Halloween Pumpkin Faces

[captainron19]

So looking in to adding the singing pumpkin faces to house for Halloween this year.   Looked at Holiay Coro but some people tell me they are flimsy and not reliable.  I personally have not used any of the holiday coro products int he past.   So I am looking for any recommendations to start this project.   Have you built your own or opted for a pre-made one.   Seen some online made out of powered coated material with lights already on them but I am assuming they are super expensive. Any help would be appreciated to get me pointed int he right direction

 

[Richard365]

I bought the monster faces and the 4 singing trees last year. They seemed to be ok. I had the talking Santa for 2 years. Its ok even after 2 teenagers dropped kicked it. I repaired it with Black duct tape. 

 

I just recieved the guitar snowman and skelton. The skelton drummer and 71" American flag. I also bought the tombstones. Thats what I have to put together between now and the holidays. 

[Richard365]

Save the most money. I bought all my lights I needed for this year projects. 2 weeks after Christmas. They where 90%'off at Wal-Mart. 

 

Orange snd Purple going to be hard to find after Halloween. Do to non of the stores stock alot of lights for Halloween like they do for Christmas. I did find a few mix in with the Christmas lights. 

Edited August 8, 2017 by Richard365

[dibblejr]

2 hours ago, captainron19 said:

So looking in to adding the singing pumpkin faces to house for Halloween this year.   Looked at Holiay Coro but some people tell me they are flimsy and not reliable.  I personally have not used any of the holiday coro products int he past.   So I am looking for any recommendations to start this project.   Have you built your own or opted for a pre-made one.   Seen some online made out of powered coated material with lights already on them but I am assuming they are super expensive. Any help would be appreciated to get me pointed int he right direction

 

They are reliable just use 2X4's for framing. They are 4mm thickness which is average. I have almost every coro singing face and the 2 I do not have I will have soon.

Advice, stay away fro purple or blue. Very hard to see at night. Green, Orange , Red and of course white is good. I used blue and purple on my pumpkins for lips and once/ if they ever burn out will replace. I have had my first set of pumpkin faces since 2010. My second and best set of pumpkin faces are still 4mm coroplas and I purchased them in 2015..I purchased all of my short light strands from Primo but they are a little pricey but they were "in stock" and friendly customer support. Dag gone return button not working. Sorry for the long paragraph ~ JR

Edited August 8, 2017 by dibblejr

[dibblejr]

Another recommendation I have posted before. Get in good with a convenience store and ask them for their old promotional signs. If they are anything like my inlaws they will have some old promotions brand new and included with the kits are some very heavy duty zipties. You can use fusion paint to paint them and design your own faces. I will be making some minions this year. They are 4mm pepsi, coke etc. promotions.

JR

[captainron19]

Thanks for the input guys.   I Think I am just gonna go with the Holiday Coro skull faces (46" x 46") and build frames for them.   Any recommendations on what you did for color schemes?   I saw how some people mentioned staying away from purple and blue.   Was curious if mot of you do one solid color for everything or multiple colors for facials features (eyes nose mouth) .

Also what lights are best to use with the Holiday Coro?  

And has anyone shortened mini strands for use in singing faces?   I have always made my own custom lengths for c9's but never for minis.   I did see a video on the holiday coro website to make custom length strands of minis but cutting and doing a little soldering but not sure how well that works with LED like I was planning on using

 

[Mr. P]

I use three singing faces for Halloween but I use the 48" welded steel frames with led rope light as I think they look much better then the coro faces. I use white orange and purple for my faces but the rope light gives a bright continuous look so the orange and purple really stand out nicely.

[captainron19]

8 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

I use three singing faces for Halloween but I use the 48" welded steel frames with led rope light as I think they look much better then the coro faces. I use white orange and purple for my faces but the rope light gives a bright continuous look so the orange and purple really stand out nicely.

Did you buy the frames or build them yourself?

[dibblejr]

1 hour ago, captainron19 said:

Thanks for the input guys.   I Think I am just gonna go with the Holiday Coro skull faces (46" x 46") and build frames for them.   Any recommendations on what you did for color schemes?   I saw how some people mentioned staying away from purple and blue.   Was curious if mot of you do one solid color for everything or multiple colors for facials features (eyes nose mouth) .

Also what lights are best to use with the Holiday Coro?  

And has anyone shortened mini strands for use in singing faces?   I have always made my own custom lengths for c9's but never for minis.   I did see a video on the holiday coro website to make custom length strands of minis but cutting and doing a little soldering but not sure how well that works with LED like I was planning on using

 

Just buy the shortest strands you can afford. I mentioned in other threads, using 2X4 frames (instructions included when you purchase from HC) you wont need to even cover bulbs. You cannot see any of the non used bulbs through the coroplas. I also use the extra lights as a guide during rain storms. If I look out my window I can tell if the wether is affecting any particular channel or the entire prop. 

I use different colors on all of my faces. I may repeat a color on some but try not to, I like the contrast and IMO looks better than all white. 

You can use just the typical incans or led's. When you put them in go at an angle to start then push upward and you will here the bulb pop in place. Also be prepared to get blisters on your finger tips.

Make the frames yourself, takes a couple hours and very little work. As mentioned above, if Dave at HC is still doing it the same way as when I purchased the directions are included. If not I think he has them on the HC site. Just use PT wood or at least paint them with outdoor paint.

I figured I lost this post as when I originally hit submit, I received the "site under upgrade..." message. Nice not to have to rethink and retype this entire post.

If you need additional help feel free to ask me.

JR

[Mr. P]

47 minutes ago, captainron19 said:

Did you buy the frames or build them yourself?

Bought them four years ago.

[bisquit476]

3 hours ago, captainron19 said:

I saw how some people mentioned staying away from purple and blue. 

I use the HLE purple LED's for my tombstones, they work great. I used regular Incan's for my singing pumpkin, which were shortened from 100ct to 50ct where needed, and just electrical taped the unused bulbs. HC has a schematic for each of their designs and if you can't find it, just send David an email and he'll reply with the correct stuff.

[ericm]

i bought 4 of the 23x23 singing trees last year, I built a frame to mount it on of 2x4s and framed the like a picture frame around it out of 1x2, they were in my yard in a 2x2 stack and not once was there an issue with any of the coro at all.  Also my tune to sign is from HC had it for a couple years and no issue with that either

 

[captainron19]

11 hours ago, ericm said:

i bought 4 of the 23x23 singing trees last year, I built a frame to mount it on of 2x4s and framed the like a picture frame around it out of 1x2, they were in my yard in a 2x2 stack and not once was there an issue with any of the coro at all.  Also my tune to sign is from HC had it for a couple years and no issue with that either

 

I am going to suspend mine on my porch from the overhang.    Was thinking 2 x 4 would make it too heavy for the framing - was thinking about 2 x 2's

[dibblejr]

Fwit- I have instructions on making PVC frames for the larger ones. There is no reason the same technique cant be used for the small ones. I suspended mine 40" in the air with the pvc frames but the 48X48 faces were moving around too much so I opted on 2X4 instead and due to weight at that height I was worried about safety of children getting candy so I put them on engineer stakes in my yard. 

For 23X23 the PVC frame system would work great.

JR

[dibblejr]

On ‎8‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 10:44 AM, bisquit476 said:

I use the HLE purple LED's for my tombstones, they work great. I used regular Incan's for my singing pumpkin, which were shortened from 100ct to 50ct where needed, and just electrical taped the unused bulbs. HC has a schematic for each of their designs and if you can't find it, just send David an email and he'll reply with the correct stuff.

Yes those colors work well with stationary objects, I have some on my hand made tombstones. However for the singing faces from a distance they are almost impossible to see and looks as if there are missing mouth movements

Also the schematic is on the back of most of his stuff in gold paint.

JR

Edited August 10, 2017 by dibblejr

[captainron19]

33 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

Yes those colors work well with stationary objects, I have some on my hand made tombstones. However for the singing faces from a distance they are almost impossible to see and looks as if there are missing mouth movements

Also the schematic is on the back of most of his stuff in gold paint.

JR

I decided to do mine in the same color each.... no mixing of colors for eyes mouth etc.   So going to do White Green Red Orange

 

[dibblejr]

4 hours ago, captainron19 said:

I decided to do mine in the same color each.... no mixing of colors for eyes mouth etc.   So going to do White Green Red Orange

 

If you want to see how the colors look send via PM me a cell #. I have red, blue, orange. purple, yellow, green. I have my faces set up for testing integration with my pixel tree. 

I just made some short vids last night for a couple members.

JR

[ericm]

On 8/10/2017 at 6:43 AM, captainron19 said:

I am going to suspend mine on my porch from the overhang.    Was thinking 2 x 4 would make it too heavy for the framing - was thinking about 2 x 2's

Yeah, all 4 together are pretty heavy... individually not that bad.  I moved this year and the new yard has no place for them so I am going to have to hang them over the garage. I will spread them out so they won't be as heavy.  if i had to guess they weigh about 20 pounds each with wood and lights.

 

[ericm]

On 8/10/2017 at 11:56 AM, dibblejr said:

Fwit- I have instructions on making PVC frames for the larger ones. There is no reason the same technique cant be used for the small ones. I suspended mine 40" in the air with the pvc frames but the 48X48 faces were moving around too much so I opted on 2X4 instead and due to weight at that height I was worried about safety of children getting candy so I put them on engineer stakes in my yard. 

For 23X23 the PVC frame system would work great.

JR

what size pvc are you using?

[dibblejr]

25 minutes ago, ericm said:

what size pvc are you using?

3/4" for the 48X48. You can probably use the same or even 1/2". The frame if done like the ones I mention would resemble one of those old time pitching practice back stops, or a soccer goal and can be made to fold on themselves for storage. 

JR