[anonymousbrunette]

Hello all! Anyone else pining for the season?

This year's haunt theme is the last voyage of Frankenstein's ship. We plan on converting the front porch into a ship and turning the front yard into an arctic sea. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on creating icebergs, lit from within. My initial thinking is to drape mylar over pop up tents but then someone had the idea of creating an armature with wire (clothes hanger guage?) and adhere frosted painters plastic to it with a heat gun. Any other ideas on construction and how best to light them? (Thinking rope leds that can change color slowly...)

Ideas welcome for any aspect of the project! I'll be diving in to the forums more in the next couple of months. Thanks in advance!

 

[Frankie's Girl]

Either rope lights or the gemmy (or generic) fire/ice LED spots you can usually find for under $15 (or even cheaper) - especially the ones that do the cool rotating/color changing effects.

Should look into using PVC frames as they'll likely stand up to weather conditions a bit more than wire.

Also check out the bead styrofoam stuff for carving up into icy peaks/ice burg shapes. If you have any Tractor Supply places around, they generally get really large blocks of styro for trailer deliveries and will sometimes give away lots of them for free. Styro is carvable with large knives/heated hot knife or even heard of using a large serated bread knife, and can warp with a heat gun if you have one of those. Spray paint will cause it to melt tho, so unless that's a look you're going for, you'll want to watch any painting (use brushes for a bottom coat sealer).

May also keep an eye out on craigslist or other sites that give away construction materials to see if anything usable pops up.

 

[UnOrthodOx]

I'd bet you could shrink wrap a frame extremely quickly and it would look great.

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...Handwrap-Cast-80-gauge-18-x-1500-White-Opaque

 

[JW Halloween]

Here is an inspirational video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6CcxOlZnQo

 

[TheMonsterSquad]

There's a haunt near here that also does a big christmas build. They usually rebuild their pool to an arctic scene with snowmen on the banks. All they do is use some blue lighting and fog, along with chunks of white foam floating in the water, which creates a great illusion of a broken ice layer.

 

[66539]

I second Frankie's Girl's idea to use Gemmy (or generic) fire/ice LED spots. Each year around Christmastime and pretty much year round online they come out with a blue/green/white Gemmy light that spins the colors around. They also have them in blue/white and just white spinning lights. All of them impart a cold look to just about anything lit up from the inside.

If you want something to really make the icebergs stand out, I think that they would be a great choice. It takes a static prop and gives it a bit of motion. Here's a link to one of the lights that might work well, but running around and looking at all your options is probably the best way to find what will work for you. https://www.ebay.com/p/Gemmy-LED-Li...ing-Light/22006958343?iid=292172491021&chn=ps

 

[Guywithmonsters]

Home Depot has a clear plastic on a roll that is pretty cheap in the painting supply area. I've used it to make inflatables and you can put a light in it. It would probably also work with a wire armature. It is less see through than translucent.

 

[anonymousbrunette]

WHERE HAS THIS FORUM BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

Thank you for all of this amazing advice! Halloween will never be the same...

 

[anonymousbrunette]

These plastic drop cloths worked great at diffusing the gemmy light. The armature I intended ended up being too flimsy for the size I wanted and anything heavier guage was unweidly. Ultimately I settled on 4x8 sheets of insulating foam board that was covered with a reflective material on one side and cost less than $10 at the big hardware stores. I cut three jagged parts and made a triptych using duct tape. Then I made two smaller triangular pieces to help it stand. They were super light and easy to move. Of course it ended up being the windiest Halloween yet so we just secured the back against some chairs. Though it was light and on the cheaper side, there were no cross braces to cast unwanted shadows and the effect ended up being pretty cool. Thanks! (I'll dig up some photos.)

 

[anonymousbrunette]

This is the video although its terrible quality, my apologies.

 

[Screaming Demons]

A few years ago I parked next to the local motorcycle/offroad shop rear lot and was waiting for someone. I glanced up and noticed ice had formed on the rollbars for an ATV. It took me a few seconds to realize that it couldn't be ice, since it was over 100 degrees. It was that soft flexible foam that they are using these days to pad a lot of stuff instead of the solid sheets. I've always saved foam to use for projects and packing but had been ignoring that stuff. Now I grab all of it I can find in hopes of doing a freezer scene soon. Thst would be perfect for simulating an iceberg, and can be lit from the other side.

 

[anonymousbrunette]

Be sure to post better photos/video than I did, haha.