[Scry]

hey guys i figured if i could find help anywhere, it'd be here!!

Basically My garden/yard which is also the entrance to the house is paved with flagstones... or concrete tiles. it's also on a slight slope. Last year we threw up a few Foam and cardboard tombstones we made ourselves + a scene setter going all the way around the small fence. We also had a garbage/bin - bag spider in the garden too.


I think we could do something better and more fitting and a little less amateurish.... i saw an idea which im considering - a hellmouth entrance - large Hole made from papermache filled with bright red/orange light/paint with a hand coming out and noises of people screaming/tortured playing from the windows. and maybe a red floodlight from upstairs into the garden?? maybe a few monsters/demons too?

any ideas guys?

ps: the backyard is smaller but paved the same way so any ideas there would also be handy.

 

[Junit]

I like the hellmouth entrance plan. You can have demons gnawing on 1/2 legs or entrails. And if they still make candles that look like hands or other body parts that could be pretty interesting too, since hell is a burning pit of fire

 

[hallorenescene]

i can't think right off hand of any ideas to give. but am interested in what others give. this could become a very good thread. and maybe i'll be able to play on some of the ideas.

 

[Scry]

Hmm it's a shame I cant edit the thread title to say NEED ideas for... may lure a few more peeps that way...

curse you people with lawns....
the grass is indeed greener on the other side for me

 

[Ugly Joe]

How about some ground-breakers?

A skeletal arm, a hand, a head...all of them "bursting" through the solid concrete / flagstone you have all over the yard.

Make some fake flagstone pieces that have been tipped up on edge as the ground-breakers have "burst" through your yard.
Spread a little potting soil around the "damaged" area (after all, they'd have to push up some dirt as they came up through your yard, right?)

It will give you a chance to make some corpse bits, that you mount to boards, add the fake flagstone pieces to hide the edges, and then just set in your yard...add dirt or whatever as needed to add to the effect.

Some blue lighting will probably help set the atmosphere.

 

[Scry]

How about some ground-breakers?

A skeletal arm, a hand, a head...all of them "bursting" through the solid concrete / flagstone you have all over the yard.

Make some fake flagstone pieces that have been tipped up on edge as the ground-breakers have "burst" through your yard.
Spread a little potting soil around the "damaged" area (after all, they'd have to push up some dirt as they came up through your yard, right?)

It will give you a chance to make some corpse bits, that you mount to boards, add the fake flagstone pieces to hide the edges, and then just set in your yard...add dirt or whatever as needed to add to the effect.

Some blue lighting will probably help set the atmosphere.

that sounds like it'd look amazing. thanks for your input

 

[Annea]

Have you got a smoke machine? Maybe you could use that.

 

[Scry]

smoke as in a fog machine? or something different?

 

[BeastofKilligrey]

You could get some tiki torches to add some spooky lighting. Get a small pail, spray paint it black or whatever color you like. Put the tiki in the pail and then add sand about halfway up and then finish off with gravel to make sure it is secure. Then you could add some fake moss or something along those lines over the gravel for a spooky touch.

My back patio is all concrete tile and I made some of these for the summer to add some light. The sand and gravel are at Lowe's or any where like that and I think I got a bag of each for about $10.

 

[MsMeeple]

I'd go with Ugly Joe's suggestion! Sounds awesome!

MsM

 

[Barbarella]

Whatever you do (and I like the idea of the groundbreakers), I'd go to a forest or park with a big garbage bag and gather up all sorts of leaves to cover the flagstones and give a bit more 'natural/autumn' look, since you don't have any grass.

Good luck, and don't forget to give us pictures come October!

 

[Junit]

Whatever you do (and I like the idea of the groundbreakers), I'd go to a forest or park with a big garbage bag and gather up all sorts of leaves to cover the flagstones and give a bit more 'natural/autumn' look, since you don't have any grass.

Good luck, and don't forget to give us pictures come October!

If you do that be very careful! Not sure what laws are like where you live, but here it is illegal to take anything from a public park/forest, even if it's something like a rock. Have any nearby friends who live in a wooded area??

 

[Scry]

If you do that be very careful! Not sure what laws are like where you live, but here it is illegal to take anything from a public park/forest, even if it's something like a rock. Have any nearby friends who live in a wooded area??

here in the UK i 'believe' it's perfectly legal to gather leaves/branches etc, as long as you're not cutting them down from the trees aka vandalism. I think I should be okay... loving all the ideas so far too!!

 

[Ugly Joe]

Just as an aside...I think I'm now going to try for the yard of ground-breakers this year - it sounded so good when I described it to you, I wanted to try it myself.

Great opportunity for me to work on my mache skills (which are non-existent) and change up my haunt.

Sorry for the derail...now back to your regularly scheduled topic.

 

[kprimm]

For your mouth of hell entrance you could do a great arch with a bit of wood some chicken wire and some great foam painted up. I would add a few skulls and alter thier jaws for different looks and build them into the arch. Maybe a couple with added strobing LED eyes. A big demon or devil mudmonster character either above or next to the arch would be cool also.The ground breakers would of course look cool, the souls of the damned. There is so much you could do with that theme just depends on budget or degree of skill i guess.

 

[Annea]

If you don't want to cover up the concrete flagstones what about the flat gravestones you see in churches the ones you walk on or i've seen full body engravings showing knights, lords etc Haven't got a clue how to do it, but its an idea!

 

[Demon Dog]

Greetings Scry. I was considering making a hellmouth also this year. One of the things I'd like to add to that, which sounds like it would work well with your stepping stones, is to write things such as "I had meant to help him", etc. on the path from the street up to the hellmouth. So, as the saying goes, the path to Hell would be paved with good intentions. The idea actually comes from one of Agathy Christy's Hercule Poirot stories. If I can find it, I'd like to write the words in UV or florescent chalk so that they would glow under blacklight. I'm pretty sure it exists, I just haven't looked that far ahead yet on that project.

As for the hellmouth itself I'm going to dig a hole in my yard to sink a 100mm diameter PVC pipe about one meter straight down (I'm hoping the meter depth gives eerie acoustics to the wails from the speaker) to house the speaker and lights (flickering via a fluorescent starter), but haven't figured out how to get a slight waft of smoke and, preferably, feint smell of sulfur for four hours. I would like to use incense, but most try to put out little smoke and none try to smell reminiscent of sulfur.

For the hellmouth opening I was planning to use Greatstuff expanding foam, and just spray paint it gloss black - possibly florescent red a few inches below its throat - for that molten rock look.

A devil popping up from behind a tombstone would be great, but I know I won't get a chance for that this year.

The PVC pipe would just stay in the ground forever with a cap on its top and a few inches of soil and sod covering it - and a map to remind me exactly where it's located next Halloween.

 

[Baron Samedi]

Ugly Joes Idea of the concrete groundbreakers sounds great...you could go with a sort of "built over cemetery" theme. Your local builders merchants may have some cracked or broken flagstones they may let you have dirt cheap. No problem with collecting leaves and dead branches here in the UK, unless you're taking them from a site of special scientific interest or any other designated or National trust site where certain restrictions may apply.