Reflection – Page 2 – An Unorthodox Halloween

As I put away the last of the items, it’s time to reflect on the year that was 2010.

The year began with a massive plan to build a temple. Not in the traditional sense you may think of, but in a very Mayan sense. I envisioned the side of the house as a cave, a mural on one side, Tzompantli in the center, and mummies on the other. Eventually, the idea to light everything with blacklights formed, and there was a great push to blacklight everything…

From 2010 Buildup

About 50 such skulls were made, eventually designing a means to do it so they can be used in regular lighting or blacklight with equal effectiveness.

At the same time, Steve was formed to fill in the role of the mummies.

From 2010 Buildup

At the end of the day, 2 and a half Steves were created, and about 50 skulls. A ton of lessons learned in the mixing of fluorescing paint, and a decent amount of fun had. Ultimately, these set unused as it first became unrealistic to create the cave/temple, and then the backup plan of lighting the back yard with blacklight fell through. But they stand at the ready…

The failures shortly followed.

First, “Them”. An unorthodox experiment in animation. They wound up being abandoned as the weather continued to pound rain early in the spring. A little tricky with the counter-weighting, but they looked promising what little time the prototype actually worked. (not long enough to get video, unfortunately)

Next on the list of failures came more in an act of nature.

Both the Stele and the Witches fell victim to weather when our gazebo took a tumble in a storm.

From 2010 Buildup

This was the final nail in the coffin for trying to switch to a Spider Woman theme. Thus, we stood back and began formulating other plans whilst finishing up some items on the Laboratory.

With the Laboratory completed, the Harvest was born.

The Harvest had a LOT of good points. It felt good being out in a field again, even if it was only collecting the decor. A reflection on some of my childhood in and of itself.

For, perhaps only the second time since I have started this, the front yard came out pretty much EXACTLY as I wanted it to.

From The Harvest

I couldn’t be happier with that. The rest of it…well, was last minute, and shows.

And, there was some negatives as well.

Primarily…I can’t say how many asked where the heck was Charr?

From Year of the Charr

Well, Charr was at rest in the shed, as I wanted the fog machine to be used more traditionally for The Harvest… A part of the aftermath of the weather that night is that I lost all 3 fog machines. Well, at least the timers. Hard to tell if the machines work or not without a switch.

And, the lighting I was hoping would help out the video camera…well, didn’t much.

With the weather wiping out everything early as well, we’re left with needing to procure new bamboo for this next year, no matter what we do.

So, what does that all mean?

I don’t know. The Harvest, in the form of the front yard, will likely be returning in some form at some point. Charr needs to make a come back, and I need to but new fog and bamboo, and still want to be heading towards the Spider Woman changeover. Beyond that, I’m taking a little break from building things till January. Maybe make some sketches, and do some research. (yes, research is vital to theme building) See what I dream up next, and how to pull it together.

As everything has reached it’s resting place for the ’08 season, it’s time to reflect on what worked…and what didn’t.

First, the struggle with the totems may be over.

ORIGINALLY, these were a TEST ONLY. Maybe be used one year, testing to see if the paper mache would hold up for the “real” project. (which was abandoned as I have no way to store it)

It was at my son’s Boy Scout Blue and Gold Banquet that the concept struck me. The kids had made these little totems out of brown paper bags and drawing faces on them for center pieces on the tables.

That got the wheels turning. Remembering how cool the old pumpkin totems were in the neighborhood growing up. And, as we sat for dinner, I sketched the idea out on a napkin.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Then began the construction. PVC pipe frame, chickenwire skeleton, and paper towel mache with 50% wood glue 50% water mixture. (this was before my power grab mache)

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Totem 1 went well, and was tested in early spring…to the confusion of folks driving by at the time.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Totem 2, however, was nothing but trouble from the get go. A new roll of chicken wire that, while the same guage and hole size, was softer. Then some trouble with the glue application that resulted in my sprayer actually filtering out the glue and applying more water. (it was a good idea at the time) The thing went soggy when I tried to apply a hardening coat with more traditional newspaper.

This led to the application of Monster mud over both to shore up Totem 2.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Finally, they arrived at a completed state.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

These things have single handedly resulted in more intimidation than most anything else. Especially coupled with the music. As one little Indiana Jones put it this past year, making it through the field of skulls, past the scarecrows, and being faced by the totems. “I’m NOT going in THERE!”

The Totems have become as much an icon of the yard as the skulls out front. Yet…the rain Halloween evening may have finished off Totem 2 for good. It may be time to re-envision the Totems in a more permanent fashion. Fiberglass is in the back of my mind, yet, that powergrab mache should do the trick cheaper, and survive a fair bit of weather.

The Grave Mounds have suffered a similar problem. Though only one fell victim due to the rain (well, more a victim of a bookcase falling on it the week prior to halloween to be fair), they all collapsed in the center due to weight in the weeks prior. They will be needing some re-thinking. Not to mention plans in store for them need them LIGHTER anyway….

Another in the ‘works, but didn’t work’ category are the bead curtains.

From Halloween 2008

Yes, you could KINDA see through em, but not well, PRECISELY as I wanted. I could hide in there unseen by approaching people just fine, yet see out perfectly thanks to the optical illusion they presented. However, their loop design caught on every pixy wing, every little mask, every wheelchair and stroller….

Time for SMOOTH beads….

Finally, while really neat in the daytime, the webs went largely un-noticed at night.