Who else is still working on stuff?

Nothing set up yet. I have tombstones that could use some paint, but there's no time for that this year. I have two new creeps this year--a witch with cauldron and a pumpkin-head creep. I have all of the build done, but I have to dress them. That's the part I really don't enjoy because I have no idea what I'm doing. I suppose, like anything else, I'll learn and get better at it, but right now, I'm just dreading it. Need to pick up a few more lights, too. Oh, yeah--and build a fog chiller or two.

Thing is, with a few hours, I could be ready to go set up if I had to. But I'm such a perfectionist (not often achieved, by the way) that it takes me a lot longer to do some things than it should. I agonize over every detail, and I really shouldn't because it's (supposedly) just for fun. \therapysession

And now, to bed.

I feel like I just started, and time's ticking out!

The weather finally cooled off, so we started our mausoleum stones this weekend past. Holy heck! I had noooooo idea how long this project was going to take me! It's a pain in the fingers to trace hard with a pen, then try to see the light indentations underneath to trace again. If I use a xacto knife, I found I can't drag and slice without pulling up beads and making jagged cuts. So after working from 10-7 on Sunday with a lunch break, I thought I was half done with carving at 12 stones. Then I counted the number of stones on my inspiration mausoleums. Wait a minute...I am 8 stones short!

I'm losing next weekend because we are going out of town. The two static props I built need to be attached to bases and re-stuffed. I tried to stuff one with newspapers and bags, but it looks misshapen and lumpy, not realistic at all. So I was thrilled when I found a box of pool noodles still at Lowe's this weekend!

The weekend before Halloween will be spent painting stones and playing with lighting. I don't know if I'm going to like floods, those curly bulbs, or leds. This will be my first attempt at lighting, just as this year is my first with building our own props.

Freaking out as the days count down, but excited too! I really really really hope that for all our time and $$$ spent (hubby got a ticket pulling out of Lowe's as he forgot to turn on his headlights after he picked up my 3 sheets of foam), that the mausoleum turns out looking cool. So far I am satisfied with my two static props, my phantoms (THANK YOU, SPIDER HILL PROP WORKS!!!).

We were feeling like we were waaaayy behind, until this weekend. Probably spent way more time than we should have trying to perfect our projection effect. This is our first attempt at one of these, though, and in the end I think we came up with a decent solution to the "Distance Dilemma" we were having. We discovered that the cheap little projector we got requires a pretty good distance (roughly 70 inches) to get the image to a size that works for us. That's just under six feet, which was going to require the projector basically hovering in mid-air right where the visitors would be walking. Finally came up with a cheap and reasaonably effective solution... I glued three dollar-store mirrors side by side and mounted them on what is going to be the support for a sign. I mounted them on some wood and attached the whole thing to a hinge with a bolt I could use to adjust the angle. Bingo! The projector now sits slightly behind our "singing heads", and bounces off the mirrors and back, cutting the distance needed in half! Worked like a charm, but wow... the R&D on this one was more than we expected. Feeling much better after getting that sorted out, as it is a major effect for the final scene in our haunt and we wanted it to look as good as we could get it.