This scaling down should guarantee I don’t have a repeat “chicken with my head cut off” performance when it comes to getting the graveyard’s webcam broadcast running, plus it will free up a lot of prep time. I’ll still continue making props and posting video updates on their progress. However, in lieu of adding my new creations to the yard haunt, I’ve decided to give away all the props I make between now and October via my giveaway entries here in the blog.

At some point in time I would like to start selling my projects, but I feel creating props and giving them to visitors will only help me to get better at the art of mache until I am finally ready to open the Season of Shadows Shop. I’m not sure when I’ll be posting my first prop giveaway since it still isn’t finished, but Little Grim should be the one that kicks it all off.

Took this image during a shoot last night for the 2010 Halloween Haunt vid. Though I already filmed the yard haunt on Halloween night, I decided to capture some additional footage to add as an intro. It was a little like creating a mini version of Halloween all over again, except the location was different and the Angel of Death didn’t make a return appearance. In the process of doing the shoot, I also grabbed a few stills along the way. This pic (taken from above, looking into the “grave”) represents the first time one my groundbreaker corpses has been placed below ground. Click image if you’d like to see a much larger view.

I’m hoping to have the 2010 Haunt vid posted this weekend.

Just posted the 2010 haunt photo page. Overall, I was going for a darker look this year as well as a more organic feel — I officially retired the tombstones from years past and decided to go solely with crosses made from old wood planks; I collected several dozen pumpkins for the display, the majority will be on their way to a local food bank next week; and I brought the cornstalks back for 2010 as well. I hope you enjoy the photos: Halloween 2010 Haunt Page.

Related Post

The Day After

Halloween 2010 has officially come and gone and prior to working on the latest haunt photo page, I wanted to show a little sneak peek pic from last night (click image if you’d like to see a larger view). Speaking of last night, it was one of the most rewarding Halloweens so far, but also one of the busiest, from many standpoints. In that vein, I’d like to sincerely apologize for not getting the webcam started when I originally stated. There are a ton of reasons I can give for why that didn’t happen, but ultimately it’s all my fault and I am so sorry. Then, on top of not getting it running on time, there were several technical difficulties compounding the situation for both cameras.

Despite this, overall it was a great night, and the haunt cam did finally run for about ninety minutes, but I know I let you guys down, and for that I apologize. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween.

Here’s the last installment in the Angel of Death’s video series:

If you’d like to see other installments, the Halloween 2010 Preview Page archives all previous Angel updates.

Aside from my annual Happy Halloween post on October 30th, this will probably be my only entry for the week. Also, due to setup and cleanup taking such a good deal of time, the blog will be pretty quite for the next eight or ten days. But as soon as cleanup wraps, I’ll start working on the Halloween 2010 photo page and I’ll be posting a haunt image or two in an upcoming entry.

Either the chat moderator, SOS~LvR or I will be sure to provide Halloween day updates in the chat box regarding the cam’s start time. So, if you plan on being home on Halloween night, please stop by for a chat and some live Halloween video from the Season of Shadows yard haunt. Or, if your mobile device has the capability of displaying the feed’s embedded players, consider taking us with you wherever you go on Halloween.

I built and attached both arms to the Angel of Death in the last two nights. I was a little concerned about adding arms because this part of the project was another one of those unknowns. I’ve never actually built arms that are somewhat outstretched on a very large prop before. I’ve built lightweight newspaper and paper mache arms, reaching out on my small groundbreakers but never anything of this size. It’s always a concern because there’s so much weight for the hardware to support, but thankfully everything’s doing great and staying in place.

I used dowels for the upper and lower arms, then I attached bucky skeleton hands and wrists, after doing some modifications to their radius and ulna bones. The hands and wrists will be mached and the entire arm structure will be padded (to break up the straight lines of the dowels) prior to attaching the cloak or shroud.

For a while now, I’ve been toying with building an entire, upright zombie corpse that appears to be walking through the cemetery of my haunt. This experience of working on the Angel of Death has given me some additional ideas for pulling that off next year. I’ve already got a name in mind for the prop, too: “Skinwalker.”

In many Native American traditions and tales, a skinwalker is typically a person or entity who shapeshifts into an animal or creature, but I thought it sounded cool. And since this will be my first rotten-skin, walking zombie, I thought the name was fitting.

So, I guess my 2011 prep will be The Year of the Skinwalker.

The Angel of Death is just about finished, at least where the paper mache is concerned. Several weeks ago, I made the comment in one of my update vids that there wasn’t a lot of mache to do since so much of his face and body would be covered with the shroud. Well, I should know better than to make statements like that, ’cause once I get going on texture, I keep going and going and going! Still, everything feels like it’s right on track and I’m confident he will be ready a day or two prior to Halloween.

If you’d like to see other installments, the Halloween 2010 Preview Page archives all previous Angel updates.

I’m also in the process of trying to improve the clarity issues the feeds been experiencing recently. I apologize for the blurred image, but there is an additional app I’m going to try and work with today to hopefully clear that up.

Thanks for the great support you guys have shown for the cam and the chatbox — I really appreciate it. I can’t thank you enough and I want to do everything in my power to make the experience even better for you.