The display is getting closer

We worked on a lot of the details on Sunday but kept getting interupted by people stoppy by and wanting to talk. Its hard to ignor everyone you haven't talked to in a while so it slowed us down. We also on had a little bit of help. Nick got all the lights wired and we were able to turn them on at night.

First day of setup went well

We got everything unloaded from the shop and out in the yard. We got the cathedral setup and the masoleum and hearse. We got all the tombstones up in the yard (maybe not all where they should be). Sunday we finish with as much details as we can.

Thanks to everyone that came and helped. We had an awsome crew this year.

The new spider looks good in his home for the year.

Last weekend before setup

We got the scafolding up on Saturday dispite the heavy rain in the morning. We got most of it up with Preston, Andy and myself. Nick showed up a little later and we finished it by the end of the day.

We got the sign up in the yard. A little late this year. We normally set it up on Labor day weekend.

The spider is coming along and should be ready by setup.

Tony created some new skulls for the stantions and we painted the stantions and the skulls and got them all ready this weekend. Also cleaned and organzied the shop for setup. We are just about ready.

Another work weekend

We worked on projects both Saturday and Sunday. We finished the Angel monument finally. We also built a stand for Chris' luminary and a box for the new projector for the new effect. We painted and detail or skeleton cages and cast some new skulls for the stantions we put out front. I even cast a few concrete skulls for Chris. We spent quite a bit of time on the new Spider and it is getting close to being done. Next weekend is scafolding setup and final finsh of all projects. Then it's SETUP!

New Video Effect

We have been working on a new ghost effect in the yard this year. We strung a cable across the back of the yard and hung 3 ten foot black backdrops up. We sewed the seams of them together and made some sandbags to hold the bottoms down from blowing around.

We filmed our friend kids dressed in white walking along the backdrop. Then we can project their ghost images on the backdrop from a projector in the yard behind a tombstone. Looks pretty good.

Busy Labor Day Weekend

Despite the heavy rains on Saturday and Sunday we got a LOT done over the last big weekend before Halloween. Our good friend Dan dropped off a big tent we used to keep things dry and stay out of the rain between downpours.

We built 2 additional mud men for 2 people who couldn't make the workshop. With Chris and Ellysa helping it only took a couple of hours. But the weather was so damp and cold that we waited to paint them until Monday afternoon. One of our students stuck around all day Saturday and helped us paint stuff. She was great help! We finished painting them on Monday afternoon when it was dry.

We painted a lot of the props and finished them. Chris didn't like how the Angel monument looked with the short dress so we decided to add a leg coming out like she is kneeling on one knee. It took quite a bit for me to cut into that nice prop and mess it all up. But it will look good when it is done. We also finished the sword for her too.

Got a lot of technical projects done too. An animated skull, some devices to move the bushes, new UV painted footsteps and a few other projects off our list. Things are looking pretty good. We even had time to drag out all the tombstones and touch them up before setup this year!