Progress

Well, I have been working on both finishing the archway and my haunted tree.  I still have detail work to do but it is coming along.


It has been pretty busy lately and the weather is only partially cooperating.  Today is supposed to be pretty warm so I hope to start getting stuff set up.

Here is the tree with his coat of monster mud and a bit of Great Stuff around the bottom of the tree.  Next will be spraying on the rubber sealant and hoping it works, then painting and detail work. 

Rebuilding the Archway (Part 1)

Step one - find all the pieces that the wind blew apart.  Okay - find some of the pieces.  Thankfully, the front of the sign was pretty intact but the back has to be totally redone.  Which is okay, I guess, I am now able to make it better.

First I had to use my Styrofoam knife to cut the shape and kind of dig out a space for the support PVC to go.  Now using a Styrofoam knife can be a bit stinky so make sure you have plenty of ventilation.

Next was to connect my existing PVC frame to the Styrofoam arch.  I used gorilla glue - lots of gorilla glue. 

While the glue was drying I placed small blocks of Styrofoam under the arch "legs" to keep them straight.  This pic is just before I added the existing front of the archway.  You may wonder why the lower part of the PVC is painted orange.  This is because that part of the archway is inserted into carved pumpkins.

Haunted Tree (Step 1)

Well, in between working on the repair of the archway, I have started working on my haunted tree.  I started this project last year but it just didn't come together fast enough - I also started working on it too late.  So, I totally took it apart and have started again using a wood base this time.  It took a couple of hours to scrounge up the wood and then saw and screw it all together.  I then gorilla glued some of the joints I don't trust too much.  I will finish covering it with chicken wire once the glue dries. 

I believe that once it is entirely covered in paper mache, perhaps some monster mud, and sealant that it will be pretty solid and stay together and upright. 

Work in Progress - Stay Tuned . . .

Work in Progress

Well, I have gotten started on the repair of the pillars.  Luckily although the damage to one piece was pretty bad, most were intact.  As you can see this was before I started.  I thought that I had lost one panel during the spring storms but nope, it was right there.

 

So the building began.  I am using Gorilla glue to put the panels together.  I tried holding the pieces together using tape but nothing seemed to want to hold the Styrofoam together - not even duct tape.  I guess I should have grabbed the clamps.  Gorilla glue does recommend clamping.  I was just hurrying a bit and didn't want to go and look for the big clamps.  The smaller ones I had were too small.  (Well, it appears that one of the panels didn't glue properly so I will have to find the clamps after all.)

 

So here we are with three sides glued together.  Getting in the last side was a real pain.  It was easier to do the first time before the top had been put in place. 

 

So the pic below is how they are looking at the moment.  I am planning on cleaning up the seams with monster mud before painting.  After painting I will add the final details - moss, etc.

 

 

 

 



  Next - repair the arch!

Finally...

Yes, finally.  I think I have finally found a blog I can stick with.  A blog about Halloween/Samhain and everything I love about it and everything I do to celebrate it.  I will keep you updated with posts about my building activities and set up.  I might even add in recipes I have found to make the night complete.  Oh, of course that may include mulled wine or mead - but we will see I haven't quite decided which I will use this year! 

Now I am off to get set up to work on my archway and pillars.  They were damaged over the spring with the heavy rains we had.  I will post more about them later.