Halloween ← A Little Ludwig Goes A Long Way

Guides to mechanical movements

Aug

2013

I just discovered 507 movements, what a great resource! Back in my active Halloween days, I used to spend a lot of time figuring out how to turn simple rotary motion (as available from a myriad cheap motors) into some form of erratic or lateral motion. Or lateral motion (as available from a pneumatic piston) ...

Starting to dabble with Arduino

Mar

2012

A few years ago when I was very active in Halloween decorating, I used the “Basic Stamp”:http://www.parallax.com/ for prop control. This is still a solid product and you can still buy a lot of stamp-based kits and products. I’m starting to work on some new projects and it seems like all the cool kids have ...

Halloween 2011

Aug

2011

OK so I am out of the business of doing a huge Halloween setup. For probably 10 years we did a monster setup with 4-5 fog systems including a yard-wide water-based system, 5-6 sound systems, many many tombstones, pneumatic props, mechanical props, voice modification boxes, 5-6 thunder and lightning set ups, a bunch of skeletons, ...

6 months to Halloween — are you ready?

May

2010

The nice folks at “Monster Guts”:http://monsterguts.com just sent email reminding me it is 6 months to Halloween. I’ve been on hiatus the last couple years but it may work out that I can do a smallish display this year. I may have to tone down my ambitions but we will see. My recipe for a ...

Cannon roundup — EMP cannon, Shock cannon, Vortex cannon

Jan

2010

* “EMP cannon”:http://www.physorg.com/news183296601.html. Mount one of these babies on your trunk and eliminate that tailgating problem. * “Shock Cannon”:http://www.physorg.com/news183142646.html and here is how to get that solicitor off your porch. * “Vortex Cannon video”:http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/gas-powered_vortex_cannon_as_big_ba.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890. Probably a bit more powerful than I ever thought about building at Halloween.

Metrix Create Space

Oct

2009

Scott mentioned this place, have to get there. Via this pretty useful capitol hill blog

Halloween links

Oct

2009

Not doing a big Halloween thing this year due to other commitments. Saving these tips for the future… * “Monsterlist”:http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/. Starting point to find any kind of halloween project * “Kurt’s tool wishlist”:http://www.grimvisions.com/tools/tools-i-want-to-get. I can only aspire to Kurt’s skill and tool collection * “Kurt on prop setup”:http://www.grimvisions.com/halloween/setting-up-your-halloween-display-for-maximum-effect. The guy knows more than I ever ...

Witch potion labels

Aug

2009

These labels are awesome. Hat tip to Kurt

grimvisions on Etsy

Aug

2009

grimvisions on Etsy – Grimvisions – Where Grim Visions Become Dark Art — nice pieces from Kurt for the halloween season. I’ve seen his work in person, very very impressive.

Stuff I Want But Don't Need — Themeless

Jul

2009

* Solar Camping Lantern — I remember the old coleman lanterns using white gas, the pumping, the mantles. What a pain in the a$%. This looks way simpler. * King Cobra wristwatch — awesome looking. Tho I have completely given up on wristwatches. * Carabiners make everything better. So true. * Denture ice cubes. Seriously ...

DIY links — plywood,glass etching,nightlight

Jun

2009

* Single sheet plywood design contest. I’ve made a lot of single-sheet coffins for halloween, here are some other cool ideas * Etched glass storage jars — I have old chemist bottles I bought from various sorts, here is how to fill out your mad scientist lab. * Cosmic nightlight. Just looks cool.

Stuff I want but don't need — Post Father's Day edition

Jun

2009

Had a great father’s day, got some cool photo tools, some books that look great, and a couple of games since I have played Left4Dead and Fallout3 to death. Here’s some stuff I didn’t get and probably for good reason. Physical Stuff: * Faux fountains via Scott Loftesness. Cool looking and an inspiration for Halloween. ...

My fascination with strange lighting

May

2009

* Lamp with Pigtails | Design Milk. Seems vaguely creepy, a bunch of these with dimmers in the living room for a halloween party would be eerie. * Love these egg lights too. Fully lit they are kind of cheery. Put a dim pulsing bulb in there and it feels like the lower deck of ...

FrightProps – Halloween Props, Pneumatic Props, Animated Props, Halloween Accessories

Feb

2009

FrightProps – Halloween Props, Pneumatic Props, Animated Props, Halloween Accessories. Need to start thinking about.

Halloween Ideas and Tips

Dec

2008

Tangle of Wires: Jack o’lanterns in the tree. Does look nice. Zoybar. Seems like it might be a nice way to build some sound fx Tinker Store. I kind of like the firefly kit Prop Documents via Makezine. Nice to spread around possibly Extreme foam cutting. Learning how to work with foam is job one ...

Tangle of Wires — Scott Axworthy Blog

Nov

2008

Tangle of Wires. — Scott has a blog now. Amazingly great Halloween constructor.

Halloween stuff — way too late for this year

Oct

2008

* Twitchie robot kit. Looks like fun innards for a bunch of different props. * Great singing skull. * Haunted bookshelf. Don’t love the prop but really enjoy the cam mechanism, turning simple rotary motion into something more interesting. Second time I’ve tried to post this. The WordPress PressThis bookmarklet is remarkably buggy.

Mac Halloween Screensavers

Oct

2008

CreativeTechs Tips: Mac Halloween Screensavers. The first one is nice and free. The second is $5 and a bit of a porker to download.

Melon brain

Oct

2008

MAKE: Blog: HOW TO – Melon brain. Awesome looking and simple

MAKE: Blog: DIY Halloween : The Bottomless Pit from Hell

Oct

2008

Bottomless pit. Endless hallway effect turned on its side. Nice and not that hard.