Revised 12 Ft. Skeleton Prop

The revised 12-foot skeleton prop for 2025!

We're getting down to the wire, but I was still able to get one more prop off of the "to do" list! A few years ago, I picked up the popular 12-foot skeleton from Home Depot, as I needed to add some height to my display. I originally corpsed the head and added a full reaper's cloak made from a roll of black fabric and creepy cloth, ensuring that it looked different to all of the other 12 foot skeletons in all of the other yards. 

Halloween, 2024.

And while I liked that initial look, I didn't LOVE it. It always looked a little too "cartoon-y" and the proportions always looked off. And whenever it got wet from rain, it became very heavy and everything would sag. So after last year's incident where the base and head snapped and broke due to being blown over from high winds, I knew this was the year to completely revamp him...

High wind damage, Halloween, 2024.

I first secured a replacement base and a new head-to-neck junction to replace the broken pieces. After all of the replacement pieces were gathered and installed, I first went to work staining the entire skeleton. I wanted to get that darker, more aged and dried look. And while it took a bit for the stain to fully dry on a few of the pieces due to the nature of the smooth plastic, it immediately looked ten times better than the corpsed flesh treatment I had originally done.

Replacement head-to-neck junction from Frawsted Creations.

The next step was to add a new cloak. And based on a cool reference photo shared by Cemetery friend Brent Wilson, I wanted to add whisps of fabric to further the decayed look. This lighter treatment of fabric would also keep the entire skeleton lighter in weight overall, and less likely to catch and winds and possibly get blown over again.

I ended up using the original old black fabric, cut into long thin strips, and then loosely wrapped around the legs and arms, further adding larger tattered pieces for the waist and shoulders. I added a few pieces of tattered stretched creepy cloth as highlight accent pieces over that and called it done. A lot less fabric ended up looking way better!

For restraining the overall approach to detailing it, I couldn't be any happier with the final look. A quick turnaround and setup in a new location toward the back my display was just the refresh it needed. I added an off-white uplighting to add that extra bit of creepiness and attention at night and now it's once again a main focal point in the Cemetery, towering over the rest of the props in the display.

Home Depot Eternal Embrace Tombstone Prop Upgrade

My first prop of the season is done! I recently picked up a 40 in. Grave & Bones Eternal Embrace Tombstone from Home Depot. Another really great sculpt on a big box store-bought piece, and with a little bit of added detail would make a fantastic new statue for my Cemetery display. It would also make a great companion piece to last year's Grim Reaper statue project.

The finished piece, shot at my local cemetery...

I made quick work of detailing this piece, using a similar technique to last year's: start with a wash of black paint for the recessed areas and a light wash of white paint in the highlight areas for added detail and depth, followed by a quick dry brushing of green for recessed areas of moss. I then went in and added drippy black tears from the blackened eyes, streaking down the front of the piece. I wanted to concentrate the most detail into the facial area creating a subtle main focal point. The final step would then be a heavy coating of air compressor-and-webcaster hot glue stick spider webbing to give it a well-aged look...

The original piece, right out of the box. Really not bad, but lacks any detail or depth...

With a black paint wash added to darken the recessed shadow areas.

Now with a white paint wash added to pump up the contrast of the highlight areas...

And then a dry brushed green for a mossy effect in the recessed areas. The moss really gives it an aged, organic look.

The final step of adding black tears down the face from blackened eyes, and then a heavy coating of spider webs to give it a decayed, creepy, old look. And the added detail in the faces creates a great, natural focal point to the piece.

I'm REALLY happy with the way this turned out. I was able to detail this piece in short time and the old, decayed look was achieved with relative ease. The cherry on top being that I was able to get my compressor and webcaster gun working correctly and got much better looking webbing than on last year's statue.

Another great piece ready to go into this year's display and the motivation to jump into my next project on the list. Let's go.

  

Home Depot 12 Ft. Skeleton Upgrade

Something that I have noticed this year is that EVERYONE around me has a Home Depot 12 Ft. Skeleton in their front yard now. Heck, some people have two or more! I was suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out) last year, so I ended up biting the bullet and buying one for my display, too. (Really I wanted to add one because I realized that my display was lacking in anything over 7 feet in height and I needed something to break the flat, limiting, horizontal feel of the cemetery setup...)

Immediately upon buying it, I already knew that there was no way that my display would have just another 12 ft. skeleton plopped into it. At this point, these skeletons have become so commonplace you almost ignore them in any display. (Personal opinion, of course...)

So to get mine to stand out, I decided that I wanted to have a 12 ft. corpsed, cloaked reaper!

I started with the basic assembly, but did a tried-and-true drop cloth and heatgun corpsing technique to the head and neck, the only features of the skeleton that would be visible.

After attaching the stained, dried flesh corpse head, I wrapped the entire figure in a black fabric hooded cloak, complete with creepy cloth to give it a few different black hues and to give it extra textured layers. After pinning all of the fabric sections together, it was time to drop him into the front yard.

He now sits at the beginning section of the cemetery display, the first thing you'll see as you come up the street for trick-or-treat. He guards over a coffin that will contain an old skeleton with internal lights and fog, and the entire scene is bathed in a new LED green strobe light. I'm running out of time for this year, but the next step will be to add some sort of wooden staff to his hand. I'm leaning toward some sort of illuminated lantern, but we'll see...

I'm super excited to see the new skeleton reaper in position, and with the simple upgrades will definitely bring a little something extra compared to the sea of out-of-the-box 12 ft. skeletons that everyone else has.

As my young neighbor says, "Uhh.. creepy cool?"

  

Home Depot Grim Reaper Statue Prop Upgrade

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!

  

Highbury Cemetery, 2023

The 20th Anniversary edition of Highbury Cemetery is in the books, and what a wild ride it has been. Here in Northeast Ohio, we seem to have locked into a new traditional weather pattern for October. That is, the month starts off sunny and warm, quickly turns colder and rainy (Every. Single. Day.), and then I go insane hoping that we get a break from a less-than-desirable forecast for trick-or-treat night.

And for about the fourth year in a row, we somehow get very lucky. The Candy Corn gods look down upon us with favor and give us a window of perfectly dry, completely windless weather in order to get trick-or-treat completed without a hitch.

This year was no different. After a morning of constant rain, trick-or-treat ended up being another success in that we got a nice crowd (a trophy!) and an evening of dry weather with no wind. Very fortunate, indeed.

I was able to put out the full setup, with a few new and a few older pieces throughout the display. I also had time to really focus on my lighting again this year, which makes a huge difference in the photos and video. There is always a list of things that I didn't get to or just didn't get to add this year, but overall I'm really happy with this year's display. It gives a nice, solid base for next year's display.

So without further ado, I'll get to the good stuff... 

Ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present Highbury Cemetery, 2023. Enjoy!

I didn't even mention the Home Depot 12 foot skeleton! I finally gave in and bought one this year, as I was looking for some added height in the cemetery. I couldn't just put him into the display looking like every other 12 foot skeleton in the neighborhood, so I ended up corpsing the head, neck, and chest, and then wrapped him in a makeshift reaper cloak. I placed him on the left side of the display, cutting a dark, creepy figure to bookend the cemetery. He looked great standing above the skeleton in the fog-emitting coffin, but I'll have to adjust the lighting for next year to increase his prominence. He will definitely play a bigger part in next year's display.

When all was said and done, we ended up having 212 trick-or-treaters, parents, neighbors, and curious onlookers through the gates of Highbury Cemetery this year. A little bit lower than last year's total, but I'll still take it considering the uncertainty of the weather.

And before I end it, I can't go without giving a special thanks to everyone who helped put on the show this year. I couldn't do it without your help and your presence in just making the whole night a ton of fun. Special 20th Anniversary Highbury Cemetery thank you t-shirts go out to: Mrs. Highbury, Christian Highbury, Sharon, Karen, Laurie, and Brother Scrapes (who made his second appearance in two years!).

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So there you have it. Halloween, 2023 is done and dusted and the Cemetery is closed for another year. Twenty years of home haunting and still going strong. The success of this year again has me motivated to start on next year's display. A few improvements on existing ideas and a few new ideas to add to the mix...

Only 362 days until Halloween. Are you ready?