JF1993 Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Last week I came up with an idea to replace our scarecrow's head with something a little scarier than a burlap sack. So I went out and bought a light up jack-o-lantern from Walgreen's. Today I went out and swapped out the old scarecrow head for a the new one, and it looked great. Here are a couple of pictures of the new and improved scarecrow.The scarecrow is actually made from an old T.V. antenna we used to have, before it fell off the roof. It has a separate controller you can use to make the top half of the scarecrow's body turn side to side.Below are five of my old tombstones. I plan to clean them up, and outline them in orange and purple LEDs. They should look awesome after a few minor adjustments.I have a felling that this Halloween is going to rock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Scarecrow looks awesome with that head. Now I'm going to have to go to Walgreen's and check out those pumpkins! I love the look of that one you used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Yeah they were only $10. I really like the skeleton like facial features on it. This will be the first year the scarecrow has gone out in a long time, but this definitely beats the old burlap face we made for it a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 yep, looks lots better than a sack ! 'stones look good too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Made a little more progress this weekend. I just finished cutting out 8 new tombstones soon to be sanded, painted, and lighted with orange and purple LEDs. I'll post a couple of pictures later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 #1 of 8 new tombstones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 #1 of 8 new tombstonesif you go to Michael's and purchase some latex glow in the dark paint (white), your tombstones will continue to "glow" even after the lights are off and makes them "pop" when the lights are on. Learned that jewel last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 if you go to Michael's and purchase some latex glow in the dark paint (white), your tombstones will continue to "glow" even after the lights are off and makes them "pop" when the lights are on. Learned that jewel last year.Especially with the Purple LED's, they work best for making the glow in the dark paint glow after they turn off, creates a very nice effect. Only have them in my EERIE ACRES CEMETERY sign, bordered in Orange LED's. All my syrofoam tombstones have Orange or White or a combo of both incandescents in them this year. Since that's what I had to use. But all my tombstones are all painted with Glow in the Dark paint and I retouch them up each year with a little more. I bought all the Michael's in my area out of all their Glow in the Dark paint last year. LOLBTW: I also use the orange, pink, yellow and green Glow in the Dark paint as well. It helps to give the tombstones a little more depth. The colored Glow in the Dark paint doesn't glow as well as the "white" paint, but does give the tombstones a very subtle hint of color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 I've never heard of glow in the dark paint before. About how much does it cost? I'm at the halfway point only 4 more stones left to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 I've never heard of glow in the dark paint before. About how much does it cost? I'm at the halfway point only 4 more stones left to go.Don't think it is more than a dollar or two for a small shampoo size bottle but a little bit goes a long way!! what I also did was take an old paintbrush and cut some of the bristles out of it, makes the "paint" really streaky for an extra eerie affect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 what I also did was bought these LED black lights from Spirit Halloween, black light makes the glow in the dark paint really "pop" in a really spooky sort of way because you really don't see the light when it comes on but the tombstones get bright eerie green and then "glow" after the light is off. sorta like the skeleton in Orville's avatar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torqumada286 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I'm not making much progress. My lights haven't gotten here yet, (UPS: Did we say we would have your lights to you Thursday? No, we meant the following Monday. We can see how you can confuse the two words if you actually listen to what we say instead of what we meant to say, after the day we promised to have your lights delivered had passed. Enjoy your very rare four days off of your three jobs.") one of my arch legs didn't set square in the concrete I had placed it, so I have another one drying at this time and my wife's car needs some repair work done. Not the way I had planned on spending this time.Torqumada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Hang in there... I'm sure everything will work out just fine. I hate shipping stuff, this year I ordered my books for college two weeks before class started, and most of my books did not arrive until the second week. It was a longer wait then I wanted, but it was alright in the end. Now I'm rushing to finish up my decorations while balancing school and working at my two jobs. Just keep trying, and don't give up no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 (edited) Don't think it is more than a dollar or two for a small shampoo size bottle but a little bit goes a long way!! what I also did was take an old paintbrush and cut some of the bristles out of it, makes the "paint" really streaky for an extra eerie affect.You're kidding right? $1-$2 for a bottle of Phosphourescent paint {I.e. Glow in the Dark}? Not in my area, the cheapest I got away with was $3.49¢ for a single 2-ounce bottle at Michaels Craft Store. I bought Yellow, Green, Orange and Pink. The yellow does work the best, but all will glow under a black light.The skeleton in my avatar was washed with several coats and several bottles of the yellow Glow in the Dark paint, then he was sprayed with a clear Krylon sealer, as the GITD paints are water soluable, even after dry I've had them wear off in rain/wet conditions. So now I seal it. However I don't use the sealer on styrofoam tombstones, not unless you want them eaten up and looking really messed up. The Krylon clear sealer will eat styrofoam like a Hershey chocolate bar in the sun on a sidewalk, a nice gooey mess.And my skeleton in the avatar was photographed using 2 18 inch tube flourescent black light fixtures, one from the back and one from the side.If I could figure out a very inexpensive way to make these black ights weatherproof, I'd put them out in my cemetery to illimunate my tombstones. Edited September 28, 2012 by Orville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Speaking of krylon sealed do you think i could spray my headstones within? will i have to take out the lights first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torqumada286 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 If I could figure out a very inexpensive way to make these black ights weatherproof, I'd put them out in my cemetery to illimunate my tombstones.Orville, Spirit Halloween stores carries a mini LED blacklight spotlight for about $17. I'm picking up one today for testing. They are not rate for outdoor use, but it would probably be easier to weatherproof that than an 18"+ fluorescent blacklight. I'll try to get a picture of the results for you.Torqumada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Orville, Spirit Halloween stores carries a mini LED blacklight spotlight for about $17. I'm picking up one today for testing. They are not rate for outdoor use, but it would probably be easier to weatherproof that than an 18"+ fluorescent blacklight. I'll try to get a picture of the results for you.TorqumadaOrville, Spirit Halloween stores carries a mini LED blacklight spotlight for about $17. I'm picking up one today for testing. They are not rate for outdoor use, but it would probably be easier to weatherproof that than an 18"+ fluorescent blacklight. I'll try to get a picture of the results for you.Torqumadahmmmm... I have an old flying crank ghost, and need some sort of L.E.D. blacklight for it, since florescent tubes don't exactly dim or start up easily. How bright do these spotlights actually get? This might just work if it's bright enough. If not I suppose I could buy a few of them for the crank ghost prop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torqumada286 Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 (edited) hmmmm... I have an old flying crank ghost, and need some sort of L.E.D. blacklight for it, since florescent tubes don't exactly dim or start up easily. How bright do these spotlights actually get? This might just work if it's bright enough. If not I suppose I could buy a few of them for the crank ghost prop.I set one up in the front yard this evening. They are very bright. I was fluorescing the stop sign that is on one end of my street, maybe 200 feet away. (I'll get a better measurement in the morning.) However, I didn't have anything handy that was strongly fluorescent enough for decent pictures tonight. I hope to have the solved tomorrow night and have some pictures up. This is the product I am talking about. I need to go back and get at least one more and one was all they had left at the store. Edit: Just paced off the distance from where I was standing and the Stop sign. It was approximately 292 feet.Torqumada Edited September 29, 2012 by Torqumada286 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Speaking of krylon sealed do you think i could spray my headstones within? will i have to take out the lights first?I've actually sprayed it over my lights in some items, have even painted over my lights in the tombstones with the Glow in the Dark paint as well.But for replacement of a bulb/LED in the strand, well it just makes them a little harder to replace if they are of the replacable type. Like incans or LED's, as the clear coat will also seal the bulb/LED holder componet to the strand sockets. But it's not that difficult to pry apart in case you need to replace a bulb/LED with a small flat blade screwdriver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torqumada286 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Here is my test with the spotlight, shot with me cell phone.Torqumada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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