HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Hello everyone!
I have been spreading the spooky love on my social channels for a few days now and I can reveal the house theme for this year!
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas!
This film has been one of my favourites since I can remember and I set myself a HUGE creative task (now you know why I’ve been a little quiet!)
Keep on reading for how the house came together and a bonus video of the final product!
I was thinking of ways that I could still put a smile on neighbours faces without breaking the social distancing rules, lets be honest, Halloween just isn’t the same being stuck indoors. So, I set myself the creative task of making a full size Jack Skellington for the kids to take a photo with because he’s inanimate, no need for that 2 metre rule!
My imagination came true to life with PVC pipe, wooden dowel, copper fittings, polystyrene, card and papier-mâché. Phew! It was truly the task and every element was truly testing of my creative problem solving skills BUT we got there in the end!
I would’ve liked to have shown how he was made a little more but as this was my first MAJOR prop build, I really wanted to focus on the quality over documenting. I do have some photos of the final piece shown above!
What do you think? Would you have him outside your house? Comments are open on this post and I would love to hear your thoughts!
The final house was a mixture of very cheap items that are put together to create a special setting!
I didn’t want to overpower the space and take away from the main man so I focused on 1 element of hanging - the material. Who else has had issues hanging outside their house? No matter what I used, nothing stuck! In the end this fabric was tied to invisible string and dropped out of the 1st floor windows!
A vignette of spookiness was then created on the other side of the house entrance. I used an existing potted olive tree and added a cute bow and cobwebs to that and stood it next to the Christmas tree. Well it is Nightmare before CHRISTMAS right?! I had an old tree that was leaving me this year, so I covered it in cobwebs and popped it outside! Its wedged into the display and tied to the fence for stability, no children will be harmed this season!
The “rocks” you see are different squashed cardboard boxes covered in bin bags, they’re then spray painted in a cream and black paint to give some texture. I made 4 different ones and together they ended up looking pretty good! They’re so stable in fact that I was able to give some of the pumpkins some height on there, dreams were coming true…
Pumpkins were carved by myself and my wonderful friend Shannen, who also helped me move Jack from upstairs to downstairs successfully! She also has her own Instagram for all things ancient history, greek mythology and literature and you can check that out here.
Lights were added as the final touch to the ambience before Jack joined the party!
BONUS CONTENT:
I pulled together a spooky video of the final reveal. I’m so pleased with the outcome and special thanks to my family and friends who have been so supportive. I have had so many great comments so far but i’d love to hear what you think too! Feel free to share this video and post if you like it!