Trading tips for dark displays and prop production.
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By jen d.
#45711
Wowser, what an incredible transformation... looks insanely cool! I would have flown all the way to Japan for that Halloween party. :D All your hard work really paid off - looks fantastic.
By Ajax
#45818
What movie were those set props for? The Mummy returns or something? Everything looks great and you even have a creepy Mad Hatter very cool stuff.
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By mesmark
#45855
Thanks! And anyone is welcome to come over. Just come a week or 2 before so you can help out :D :lol:

The party was really good. My wife's friends are really into it. So, next year ought to be bigger number-wise. I might really try to organize actual trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. That would be new and might get the reporter out again. We'll see ...

I did get a pretty nice comment from an adult student who came. He mentioned the thought, costumes, decorations, food, prizes, organization, and execution, basically everything. It was nice to hear that someone saw all of what went into the party.

The eyeball was made with milk jell-o. We bought an eyeball mold (maybe from Yankee Harvest) about 3 years ago.

In japan we have a gelatin powder you can add to juices or milk. That's what we use. It's great because it stays solid at room temperature. I believe there may be something similar in the States and elsewhere.

The iris is just instant coffee, grape, lemon, jell-o etc. The pupil is more difficult. Our best results came with black cocoa powder mixed with a drop of water. Then we dip a toothpick in that and stab the iris. That's been the best as far as dark and not running into the iris.

The new bumpy/diseased eyeball was made with tapioca. My wife cooked the tapioca and then soaked it in cassis juice (also called blackcurrant.) That made them nice and red. We put some of them at the bottom of the mold and then poured the milk gelatin over them.

My wife doesn't like to use food coloring. so, she uses cassis, black cocoa powder, real fruit juice, etc. If you don't mind food coloring, it gets a little easier.
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By nosferatu
#45868
It is all amazing. Love the eyeball. Overall, the attention to detail and total effort required is stunning. You must have been exhausted.

One problem. Next year you'll have to do even better. Year on year you do so, you'll have to start planning now.
By GUS
#45870
So true, think you'll have to arrange a block party & trick or treating for 2011, if perhaps you invited everyone surrounding you for a carve party & to signify they were receptive to visiting costumed kids you may start a small local affair, what's the immediate surrounding area like? ..or would the adults be simply too polite to refuse such a request?
By GUS
#45887
Kudos to the lady who clearly put in lots of effort dressed as the mad hatter.
#78178
Mark, I just had to look for this when you mentioned on the pirates thread having designed props for an Egyptian party. What a great set! I've made props and costumes occasionally for paintings, but never to this level. You do things on a grand scale. Anyone attending your parties must be knocked out by it all!

As a newbie I'm still enjoying browsing older posts looking for treasures I wasn't here to read at the time. I love it that you show the construction of things as you do them.
#78185
Thanks! I didn't really set out to do so much. It started of with trying to decorate a corner spot just to take some decent Halloween pictures. Then I started decorating the stage a bit the same way. Now, I do both the photo spot and the stage.

It's fun to make all of this stuff, but what I make misses a lot on little details. It would be nice to spend more time on the little things, but since the place is so large, I just do my best to fill it.
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