Happy National Donut Day from the Davis Graveyard

Harold the Gravedigger squinted through the pre-dawn mist. A low, guttural groan echoed through the Davis Graveyard, sending a shiver down his spine. Not the usual mournful sighs of the restless dead, no. This was a sound more…sugary. More…sprinkled.

Harold gripped his shovel tighter. The rumors had begun a week ago – whispers of a giant, sentient donut rolling through the cemetery at night, leaving a trail of sticky frosting and disembodied sprinkles in its wake. Tonight, he'd finally catch the culprit red-handed (or, should he say, red-glazed?).

As the groan grew louder, a monstrous shape lumbered out of the fog. It was a donut, alright, but colossal. Its glazed surface shimmered under the moonlight, studded with malevolent chocolate chips and a single, menacing gumball eye. A chorus of disembodied moans rose from the disturbed graves as the donut flattened several headstones with an indifferent squish.

Harold, adrenaline coursing through him, charged. "Hey, sprinkle-brained beast! This ain't no bakery!"

The donut turned its gumball eye on him, a single, menacing blink. Then, it spoke in a voice that sounded like a thousand disappointed children: "But...I crave the screams of the terrified!"

Harold blinked. "Terrified? These are ghosts, dude. They're already terrified. Try a carnival."

The donut paused, its gumball eye rolling in what looked suspiciously like contemplation. Finally, it sighed, a sound like deflating pastry. "Perhaps you're right. A captive audience is no audience at all."

With a reluctant groan, the donut lurched away, leaving a trail of glistening frosting in its wake. Harold watched it go, a bemused smile spreading across his face. Maybe next year, the Davis Graveyard could add a "Giant Donut Terror" attraction. It did have a certain…ring to it.

Match Columns

When we decided to put our display up at Clackamas County 'Scare'grounds this October, we knew if we wanted to take the demons and the metal Cemetery sign from our columns, we would need to make columns to match the real ones on our driveway.

We had to use a full wood frame to make this as heavy as possible because the metal frame that goes over the arch it has some weight and we did not want it to topple forward.  There is a lip of wood at the top that is not foam covered, that is where the demons will slide down onto, similar to our current set up.

We drew out the grout lines for 4x6 bricks (average size) with a T-square to keep square, then used a Dremel trio on the pink foam.  We used our Demand Durarasp and a wire brush to make the grain.

We use PL glue to glue the sheets to the boards and used wood blocks and strips screw into the wood at the grout lines to hold the glue for 24 hours to set.

We needed to add an extra layer of bricks (to match our fence) that we just glued onto the existing foam.

Painted them black (sprayer and hand painting) and then we had painted tinted to match the (real) columns and then brushed that over the black.  Then I used a medium gray to paint in the grout lines with a small brush.

In order to attach the metal archway, we added PVC pipe painted black to the base (we had to cut out the foam to the base so they would attach directly to the wood.

When we installed them at the fair we used heavy, tall weights at the base of each column to keep it from falling forward. They are also attached to two fences that have steel bases to help brace it. We put the Cemetery sign up and placed the demons on top.  Put Harold our gravedigger/keeper next to it and the first prop in the drive-through is set and ready to go.

Going to the Chapel

...and we're gonna get.....

no life during the summer. :)

(We are almost done with the Chapel, in fact, if all goes well, most of it goes up tonight. But I have not been documenting it here.  So I am going to retrospectively show you through the chapel build.)

After a few years of planning, we finally decided to sell the abbey and build a chapel.

The plan is that this will be easier to put together than the abbey has been.  The abbey took an entire weekend, a scissor lift and an army of people to set up.  This new chapel should go up in a few hours.

This is the SketchUp plan.

Front view from SketchUP

Here is the real chapel that we modeled it after.

Ardgowan Chapel in Scotland

Yeah, we decided to phone it in this year :D

I call this one penitent

I needed to make a prop to mud at a local Northwest Haunters Association monster mud class that I would be attending the following week.

So out of the blue came this idea.  How about a praying skeleton prop.

Let me start by saying this is not our best work and I really did throw this together at the last minute.  When I make it again, I will pay a lot more attention to detail and NOT use that crappy skeleton!

Started by making a pedestal base out of scrap foam.  It is a simple four-sided column with the top cut at an angle and a piece placed on top.  This will accommodate a skeleton kneeling in prayer.

Next, I took a skeleton I had laying around from Halloween closeouts that was intended as a door prize for our annual Halloween Party.

I then bent and posed him the best I could (never using this type of skeleton in a prop again!)

I used gaffer tape to hold him in place on the pedestal.

In order to have him stay attached I used gaffers taped to make a dam around the joints so that I can fill them with A-B/two-part expanding foam to hold it in place.

In order to keep his legs straight, I had to use an extra piece of foam that still had a covering on it to prop the legs straight while I poured the foam.

 Then husband helped me Dremel out the overflowing foam.

Leaving just enough to hold the skeleton to the foam base.

I used a little on his fingers to hold them in a praying position.

 To keep the skeleton upright (the bending legs caused it to fall over) husband cut me some metal rods and I used a little gorilla glue to glue them.  We used the holes that were already in the skeleton to place the rods.

Then I decided he needed a book.  So I took a small piece of thin 1 1/2 scrap foam and glued it to a piece of 2-inch foam to create the bones of the book.

Then I marked out the areas on the foam that I wanted to remove. 

I used a Hot Wire Foam Factory tool to shape it accordingly.  Then I hand sanded it out to shape.  

I fit it on the prop to see how it would look.

 I used some gorilla glue and sandbag to glue it down in place.

Then I fitted the sheet over it to get it ready for the upcoming monster mud class.

You can watch how the class went in this great video from Northwest Haunters Association. 

Thanks to Becky Newman for hosting the class and to everyone in the association who made this event happen.

I will post finished pictures when it is painted and ready to go.  This prop is for sale, let me know if you want one.  $150 - I can make more of them if you want to custom order.

NFW! Not ever, no way, no how.

Never saw the first one (as you would have guessed) so I am definitely not seeing this remake.  I am getting faint just thinking about it.

You could not pay me enough to be on that movie set.  Nope.

Aracnaphobia II 

I have to go hide under my desk for a while and think of puppies and kittens :D

You must label your foam

before you start cutting.

Here are pictures of the (almost) complete shipment of foam for the chapel build.  We have labeled all the pieces and cut them to length this weekend.  The tools from Hot Wire Foam Factory arrive later this week and we can start making the more complicated cuts.

What an adventure this is going to be.  Keep posted for updates as we build.

Now we really do have to build

the chapel.

The abbey is loaded in the truck and on its way to Oklahoma City.

Took us several hours to play this epic game of trailer abbey parts Tetris.  But we got it to fit in 14 feet of the truck (he has to pay to ship by the foot, we originally thought 17 feet, but we just that good.)

It is very weird to think that that Abbey will never be up in our yard again.  But the new owner is over the moon to have it, so that makes it bittersweet.

Even Hal, short for Halloween Cat, looks sad.  I made my cat sad, that makes me a bad human.

Don't worry Hal, we have a new prop for you to climb on and scratch in a few months.