Thread: Simple idea... big impact

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My house has a covered porch across the front. I'm thinking about making a set of huge painted canvases to hang in between the columns to give my house a quick Halloween makeover. Some of the ideas I've had so far for imagery include side show banners, castle walls, etc.

Because of the large amount of time I've spent in past years, setting up all the props, etc... I'm trying to think of ways to simplify and minimize set-up time (I set up on Halloween morning after all the neighborhood kids have left for school, and take down at mid-night after the last ToT's have made their rounds).... bust still want the big wow! factor.

Has anyone tried anything like this before? If so, any photos to share of how it turned out? I would love tips and thoughts on how to construct the canvasses, etc.

Jim

I guess this depends on your art skills. If you can creat a good quality hanging with 2D or 3D effets it could work out very well.

it would be best to hang them in layers causing a great ilusion of depth. just like they do on the sets of theatrical plays and such.

if it is a single layer painting in my opinion it will have a cheap less then thrilling look to it. this type of prop having success will depend very heavily on your art skills.

Well, sideshow or circus posters, though, would fit perfectly as 2D deco.

I also used to set up day of and tear down that night, so I appreciate the difficulties you're facing. I've had to extend it to day before setup and day after tear-down, though, due to size. I don't have a covered area so never tried this before, but we are planning on adding a covered patio in the future and would love to hear how it works out if you try it.

We do ours with boards. They are cut and painted foam that velcro onto 1x1 square frames that bolt in the corners. When halloween is over we just unstick the foam boards and unscrew the wood frames...packs up nice and tight!

Here is a picture of the set up in progress...we also put strips of black plastic over the step way to our front door on Halloween so they have to walk into the porch area. It turns into the "non scary" part of our walk through before they exit (or choose not to) the side of our porch into a big tent :-)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...i/IMG_2010.jpg