Friday, December 11, 2015

In case you missed Hal

the Halloween cat. (who does have his own Facebook page, yes, yes he does.)

Here are some random pictures of him in the yard this year.  He is the official mascot of the Davis Graveyard, and if you ask him, he will say the yard is his.



And of course, he is doing what he does best......and 'age' the prosps with his claws :D

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Freddie the Bat

Original Disney tombstone
Since we blame the Halloween obsession on The Haunted Mansion and Universal Monster movies, we thought we should try our and at a Disneyland tombstone.

We thought it would be fun to try Freddie the Bat.  So like we always do we printed out several photos of the tombstone and got to working.

Aimee designed the epitaph, which we carved out of white foam.  then we built up the edges around the outside to match the original (including the groove).

Davis Graveyard version
We looked at the texture of the bats and they looked more like metal, so we carved them out of pink foam from a template.  You notice that the top bat has feet that stick up and over the outside trim, so those were cut separately.  We tried to get the hammered metal look by using a ball peen hammer, but it just looked like we hit foam with a hammer and the foam cracked in certain places.  Plan B - we found a dremel bit online that was basically a divet sander - and viola, it worked perfectly.

The tombstone was painted black and then the Davis Graveyard gray pallet (using two shades of gray and a sponge).  We painted the bats separately with black and then dry brushed with the darker gray shade.

The bats were glued on first and then the feet for the hanging bat on the top.

We love it......and we have had several offers on it.  But I think we are going to keep it.



Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Frog Pees On Woman In Escape Attempt

Don't touch the frog!


Really, not kidding.




Captain Hammer will save us

As many of you know, we have a lot of pop culture references in our yard.  Something fun for people to enjoy instead of just simple tombstones.  We made this Penny tombstone years ago for the yard after watching the Doctor Horrible feature.

We even put chunks of debris in it.  Yeah, I know that is really creepy.  But so are we.

Well, this last summer Felicia Day was in town for her book signing and we took the tombstone to her to get it signed.  She liked it, but was admittedly a little creeped out....she did post a picture of it on Twitter and FB :)

May of the fans yelled out "too soon!" It was a fun time and she was very kind and generous at the signing.  If I did not already love her....I do now.  Thanks Felicia!



Needless to say, the tombstone is now decor in the shop and no longer in the yard.  We replaced it with this one.  Sorry for the spoiler is any of you are behind in Supernatural :)


Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Holiday shopping for the creepy at heart

I used to make all kinds of decor items for my own house, people started asking me about then and I usually just gave them away.  Then I thought.....well, why not make a sell them.

So I have a shop called DG Gothic that carries all kinds of found items that I Halloweenify.

Yes, I made up that word.

So just in time for the holidays, I am running a 20& off sale for all purchases over $40.





Halloweenified One Drawer Jewelry Box

Halloweenified Fancy Candleabra

Halloweenified 6.5 x 4.5  Picture Frame

I will also throw in a Davis Graveyard t-shirt (embroidered, because we like to keep it classy at the Davis Graveyard.) Small though X-Large only.



More items will be added throughout the next two weeks.  I also do custom orders, so just ask away.

Thanks everyone, and have a Merry Christmas!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Calvin & Hobbs - this display is almost as old as the Graveyard
at the Davis Graveyard.  Here are the decorations that we put up every year....one is definitely our style....one is a bit more whimsical.

Ghost of Christmas Future

Friday, November 13, 2015

So, the Davis Graveyard will never

do video blogging.  If you have spent more than an hour with our group, you would understand....not only do we swear like sailors - our jokes are just....wrong.  If you did not know how close we are, you would think that we hate each other. :)

It is all good fun and we are a close group, that is more like family (in the good way).

So, our alternative to video blogging to show our process has now found a home on Instructables.

We have five props on there so far.  I will be working on adding a lot more from previous years in the next couple months.

Check out how we made:

Solid Foam Mausoleum
http://www.instructables.com/id/Foam-Mausoleum/













Pillar Gargoyles
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pillar-Gargoyles/
















The Widow

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Widow/




















And or favorite of this year:



Kiss of Death

http://www.instructables.com/id/Kiss-of-Death-Monument/
















Now go out there and make your own.  Happy Haunting.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Kiss of Death

We made a lot of amazing props here at the Davis Graveyard this year.....but this seems to be the favorite.

It is based on this statue in Barcelona Spain made in 1930 - the artist is unknown, although there appears to be two artists that could have made it.  It has been on our radar for quite some time.













Here is the Instructables link (we were a featured prop) on how to build it.

The skeleton is too drunk

to drive home.  So we were kind enough to give him a lift.


Here is the wine drinking skeleton we made for our local wine bar, Wine:30.


He is based on the same prop that is in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean.




Davis Graveyard 2015

Here are the photos of Davis Graveyard from our good friend Marci Lehman for 2015.















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