Electrocution prop par excellence
The electric chair is an old haunted-house standby, but YouTuber kenpilot’s version is really outstanding. Excelsior!
Halloween
Prop art
There is in fact no evidence that this wonderful perpetually-drumming-fingers automaton by Nik Ramage was ever intended to be anything but a piece of art. But it had the bad fortune to come across my desk in the midst of the Make: Halloween Contest 2009 frenzy so I am hereby diminishing it to the status of Halloween prop. At least potentially. Personally, if I could afford one I’d leave it out all year under a spotlight. Beautiful.
Highlights from TransWorld Halloween show 2009
If you’re short on inspiration for your haunted house this year, you need look no further than this video by Terra of HalloweenForum.com showing the highlights of her visit to the 2009 annual TransWorld Halloween & Attractions Show. Highlights include a door that dents inward as an ax murderer apparently chops on it from the other side, a struggling victim chained in a box full of water, and giant vampire bats that swoop down from the ceiling.
How-To: Paper Halloween Village
Claudine Hellmuth shares her tutorial for putting together a Halloween village made from paper. I love her trick for giving the houses a nice spooky shape. Check her blog to see how she did it!
Lift-and-turn piston from PVC pipe fittings
This doo-dad is a telescoping PVC fitting sold as “Qwik Fix” or “Slip Fix.” It’s intended to be used to repair broken sections of pipe, but Chuck Rice has posted a venerable tutorial on converting one for use as a pneumatic piston in a haunted-house prop. Chuck’s design both lifts and turns with a single stroke. Clever!
Grid beams for Halloween props
I dunno how much I can get behind the whole gridbeamer thing just yet, but for seasonal stuff it does make a certain sense: If you like it a whole bunch, store it complete, and if you don’t, take it apart and reuse the elements.
Halloween Tutorials
Jodi of The Creative Jar is ready for October 31st with her Halloween tutorials on how to make a halloween lantern, boo pumpkins, and vintage pumpkins.
