The first prop of the 2024 season is now complete! This year, my schedule is going to be very full (a kid in club travel baseball, anyone?), and I have resigned myself to the fact that I just won't have the time for any major projects.Luckily the big box stores have really upped their game this year, offering props that I would actually include in my display (snobbish, maybe, but I have always been of the thought that buying a bunch of store-bought props and throwing them in the yard is a disservice to the creativity and dedication to the home haunter culture. But that is a discussion for another time...).
Last week, I decided to peruse the Halloween section at my local Home Depot, and discovered this super cool 42 in. Grim Reaper Statue. A really great piece right from the start, but I felt I could add just a bit of detail to really make it pop. So I grabbed one, brought it home, and immediately went to work.
The original prop, from Home Depot.
The finished prop, from Highbury Cemetery.
I started with a wash of dark purple/black paint in the recessed areas of the statue. I really wanted to add depth and contrast that I felt was missing from the original. I then went in with a dry brushed white paint and touched up the raised areas, furthering the contrast.I also wanted to make this piece look like it had been sitting in an old cemetery for a long time, so I then went in with a green "moss" paint wash in the recessed areas of the bottom of the statue and around the skeleton's face. I had originally planned on using an old Spore Kit from Brutal Rust to give an added flocked moss texture to the piece, but decided against it after seeing the great results of just the green paint.
Finally, I went in with a watered down black wash and added "streaks" around the eyes, nose and mouth of the skeleton. I wanted to keep the most detail in the focal point of the piece.
And after all of the various paints and washes were complete (and I was quite happy with the results), I wanted to add one final accent to really push it over the top. I had an old Webcaster Glue Gun sitting in my basement, so I decided to fire it up and create a veil of cobwebs to give it one last element of creepiness. I had never actually used a Webcaster Gun before, but I gave it a try. I'm sure with practice the webs will look much better, but I'm still happy with the way they turned out here and they photograph REALLY well!
This thing is going to look great in the Cemetery display this year, and it didn't take much time to give it that "little something extra."
After everything was done, the only thing left to do was take the statue to the local cemetery and get some photos!
