Improving a Plastic Cauldron

dave the dead · Apr 15, 2008

I am working on a stirring witch this year, and wanted to improve the look of a plastic cauldron. There really isn't anything wrong with the shape of the typical plastic halloween cauldron, but the overall look is, well, plastic-y. I have set out to re-work one, and thought I'd share some progress pix and methods.

Texture:
I have added alot of texture to the plastic surface by mixing oatmeal and sand into a water and glue mixture. I randomly applied it all over the cauldron.
Mmmmmm...Oatmeal.

Once that dried to a very, very hard surface....(I mean really, have you ever tried to get oatmeal off a bowl after it dries????Impossible!) ...I primed the cauldron with flat black.
<<<note on paint...I have been using Rustoleum flat black primer/sealer rather than the cheap 96cent walmart paint...it has alot more pigment and therefore covers much better...this also means you use alot less of it>>>

I have started with a rusty paintjob here using acrylics. At this point I am not 100% happy with the look, but need to progress a little farther on the cauldron stand before I go any farther with it.

More to come....

beelce · Apr 15, 2008

Looks great Dave

mymania · Apr 15, 2008

Very nice look!

Haunted Bayou · Apr 15, 2008

Really!
I may have to upgrade my plastic cauldron with oatmeal of all things.

Lilly · Apr 15, 2008

lookin good Dave...
okay i gotta ask..
reg oatmeal or quick?
LOL

dave the dead · Apr 15, 2008

It was, if you must know, Kroger brand instant oatmeal, cinnamon & spice. (but I'm sure other flavors and brands would work just as well....I put it on uncooked.

Dr Morbius · Apr 15, 2008

Plus, it gives your cauldren a nice cinnamon-spice scent! Good work Dave.

Lilly · Apr 15, 2008

that's funny dave
and here I thought you were using good old real oatmeal..
amazing what we use to make stuff hey

dave the dead · Apr 15, 2008

Lilly, I have no reservations about using any kind of stuff to make other stuff.

The oatmeal texture was a trial and error process....some things that didn't work too well are scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausages, poptarts...and don't get me started on the grapefruit halves!!

Sickie Ickie · Apr 15, 2008

LOL well at least we know what you do with your left over breakfast!

Lilly · Apr 15, 2008

ha ..grapefruit halves dried could be used as a giant beehive thing.

but really the cauldron looks cool ..im sure you will make it all right

HalloweenZombie · Apr 16, 2008

Holy cow! You could make a castle out of a turd. Is there anything that you can't make look good?

Spider Rider · Apr 16, 2008

The rust turned plastic into 200 lbs. of cast iron, very nice. The stand fixes my main dislike of the plastic cauldrons always sitting on the ground.

dave the dead · Apr 16, 2008

heres a better shot of the stand. (in progress, of course...)

Darkside · Apr 16, 2008

Man, Dave. That looks great. Is your mind ever anywhere other than on Huant props?

Daphne · Apr 16, 2008

Wow, that looks amazing! How tall is this? What foods did you use to build the stand ha, ha!

Dave you are incredible, I have struggled for months on my current Halloween project and you slap your breakfast on a cauldron and create a masterpiece!

Wonderful job though, I have never seen anything like that!

Bone Dancer · Apr 16, 2008

Amazing Dave, oatmeal would not have been my first thought for this project. I have had good luck making rust by layering flat black, rusto red primer, and med. brown. And I just use spray paint.
Like the stand too. Keep us posted on the project please.

frstvamp1r · Apr 16, 2008

"Now little Timmy, you need to finish your breakfast" "no I don't, daddy will just use it on a couldron, flying crank ghost, flicker light or something" hahahaha...Dave, I LOVE the way your mind works

dave the dead · Apr 16, 2008

its all about the texture....oatmeal has that great flaky texture of heavy rust...

Liam · Apr 17, 2008

Nice work, Dave! Thanks for the great idea. I'll definitely be adding oatmeal to my next shopping list.

L

dave the dead · Apr 17, 2008

super cheap strobe!!!!

Now that I mostly have the cauldron painted how I want it, I started thinking about other things to make it unique. I have the stand pre-plumbed to pipe fog into the cauldron from a hidden fogger source. I wanted a unique light effect to set off the "steam" coming out of the cauldron...
this is what I came up with

What you see here is the finished LED strobe strip that has green strobing and a slower flashing blue LED circuit. The chip that runs the strobe came from the strobing flashlight wand pictured here purchased from Deals (a local dollar store) I have seen them for just about any holiday (really big around July 4th)

The chip inside has a red + and a black - wire going to the power source. There is also a + and - contact where the lights attach. All I did was connect wire leads to the light source contacts and string together 9 green superbright leds in parrallel. The leds were mounted through a piece of plastic hose that I joined in a ring shape.

The slower flashing chip came from a "lightning bug gummy candy" display. It is a similar chip to the strobe chip, and was connected the same way, alternating a separate circuit of blue ultrabright leds on the ring strip. I then attached the + and - wires from a 4.9 vDC cell phone wall charger to the input terminals of both chips.

All totalled, this project took about an hour, and less than $5 to complete.

Here is the finished strobe inside the cauldron. The effect seems much slower in the video, but looks really, really cool in person.:ninja:
the elders :: strobe011.flv video by davethedead - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid105.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid105.photobucket.com/albums/m240/davethedead/the%20elders/strobe011.flv@@AMEPARAM@@vid105@@AMEPARAM@@105@@AMEPARAM@@m240/davethedead/the%20elders/strobe011

beelce · Apr 17, 2008

That's going to look great!

dave the dead · Apr 22, 2008

Final tweak on the coloring....I removed the rusty drippings from the base columns because I didn't like the look, toned down the stone look of the base with dark acrylic wash, and blackened the bottom of the cauldron.

STOLLOWEEN · Apr 22, 2008

Very nice work. I'm gonna have to "borrow" the oatmeal idea....creative idea!

Bloodhound · Apr 22, 2008

Nice job, Dave!

Bethene · Apr 22, 2008

that is so cool, Dave, you come up with such amazing ways to do things, and they all turn out so good! What is the stand made out of? Dang, I keep finding new things to add to the I want one of these list!

dave the dead · Apr 22, 2008

The stand is made from freezer waffles. I will eventually have a flaming bowl (also rusted with oatmeal...lol) underneath the cauldron.

(ok, actually the stand is styrofoam with a mache coating):googly:

RAWR · Apr 23, 2008

this is so cool i always avoided buying the cauldrons as they look so plastic-y as you said. also so common. this cauldrons unique.

scareme · Apr 24, 2008

Nice idea. I use my cauldron to hold the candy. Would look great.

Improving a Plastic Cauldron

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