HatBox Ghost Build Thread

[FarmerChad]

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Alrighty. This thread is intended to cover the build of the prop called the HatBox Ghost. This isn't so much of a "how-to", more like "lets do this and see what happens".

Seems that several people are interested in this effect, so hopefully the ideas will spew forth and we can produce an item that pulls off the effect. Everybody feel free to share what you think.

Probably the best thing to do is to break this down into smaller, simpler to manage projects. This should make for an excellent winter project.

[FarmerChad]

All though the features and problems to get around were mentioned in the thread that I started in the general section, lets have a refresher. The main point so that we have a goal to work towards.

The Hatbox Ghost was originally designed for the Disney Haunted Mansion. The basic setup goes like this: A full figured ghost/apparition is erect. He is dressed in late 1800's vintage clothing, with a tophat. In one hand, he is clutching his cane, in the other he is holding a hatbox. After a few seconds the head on his shoulders disappears. His head then reappears, visible thru one side of the hatbox. Then his head disappears from the hatbox and returns to his shoulders.

A quick Google search yielded this image. Most likely a Disney promo pic. This gives you an overall design setup.



The crux of this entire illusion is lighting. The body and hatbox should be vaguely lit with incandescent lighting. That should give a nice warm, he really is there appearance. The 2 heads will have black lights. One black light should be focused right at the head on his shoulders. the other black light should be inside the hatbox. Naturally one panel of the hatbox should be made of scrim or similar material, to give that ghostly appearance. The 2 black lights alternate off and on.

Disney had huge problems with this effect due to the amount of black lights that they had in the scene to light up other effects. The result they kept having was that both heads would be vaguely lit. Keep this in mind. I think the simplest solution is to make sure that no other black lights are even remotely close to the HatBox Ghost. If so, you may have to create some kind of lighting block or shield.

Environmental issues. Unless you control the environment, you may have some serious issues. Street lights, ToT's with those glow sticks, etc. Think of it like a Flying Crank Ghost. You almost have to have it inside to control the illusion. Otherwise, it just won't work. The only exception I can think of is if you have a really dark corner of your yard, where no person can get to close. Once again, stray lighting will kill the effect.

With all the problems too get around, the end result will be worth the hard work. We have plenty of time, currently 352 days, and Winter is upon us.

[FarmerChad]

The first issue to deal, in my opinion is the black light itself. Ill be totally honest.. I just bought my first black light a couple of days ago. I never had a need for them, until now. Being that it is the middle of November, and all the Halloween shops have left town, where does one buy a black light?

Lowes! My local Lowes has 4 options. 48 inch florescent, 18 inch florescent, compact florescent, and incandescent. Being new to black lights I thought a black light is a black light. I was wrong. The first light I bought was a "Mood Lights" brand incandescent bulb. I screwed it into a spare tabletop lamp, took it down to my workshop space in the basement and plugged it in. And nothing. You could see the filament burning, but nothing was really glowing per se. My thoughts were that it wasn't dark enough. I then took it to the bathroom, and once again nothing. Long story short, this bulb is nothing more then a clear bulb painted black. A quick look at Lowes website, and the reviews by other people, confirmed that this wasn't user error. One reviewer summed it up, "worst purchase ever". I couldn't agree more.

I returned the bulbs and decided to switch to something else. After debating with myself, I decided to try the "Mood Lights" compact florescent. I didn't have much hope. Upon returning home, I put the compact florescent in the lamp and flipped on the power. The lamp at this point was sitting in the middle of our TV room floor. Immediately the glowing began. I looked down and my socks were glowing bright white.. everything else in the room that could glow, was shining brightly!

Finally a winner! Now, im not knocking the "Mood Lights" brand. But it appears that the old fashioned incandescent bulb is nothing more then painted black. On the other hand, the compact florescent works beautifully. I think it was only $2 more?

Make sure you keep your receipts. They didn't care that I returned the other 2.

[The_Caretaker]

Farmer Chad looking forward to this thread, as always if you are having issues post them here and we will help.

[GhostTown]

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm following along. Good luck!

[Rynnye]

I'm definitely following along on this thread! I've been thinking about doing a hatbox ghost for next year since we are huge HM fans. There is a blog you might find interesting, it's called The Haunted Mansion-Northside. He built a KILLER hatbox ghost prop along with a lot of other HM props for Halloween. Maybe it will give you some ideas on how to pull the effect off.
http://hauntedmansion-northside.blog...box-ghost.html

[halloween71]

Well be following this thread!!!

[Xane]

Finally a winner! Now, im not knocking the "Mood Lights" brand. But it appears that the old fashioned incandescent bulb is nothing more then painted black. On the other hand, the compact florescent works beautifully. I think it was only $2 more?

Make sure you keep your receipts. They didn't care that I returned the other 2.

Yeah, those incandescent ones put out very minimal UV light and they burn so hot they'll start fires (we learned this the hard way on a rental hall for a party... luckily I killed the lights before anything was actually damaged... I knew the lights would melt the fixtures but "that's what we brought").

The wiggle tube ones and the long fluorescent tubes both put out good UV light. LED blacklights are also much better than they used to be, I have a flashlight and some spotlights, they don't put out a lot of light but they do set off the reaction quite well if you want pinpoint spots activated.

[FarmerChad]

First I want to say that im glad that everybody is following along. Im no expert nor do I have all the answers. If anyone out there has a better idea, feel free to share.

Secondly I want to address the importance of this post:

Yeah, those incandescent ones put out very minimal UV light and they burn so hot they'll start fires (we learned this the hard way on a rental hall for a party... luckily I killed the lights before anything was actually damaged... I knew the lights would melt the fixtures but "that's what we brought").

The wiggle tube ones and the long fluorescent tubes both put out good UV light. LED blacklights are also much better than they used to be, I have a flashlight and some spotlights, they don't put out a lot of light but they do set off the reaction quite well if you want pinpoint spots activated.

I did notice the heat. I think the incandescent bulb I bought was 75 watts? I really wouldn't be surprised if it caught something on fire. Be careful with fixture ratings. A lot of the new ones are only rated for 60 watts.

I did hunt around for black light l.e.d.s and couldn't find anyone who had them in stock. If you have a link, share it. Could certainly be useful, especially in compact places. Say inside a hatbox, maybe.

Moving along. I am currently working on the sculpt of the head. I had to make a decision though. Did I really want to imitate what Disney made? Im not saying there is anything wrong with that, for your average front yard haunt. If your a commercial interest, making cash, then I do take issue. This is more of a personal decision. Of course you could say that the entire prop and idea is theirs... and that would be true. But then again they don't use the prop and idea anywhere in the attraction, and evidently as it stands, they have no intentions. The decision is up to you.

I decided that the importance of this thread is the prop and the illusion itself. That is making it work. The head/face can be whatever you like. It can be an exact copy of the original, it can be more human like, it can be a child (that may cross the line) or it could be demon like with horns and flames coming out of its nostrils. The important thing is making it work. I decided to go the slightly more human like route. My character has the similar raised eyebrow, and different sized eyes. He has a cartoon-ish nose. The mouth was the biggest challenge. I decided to go with a large mustache, and a very wide chin. I want my character to be more "Aristocrat" like. After all, he will be wearing a top hat, and vintage 1800's clothing. Who better?

He still needs work, and this is only my 2nd sculpt... im learning. Any input is appreciated.



Once I finish the sculpt, or at am happy with it, ill kiln fire it. Speaking of, I didn't mention it, but I picked up an electric kiln! And believe it or not, FREE!! I wasn't looking specifically for a kiln, but the wife and I had talked about about it off and on for several years how nice it would be too have one. So how did I get it for free? Glad you asked. Last Sunday (2 days ago), I was on my way to A.C. Moore, the craft store. As I was leaving my house, driving thru town, I went down a street that I only occasionally traverse. Change of scenery we will say. As I was driving I looked over and did a double take, as I hit the brakes. The kiln was out by the garbage cans! I went up to the house and luckily the lady was home. In essence, she just didn't want the kiln anymore. She was done with it.

The only problem with the kiln is one of the element switches was broken. No big deal to me, easy fix. When I get a chance Ill post pictures, but I ended up with the kiln, 3 coffee cans full of plaster and 6 grocery bags of doll parts. Needless to say the wife and I are quite happy with my find.

So whats that got to do with this project? After I fire the sculpt, I then plan to make 2 plaster copies of the sculpt. There are 2 important reasons:

1. Im no artist and there is no chance in the world that I could create another exact copy.

2. If something happens to the plaster heads, some how they get broken, then I can quickly produce another.

So now another decision. How to make the head/face black light sensitive? After some experimenting, the best (and cheapest) for me is Acrylic craft paint. I still need to test some more, but so far that has given the best outcome. I want to make some plaster tiles and try several products, to see what yields the best results.

You can compare the two pictures.



In the spray bottle is a highlighter that was diluted in warm water. Very similar to RIT whitener. Great for fabric, not so for hard objects. In the little bottles, from left to right: metallic silver, yellow, green, orange, and then glow in the dark paint.

On the giant chunk o' plaster, I wiped on some yellow paint. I think 2 or 3 coats would give a nice appearance, making sure to get out the brush marks. Hopefully in a couple days Ill get the plaster tiles made, and do some serious testing.

[Xane]

I did hunt around for black light l.e.d.s and couldn't find anyone who had them in stock. If you have a link, share it. Could certainly be useful, especially in compact places. Say inside a hatbox, maybe.

I bought 2 UV LED spotlights from Halloween Express on clearance last year. They had more props last year, this year they felt more like a costume store. Target had them this year, as well as Spirit. You can buy them online the rest of the year but at full price. I also have LED bulbs that I used to make my yard spotlights this year. The red and the UV ones were not bright enough for what I made (there's a tutorial in the tutorial section). 3 blue/green/white were more than enough to light up a tombstone but the red and UV probably need at least 9 bulbs to be useful. I'll remake the red spotlights but I'm planning on using the UV ones for direct pinpoint lighting of small things, glowing eyes in the trees or walls, etc.

Paint is definitely the way to go for non-fabric solid items. Someone also mentioned that Target blacklight spray was very good too. I bought two bottles but haven't tried them out on anything, I don't know if you could use it as "paint" or not. ClearNeon.com has transparent/invisible UV reactive paint. Remember to keep things covered in the off season. Fluorescent/UV reactive pigments eventually wear out with constant exposure, so if they're in a garage with fluorescent tubes or a sunny window, it may fade out and need repainting before next year!