Lowe's Haunted Living 48" Tombstone Upgrade

And another quick prop upgrade is finished and ready to go! 

So last month I wrote about a full schedule really hampering my prop-building time for this season. Luckily, the big box stores have been upping the quality of their offerings, allowing me to pick up a few of their pieces to add to this year's display.

Although as a dedicated home haunter, there would be no way that I could simply pull the prop from the box and put it straight into the yard without giving it at least a little extra touch-up...

So just like I did with the Home Depot Grim Reaper Statue and the Lowe's Haunted Living Cauldron, I grabbed this really cool matching Haunted Living 48" tombstone from Lowe's and went to work...

Out of the box, this tombstone had a really great texture and finish, but I wanted to give it a more naturally aged stone look. I dry-brushed a complete, thin coating of light grey to lighten the entire piece. I then went in with a green dry-brush in the recessed areas for a cool mossy look, followed by a black wash to give the piece an overall dark, grimy sheen.

After the updated painting, I wanted to take the customization one step further and decided to add some melted candles to the top section of the stone. I ended up cutting a few angled pieces of toilet paper roll, and then globbed hot glue around the base of each to attach it, followed by a thick drizzle around each to simulate melted wax. After all three candles were set, I simply gave each a full coat of off-white paint and they were done. Now on Halloween night, I'll simply drop an LED tea light into each for a completely realistic candle effect that will really take this tombstone to the next level.

The original prop from Lowe's.

Toilet paper roll and hot glue candles.

I placed the completed tombstone into my yard and I think it looks absolutely great! Another detailed piece that will sit at the front of the display to really draw the eye in.

And now on to the next project on the list!

  

Lowe's Cauldron Prop Upgrade

Another quick prop upgrade is finished and ready to go! 

So last month I wrote about a full schedule really hampering my prop-building time for this season. Luckily, the big box stores have been upping the quality of their offerings, allowing me to pick up a few of their pieces to add to this year's display.

Although as a dedicated home haunter, there would be no way that I could simply pull the prop from the box and put it straight into the yard without giving it at least a little extra touch-up...

So just like I did with the Home Depot Grim Reaper Statue prop, I grabbed this really cool Haunted Living Cauldron from Lowe's and went to work...

Out of the box, this cauldron had a really great texture and finish, but I wanted to give it a well-worn, rusted look. So with paints already in my garage, I dry-brushed a complete coating of orange, followed by a light misting of dark orange and flat brown spray paints. And that was it. Done. In less than an hour, I had the rusty look I was going for.

Before.

After.

The only thing left to do, was to go old school with it! When I first bought it, I decided that I wanted to have the cauldron as a "witch prop" in front of the group that would be handing out candy. So it had to "do something" to get the attention of the trick-or-treaters. And like any good cauldron, it needs to smoke and bubble, so I decided to go out and grab dry ice. I have never used actual dry ice before, but I found a local vendor and secured a few test chunks. I added hot water to the cauldron and dropped the chunks in, marveling at the instant "smoke" rolling over the cauldron's edges and the unexpected "bubbling" from the dry ice's reaction to the hot water. Perfect!!

The final step will be to add some green LED lights to the inside of the cauldron for Halloween night, and this prop is ready to go! A quick and easy touch-up that took no time at all, and this will be a nice new accent piece in this year's display.