requested that they be sent to me unpainted .
 
here are the knee parts shown in stages of being painted :
 


 
1st pic : Raw Latex as it came to me
2nd Pic : after going over it with a watery brown wash
3rd Pic : after several more steps such as detailing the bones and a few seperate coats of different paint mixes - redish brown , then dark brown and finally a very dark black brown wash . I do it in seperate stages to try and give a layered look to the paint  .
 
here are the rest of the pieces shown after completion :
 


these 2 square pieces are for forarms and/or to cut up to use in random spots under the clothing part of the costume .
 
Still alot of work yet - I have to incorporate the latex pieces under the clothing parts of my costume .
 
I will update with more pics as I make progress

That is plain horror!!!

Well crafted, James!  

Those barbecue sticks are awesome!

BWHAHAHAHAHAAH ONLY ONE WORD, ''EPIC''   

Your a bloody legend Jimmy, fugging OUTSTANDING mate.

Id never want to take any of it dow, id leave it up all year lol.......