Long_Tom's Yard display 2006

[Long_Tom]

Nothing really spectacular, compared to what a lot of you pull off. Still, I got tons of compliments. Apparently, haunting a backyard is unheard-of in my area.

Anyway, here are the pictures:
Haunt2006 pictures by Long_Tom - Photobucket

[SpectreTTM]

hello LT,

I like the individuale stone lightings.
What did you use?

Also was the ghost under a black light?

[Long_Tom]

Thanks!

The tombstone lighting was just C7 christmas lights. I unscrewed all but every 4th light to achieve the right spacing, then swapped a bulb of the appropriate color into that location.

The ghost was indeed under a black light. The tombstone in front of it is propped up against a cinder block. I clamped a clamp light with a compact fluorescent blacklight to the block. (one of the pictures was taken earlier in the week, before I had put out the blacklight.)

[krough]

Very cool. I really like the static Ghost.

[incubus0]

Very cool looking ghosts, Tom.

[Da Weiner]

I think your haunt looks good. I especially like the static ghost. Good job!!!!!

[Dreadnight]

LT, you done good. Really nice graveyard setting and I like the lighting a lot.

[pyro]

thats a great idea with the lights-i like it

[DeadSpider]

Love the ghosts. Did you use tulle? doesn't look like cheese clothe. Nice tombstones too. I like that they are all individually lit.
Great job!!

[DeadSpider]

Oh in the day shots it looks like cheese clothe.

[Long_Tom]

Thanks for the kind words.

The two static ghosts are a combination of tulle and cheesecloth (treated with Rit, of course; the tulle glows without the Rit). The tulle is nice because it is so transparent and glows very brightly, but the cheesecloth is good because it gets so nice and tattered and stringy when distressed.

The restyled Flying Line Ghost (aka Kmart ghost) is just two pieces of cheesecloth, hung crosswise over the mechanism and stitched down to the arms so it doesn't come loose.

[DeadSpider]

aaah that's why i couldn't decide. I like the transparent look the tulle gives the ghosts

[slimy]

I bought one of those ghosts last year and it quit on me after a couple of days outside. Did yours work okay? Mine was possibly a lemon.


Yard looks real good. Haunting in the backyard seems to be your specialty.

[Long_Tom]

Slimy, mine quit on me after being left hanging outside for a few days, but I jiggled the switch and wiggled the actuator arms, and it started up and was fine after that. Maybe a speck of corrosion in the motor brushes from being out in the dew?

This was my first attempt at a backyard, and it is a huge improvement over the front, in my case. It's DARK back there! No streetlights to contend with! I'm never going back to the street, at least not with anything that needs shadows.

[heresjohnny]

Hey Long_Tom, good job. I also was instantly drawn to the ghost.

[SpectreTTM]

aaah that's why i couldn't decide. I like the transparent look the tulle gives the ghosts

Pardon my ignorance but what is tulle?

[Long_Tom]

Pardon my ignorance but what is tulle?
Tulle is that filmy transparent fabric they use on the outside of wedding dresses and as wedding veils. It comes in a variety of textures and stiffnesses (and colors, but so far I only ever use white, which glows under black light without needing to be treated with Rit). I like bunching up the stiffer sort for the more substantial parts, like arms and the torso, then draping the thinnest softest kind as the shroud. and finally a piece or two of Rit-treated cheesecloth for that spooky "shredded" look.

[SpectreTTM]

Thanks Long_Tom.


You got my wheels a spinning... And I promised my wife no more Halloween tile after Jan. :D
She a a good size "Honey Do" List waiting for me.:googly:

[Vlad]

Hey Long Tom thanks for sharing. Let's not hear any more of this not as spectacular stuff from you. Everything you had was done very well. I'm also voting for the ghosts as my favorites, but I really dig that friendly vs. scary sign.

[Long_Tom]

Thanks, Vlad! I wasn't saying my stuff sucked, but there is just so much sheer talent and dedication on display here. Some of the stuff is just overwhelmingly fantastic: tcarters mausoleum, skull-and-bones lighting, the list is too long to attempt, but those spring to mind at the moment. It gives a guy something to aspire to.

I'm tickled by the friendly v scary sign, because the board was pried off a planter box where the bottom had rotted out a number of years ago, and it was sitting out in the yard waiting to be thrown out. The long grass sticking out of the scarecrow was literally yanked out of the garden beds and stuffed straight into the scarecrow, Halloween day. I have some rusty old barrel hoops from rotted out planter half-barrels that I intend to turn into a skeleton cage (a gibbet?) Tells you something about the state of my garden, but my raw materials supply is better than I might have hoped for. Ah, the benefits of being a haunter.... :)

[dynoflyer]

Good work! That tombstone lighting idea might just find it's way into my graveyard next year!!!

[mikeq91]

cool stuff, i like the lighted tombstones and the glow in the dark "scary friendly" sign