Until Next October - Happy Halloween

To the many people that have dropped by and made this year another fun event, Happy Halloween!

What Transformations Are Ahead?

Humm . . . What is in store for next Halloween?

Trick Or Treat Window

Thunder claps in the background, lightening flashes all around, mist rises in the cemetery, ghouls groan and growl, skeletons pop up, a dead man swings, busts sing a ghostly song, a baby screams, a fortune teller speaks, ghosts float overhead and all the while scenes play on the large window above the front door to complete the Halloween sensory overload. Wide-eyed trick-or-treaters take a piece of candy and wander off in a daze. Success!

Come On In And Rest A While

The front lawn becomes a graveyard for the Halloween weekend. It looks benign in the daytime, but when the sun goes down it suddenly comes alive with ghoulish activity. Trick-or-treaters, young and old, big and small swarm in one after another to the see the ghouls and ghosts.

Have a Question? Ask The Crystal Ball

Dr. Shiver is waiting to reveal all your secrets.

Bought this talking crystal ball at a Ross store several years ago on closeout. It ended up to be a great addition to the Halloween fun.

Bola De Cristal

The animated crystal ball by Gemmy Industries has Dr. Shivers repeating sentences when the microphone is spoken into. This audio-visual gadget adds fun to the Halloween experience, especially when it calls someone by their name or mentions there specific costume. Startled trick-or-treaters cannot discern from where they are being watched which is a clever, nearby spot we will not reveal in this blog.

A Grinning Face, So Inviting

Step right up!

This giant clown stands by the front door looking so cheerful. Trick-or-treaters beware!

Clown Gone Bad

While trick-or-treaters are concentrating on what goodies to choose, this bigger-than-life clown lights up, screams and menacingly drops down to startle them. Here is a view from the front and the side.

Waiting Zombie Ready To Break Ground

Zombie looking for his next victim.

This ghastly Halloween attraction received raving reviews from trick-or-treaters after they recovered from a real fright and calmed their thumping hearts..

Zombie at Work - Ground Breaker

The pneumatic zombie suddenly comes to life, thrusts up, down, back and forth, growls and shakes the ground.

Come Play With Me . . . Heh, Heh, Heh

Yumm . . . Zombie. Tastes like chicken.

"Come play with me" written on the top of this ghoulish toy box crawling with flies and draped with a spider web is the invitation for trick-or-treaters to join in the fun as one demon baby chews on the ear of a zombie head, another holds a blood-covered leg bone instead of a rattle while another one is looking at her dolly as if she ready to devour it. While visitors are staring at this disturbing sight in the nightmarish playpen, the box pops open with a scream as another doll jumps up.

Nightmare At Jefferyland!

This is the most disturbing of the Halloween attraction. A zombie baby pops up from inside a toy chest that is complete with flies and spider webs. The display is ghoulish, and the pop-up doll completes the horror! 

Floating Ghosts Come Out To Play

Not so eerie in the daylight.

This is one of the floating ghosts suspended on braided fishing line that circles above the graveyard. Sprayed with Rit bluing, they eerily glow in the night.

Something Eerie In The Night Sky

This is one of the favorite attractions for the younger trick-or-treaters. Several ghosts float overhead above the graveyard to the amazement of the watchers who try to figure out how the trick is rigged.

Morbidity Hangs From A Rope

After a necktie party.

This attraction is like a scene from days gone by with the body left hanging overnight waiting for the buzzards to arrive. It eerily kicks back and forth.

Just Hanging Out.

This man at the front of the yard is hanging around to the delight of trick-or-treaters. It looks very realistic as its swinging motion causes it to slowly turn in various directions. It is a creepy to watch.

Screaming Skeleton Gets Ready To Scare

Get ready, get set . . .

This skeleton looks harmless, but not so. It lies in wait to spring when trick-or-treaters are least expecting it.

Screaming Skeleton Gets a Rise.

While trick-or-treaters are watching the zombie to its left, a spotlight flashes on and this skeleton pops up with a blood-curdling scream.  Its screams are often matched by the screams from startled and unsuspecting onlookers. 

I'll Be Your Best Friend. Right!

Hey you! You in the costume, let me out of here!

This talking zombie is getting ready to give his spiel to convince trick-or-treaters to help him escape. Beware. He is as evil as he looks.

Halloween at Jefferyland - Pleading Zombie

This is one of my favorite Halloween animations. It is a Zombie that is pleading to be released from its coffin. It is played on a computer screen, and as it pleads trick-or-treaters to let it out promising them that if they do he will be their best friend, the coffin lid bangs up and down.

Giving Stone Faces Animation

The heads had good looks, but no personality. They just sat around looking stone-faced. Hook up a projector to a computer, insert the DVD, push play and look at the transformation. Three men come to life as three Grim Grinning Ghosts!

Grim Grinning Heads Waiting To Sing

Grimm Grinning Ghost heads are perched on their monument waiting to perform for trick-or-treaters in Southern California where the weather is warm and beautiful.

Will I do this again? When Heck Freezes Over!

Heck frozen over? Oh, no!

Sculpting and molding the three heads for this project was like giving birth. The first time, you do not know what you are getting into. During the process, you swear you will never do that again. When it is over and you see the child you have created, the pain does not seem so bad.

Was the effort of creating the Grim Grinning Ghosts worth it? Yes! It was a project to have fun with once, learn from and enjoy the results. As far as becoming a sculptor and producing finished works of art, in the future, I will leave that job to others that are more qualified and enjoy making molds. I still have the my molds if I need to make more.

When compared to the Halloween props my son has created, this project was easy. After Halloween I will post some of his creations that make his yard a fun place to visit on the holiday, and many people do!

Step Seven – A Good Day to Say Goodbye

On some days things work out especially well. Wednesday was such a day. I took the newly-opened off ramp at 1114 South on the I-15 freeway to the UPS store. A helpful employee helped me carry the three boxes into their store. Each head weighed about 20 pounds. He added additional bubble wrap and packing material to make sure their journey was safe. (They arrived in Escondido on Friday as scheduled by UPS.) 

Go west new men, go west!

I said, “Goodbye” to my three friends before they traveled into the sunset. This was not a final goodbye to these future Grim Grinning Ghosts because I will see them again at Halloween.

Step Six – Finishing the Makeover

Stone-Faced Sals

Now the Sally triplets have become three handsome men, although not perfect, it is time for the finishing touches, a little cosmetic surgery and paint. I had to touchup a few places such as the seams, spots that look like acne scars and sand a few other surfaces smoother. The WEP came out of the molds with a cream-colored coating. Rather than sand the whole head, I opted to paint them with flat, white primer— much easier! I let the heads cure for three days and sprayed them with two coats of paint. Here are the finished heads ready to be shipped to their new home in California.

Summary of Supplies

GP 25 Silicone Base

Pro Blue Silicone Catalyst

Clay Model of Head

Oil-base clay

Styrofoam head

Molds for Casting

GP 25 Silicone Base

Pro Blue Silicone Catalyst

Sports Mesh



Part A and Part B Foam

Support Mold for Latex

Part A Foam

Part B Foam

Casting Material

Marble Dust

Dicaperl

WEP (Resin) 
Hardener for Polyester Resin


WEP Resin and hardener



Step Five – Making Hot Heads

After learning from the problems I faced when casting the first two molds, this final technique worked the best.

1.  Call a friend for help and moral support.

2.  Tape the mold tightly together with duct tape, several times around the outside and along all seams.

3.  Tape the side of the bucket back together with several rounds of duct tape.

4.  Measure how much casting material is needed by filling the mold with water and measuring how much liquid it holds. Mix a little more casting material than the measured amount.

5.  I used WEP casting material because I was told it would be lighter and stronger than plaster of Paris-type material. However, it was expensive. I probably would not use it again.

6.  Mix 1 gallon WEP resin, ~1 gallon water (a little less), ½ gallon marble dust and ½ gallon Dicaperl (light weight material) and let it sit for 2 hours to let the bubbles rise and dissipate.

7.  Gently mix 60 cc catalyst hardener for polyester resin into the marble mixture.

8.  Pour enough marble mixture to coat the inside of the mold.

9.  Slowly pour in more mixture until mold is about half full.

10. Tip and turn the mold so the mixture can fill the undercuts such as the ears.

11. Continue to slowly fill the mold to the top of the neck. Gently rock back and forth to make sure all areas are filled.

12. Let it settle for a minute and add more mixture if needed. (There was always a small leak).

13. Leave it alone until it sets and hardens, a couple of hours.

14. Remove all the tape.



Finished mold filled with
~ 3 gallons of marble mixture.



15. Gently separate the two sides of the mold and remove the hardened head that is HOT from the chemical reaction of the casting materials. 

     It was harder to remove the heads with the seams going from ear to ear than from back to front.

Step Four – Foaming, Foaming, Foaming

Making support molds for silicone covered heads.

I completed the support mold by standing one of the silicone and sports-mesh covered heads in a waxed, upside-down bucket with the bottom cut out and split down one side. I taped the side closed and clamped the bucket to its lid that supported the head. I placed a small, waxed board on top of the flange to keep the silicone mold from lifting up as the foam expanded. Finally I mixed Part A and Part B foam in a container and poured the mixture inside the bucket down to the bottom of the head. It expanded to the top of the bucket to make a support mold.

After the foam expanded and hardened, I removed the clamps, sawed the top of the foam level with the bucket, removed the tape and pealed the bucket back so I could pry the two sides of the latex-foam mold apart.  Before separating the mold, I drilled two holes through the mold near the top above the head and pushed a wooden dowel in each hole to keep the two sides aligned when I put them back together after I removed the clay model. I tested a little foam mixture in a glass jar to see how much it would expand. It expanded about 20 to 1.

It took some effort to remove the flanges, pull the two sides of the mold apart without separating the foam support mold from the silicone and to remove the clay model that ended up pretty much destroyed.

Silicone and More Silicone!

Silicone masks are done!

The heads are through being siliconed and are curing to be ready for the next step, making the foam support molds.

More Silicone and Some Sports Mesh

Sports mesh and more silicone

After applying 5 more coats of silicone, I am ready to put on the sports mesh. The first coat for two heads took 5 ounces of silicone base and 1 oz. of pro blue silicone catalyst. I had to double that amount for the next coats. I cut the sports mesh in 1-inch strips and after the 5th coat of silicone set for about an hour and was still tacky, I placed pieces of mesh all over the head and the flanges to strengthen the finished silicone to keep it from tearing easily. I had a hard time getting the stiff mesh to conform to the nose and ears. After the silicone was set completely, I applied two more heavy coats of silicone. This time it took more silicone per head because it filled in the mesh which required more of the goo.

Flanges Wired in Place

Heads with metal and poster board flanges.

I put the two flanges together and measured and trimmed them to be the width of the bucket. Here are two of the heads with the flanges wired in place. The poster board ones are waxed with three layers of paste wax on each side so the silicone heads and foam will release more easily. Eventually the heads will be placed in a large bucket and foamed poured around the latex molds to hold the silicone masks securely in place.

I will remove the wires after about 3 or 4 coats because the rubbery silicone will hold the flanges in place and the wires will come out more easily than if I remove them after the last coat of silicone hardens.

Step Three – Making Flanges

Head with poster board pieces at the left
and a flange on the right

Bill from 3 D Art recommended a metal flange for one side and poster board for the other. The poster board needed to be waxed with paste floor wax three times on each side. Before making the flange, I needed to make a pattern. First I draped a piece of elastic string around the head from below one ear across the top to below the other ear. This is how I could keep the pattern going in a straight line with little effort. Next, I cut poster board in small, short strips and stuck them around the side of the mold, taping them together every few strips. After I finished one side that ended at the top of the head where I had put a piece of cardboard cross wise of the head to separate the two flanges, I reinforced the cardboard with wide painter’s tape. I repeated the process for the other side. To keep the flanges in place I bent wire, placed it straddle the poster board and metal then pushed them firmly into the clay.

Since the movie will be projected on the front of the heads, I want the seam to go from side to side in case the two sides do not line up perfectly.

Strips of poster board used for a pattern.

Step Two – Silicone Anyone?

Two of the heads with one coat of silicone each

I visited 3 D Art Inc. a sculpting supply store where I purchased the oil-base clay. After finding the store that is difficult to locate and get to, I talked to Bill, one of their experts. I decided on silicone masks and foam to make my mother molds. I bought a tub of GP 25 Silicone Base and one quart of Pro Blue Silicone Catalyst and wrote down a few instructions.

My friend gave me a wonderful kitchen scale so I was able to measure with accuracy. I do not know what I would have done without it.

Here is the process for applying the latex to the clay heads:
1. Mix 1 part silicone catalyst with 10 parts GP 24 liquid silicone base. It has the consistency of honey.

2. Use a two-inch brush with bristles cut to about 1.5 inches long.

3. Paint a thin layer on the heads to protect the clay. (Silicone should be brushed on thin enough to see the clay underneath.

4. Blow with a hair dryer to make sure there are no air bubbles.

5. Clean brush with Bestine

6. Let silicone mixture set for 2 hours.

Three New Friends

There is more than one way to get a man around
the house that sees no evil or speaks no evil.

After spending all my Saturdays for over a month to complete the sculpting of the three head, I got to know them well. I had literally “made” new friends. Here they are except for building the bases at the bottom of the necks to stand taller. I extended their heights after casting the first one and deciding his chin was too close to the table top.

Now came the time to start step two, making mother molds, something I knew nothing about but what I had read on the internet. I did not like the itch of fiberglass and the smell of resin permeating my house so I looked for alternatives.

Ear, Ears and More Ears

Sculpting ears before placing on heads.

I found it was easiest to shape the ears before I placed them on the heads. I printed photographs of ears from the internet and printed sets of two; each flipped the opposite to the other. I used them as a pattern and sculpted the ears flat on the table. After they were finished I rolled a rope of clay, shaped it in an “O”, placed them on each side of the heads and placed the ears on top of each “O” so they protruded out from the sides of the face. I then proceeded to finish their details. I used damp Q-tips to get the smaller details and make the ear canals. I did not go too deep with the holes so the undercuts of the latex would not be too large. Damp cosmetic sponges worked good for smoothing the surfaces.

Step One – Not so Painful, but a Bit Suffocating

Sally gets her makeover.

Sally to Sal.

After purchasing 50 pounds of modeling clay, I took my old rolling pin and started to work. I found that after rolling each square of clay flat, I could place them on the head to build the surface up to a larger shape. I kept adding layers until the head started taking form, and I was able to shape masculine features. I layered and sculpted until Sally became Salvatore, or just call him Sal.

Sally Triplets Want a Makeover

Summer came and I knew it was time to start the project to be sure it was completed by October 31. Where to start? I went to a beauty supply store, and there was a shelf of Styrofoam heads staring into space. I picked three that wanted to be more that just another pretty face, although their facial appearance looked a bit alien-like. So I rescued them and took them home for a new look and a sex change.

Sally Triplets want a makeover

Since I do not have access to a sterile operating room or proper surgical instruments, I made do and turned my kitchen table into a makeshift operating table and found just the right utensils in my kitchen drawers.

No Love Stronger than that of a Mother!

Three Grim Grinning Ghosts

I now know there is no love stronger than that of a mother. This project if evidence of the truth of that statement. On Halloween my son goes all out to decorate his yard for that holiday. Last year he asked me to sculpt three heads similar to the ones at Disney's haunted mansion, the Grim Grinning Ghosts such as the those in this photograph. It took one day to sculpt them using water-based clay. Unfortunately the clay cracked when it dried and had to be continually touched up until the night was over. We decided it would be a good idea to make more permanent heads by making molds and casting them with hard material. When I started this project, I did not know what I was getting into! Before long I found myself in Halloween “Heck.” I’m from Utah where you hear a lot pseudo swear words, and before I finished this challenging project, I am sure I had said a few of them.