Thread: uses for carpet?

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Im putting laminate floors in my home and taking up the carpet. I am wondering if I should save any bit of it for props or in a scene with props, ect, I have no idea if its useful for Halloween anything.

Any ideas or just toss it?

I don't know if you do a walkthrough or not, but we were given an idea for carpet from one of our (kinda) local pro haunts. If you do a pitch black or nearly pitch black hallway, put little sections (strips, or blocks) on the walls to add the sense of touch to the scare. I don't know how effective it is, but it sounds logical to me, especially if the carpet is slightly matted or damp.

If the carpet is dark, it would be great as grass in an outdoor scene. The exact color wouldn't matter so much if the light is low. For example: one of my garage bays is a haunted forest, and carpet would be much more convincing as grass on the forest floor than a dark-colored sheet

Carpet is a PITA to store and handle though...

I'm wondering the same thing. I have extra carpet from when we moved into our house (rental). I'm thinking I could splatter it with "blood" and put it down to use as the actual carpet - maybe put carpet tape down to keep it from moving around when people walk over it.

Any other ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks for the tips.

I dont have a closed in walkthrough but will try for garage walkthrough. A search on the forums made me think so far the best use (for me), is to lay it as a walkway taped down so in case it rains (which it seems to always do in FL on Halloween), people wouldnt slip as easily coming into the garage.

Maybe can use remnants for under props to keep them steady was another suggestion I found.

I do like the idea of using some for my "sand" in a pirate beach scene. The carpet is sandy colored. Or maybe in the Egyptian theme as well.

If I can take remnants and color them somehow ( I want to do it cheaply so upholstery dye is out) then add fringe to the ends to make small faux Egyptian rugs, a small rug for my vampire, Gypsy and witch scenes. That would be cool. Just need a cheap way to color them.

Would spray paint and stencils work?

Spray paint on carpet with any length of nap at all = matted gross mess! That, and it might melt the fibers!

There isn't too much that will dye the synthetic fibers that most carpet is made of these days, espec if it has that stain-resistant treatment.

This apparently dyes poly & nylon, which may or may not work on carpet:
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...lnav=dyes.html

Most other dyes I've used or know of work solely on natural fibers. I've never dyed anything other than wool and denim myself, so I'm not of much use there, KV!

I find it useful for directing traffic flow if you have people walking though your yard with props. Lay a carpet path and 95% of people will stick to the carpet.

If the carpet is old enough, you could color it with markers.

Hmmmm....If youve ever dyed your hair you know what a @#$% it is to get it out of the carpet, if at all. Ill test using black hair dye on a remnant and see how it goes. It doesnt need to be "the deepest black available" or anything but just darker than tan. The fibers are the closed knit ones, not ones like shaggy flanges.

Originally Posted by kittyvibe

Hmmmm....If youve ever dyed your hair you know what a @#$% it is to get it out of the carpet, if at all.

Been there, done that! I think you're on to something!