DIY Halloween Reaper

We made a new guy to creep our front yard.  He turned out pretty cool.  A stone-like Grimm Reaper to haunt our cemetery at night. Below you'll find instructions to make your own.  It was pretty straight forward to make, but make sure you have two people to help drape the fabric.

Supplies:

For the body:

One foam head (from craft store)

About 12' of 1" - 1 1/2" PVC pipe (Habitat for Humanity Restore had plenty, for cheap!)

Either an umbrella stand, or 6 feet of PVC that is one size larger than used for the body

Two 90 degree PVC elbows ( shoulders) and one cross fitting for neck

Optional but recommended: Two 45 degree PVC elbows (gives a more realistic shape to arms)

PVC adhesive (to glue PVC pieces)

Hacksaw (to cut PVC)

Chicken Wire

Foam Pool Noodles or foam insulation from the plumbing section of hardware store

To make the coverings for the reaper:

5 yards of Gauze fabric or 1 Gray King Sheet for cloak 

Two yards of canvas fabric for shawl

To make monster mud (enough for 3-4 reapers:

 One five gallon bucket (mixing bucket)

1 gallon of Black paint

5 gallons All Purpose Joint Compound

Optional but recommended: Mixing bit (find it in the painting section)

Thompson's water seal for masonry (waterproofing)

Plastic Sheeting for ground to protect your surroundings

Build your prototype: 

We went very minimalistic with the body shape, just using 90 degree elbows for the shoulders. With the next reaper, we will also use 45 degree elbows for the...elbows. If you don't have pool noodles lying around, the plumbing section will have nice foam pieces to bulk up the arms.

After cutting and dry fitting the PVC, follow the instructions for PVC adhesive to glue the pieces together, posing as you want it (will it be holding a scythe? a Lantern? Just standing ominously?)

Use the chicken wire to provide a rough body shape. Pay special attention to the shoulders and clavicle area, as the PVC looks too blocky if you don't provide some curves.

Dry fit the clothes to get the look you want. We used lots of safety pins to get the shape right, it took a couple of tries. In the end we just cut a hole through the sheet and draped most of the sheet over the front, and pinned folds around the back to give a more streamlined look.

Prepare for some heavy lifting, as you prepare to apply the "monster mud", which is just a 5:1 mixture of all-purpose joint compound to the cheapest black or grey latex paint you can find. 6 gallons will be enough for at least three full sized reapers, or some other Halloween projects. Now is a good time to make sure that your PVC form is very stable; otherwise it'll tip right over when you lay the mud-soaked sheets on the body.

To prepare monster mud, pour about 2.5 gallons of the joint compound and 0.5 gallons of the paint into a new bucket.

Mix the joint compound and black paint in a large bucket and mix with mixer attachment on your drill.

Now you can dip your first sheet layer (the robe) into the monster mud. Dunking the entire sheet in the bucket won't work; instead dip piece by piece, then sandwich the pieces together to quickly and efficiently spread the monster mud. Remove as much as you can from the sheet to reduce the weight, but it will still be quite heavy.

Now lift up the sheet and carefully place it on the body form. Adjust the layout, and try not to tip it over. Then wait. Let it dry out overnight, then adjust the layers to give a more robe-like appearance, pinning up the ends around the back. Add folds and creases to give a more detailed appearance, and allow to dry for a few days.

After the first layer is mostly dry, repeat with the second layer (canvas or gauzy cloth). This will be lighter as it is smaller in area, and doesn't absorb nearly as much monster mud, but be sure that this won't tip over your reaper either! Then wait again.

After a few days, the monster mud should be dry, and it will feel like papier mache. Apply a nice layer of water seal over everything exposed, to protect against bad weather.

To mount on your lawn, you can either use an umbrella stand, or you can just drive a 6 foot piece of PVC pipe that is barely larger (internal diameter) than your reaper body (external diameter), about 2 feet into the ground. The reaper will slide right into the PVC piece and lean eerily.

Add filigree like a solar powered lamp, glowing eyes, a scythe, etc. 

When night fell, we think adding a little solar spot light will help illuminate him at night.  Can't wait to see if people think he's real on Halloween night. 

Happy Haunting!  🎃

xo
Cathleen

 

Halloween Outdoor Tour 2023 🕸

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I was never a summer person. Don't like swimming, don't like bathing suits, being hot, bugs, etc.  I enjoy cooler temps, flannel shirts, gardening outside and not sweating profusely.  Decorating for the holidays. All of the things that come along with Fall. Pumpkin Spice coffee, apple picking, Fall leaf peeping, etc. etc.  In July and August I was so bored with summer that I started making gravestones out of foam board and we had a lot left over so we made some pillars too.   Joe cut out the designs for me with his saw and I took on the painting and design on the computer and using a Dremel to etch in the letters. I had a lot of fun seeing how professional they ended up looking. Much better than hand lettering words.   I am still tweaking a few things outside and have yet to add pumpkins but here is how it looks on Oct. 2nd.  🕸

I will say we did not invent the wheel when it came down to the technique. Sure we tweaked a few things here and there but for the most part we followed this guy on Youtube.  I changed the gray paint for example because I couldn't find what he used in the store.  I also added white plastic urn pots to the top of our pillars with glamorous skulls and faux Halloween flowers to the pots. Gives it a classy look!  I found black plastic chain from Lowes and two hooks to create a little gate. 

On either side of the pillars I added Shepard Hooks from the garden center at Lowes with two hanging solar lanterns.   We sprinkled bits of moss everywhere.

We still have the full size wooden coffin and wooden stakes we made from old pallets from last year. Added some faux moss to the front flower pots and of course classic Fall Mums. 

My favorite tombstone is the Bram Stoker one. It's size and shape and are so classic.

These were the only two tombstones that we have left from year's past.  The others suffered splitting over the years so we finally discarded them.

Geneva Oedlia Hilliker Ellroy's grave.  She is the mother of famous crime novelist James Ellroy, murdered while on a date when he was just a little boy.  Weird story -she lived in my Grandparent's rental house and my grandparent's had to identify her body down at the local morgue!  

Cliff Burton's grave.  He was a former member of Metallica, died in a bus accident in Sweden while they were on tour. 

Joey Jordison's grave.  Former member of Slipknot. 

Thomas Midgley Jr. - "had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history." RIP

Don't google this guy, H.H. Holmes if you don't want to be mortified! He is claimed to be America's first serial killer. 

Sarah Good, you all know her from the Salem Witch trials.

This flower bed was redone this year so it has a smaller footprint than last year, but I was able to still fit the circle of Orange C9 lights just fine. I added some flickering lights to the outside. 

New this year is the Halloween doormat.  I think I have a thing for Spider's.

Our hanging lanterns have LED flame bulbs in them and they add the right amount of spookiness to the porch.

I found some purple and yellow mums at the the nursery and the fountain grass adds a nice fall touch.  New this year too are corn husks added to the pots in the backrow. Still need pumpkins to round out this area.

One of my favorite new touches this year are the curtains that I hung from the porch. Instead of buying muslin fabric or Halloween specific curtains I went to the At Home store and found six sheer gray 95" curtains. I cut up the bottoms and added some tears. My kid had fun splattering red paint to a few of them and some bloody handprints.  We bought small PVP pipe that we cut to fit exactly between each porch pillar and hung them on hooks that we leave up year round for our Christmas lights. When the wind blows they sure do look creepy!

👀 If you notice we have a new garden flag -an Etsy splurge with a cool early 1900's Hill House font. 

Our Dead and Breakfast sign still holding up after all these years.  One of my favorite past decorations.

Obviously I need to do a few touch ups, light straightening out the these lights, but I was so excited to post pics! Our Hydrangeas are drying out nicely and turning brown. Will leave for the creepy factor. 

My terminator Skeleton as I like to call him is chillin' on the porch now, but I move him around a few times a month. Can you spot Chucky in the window?

I left my hanging ferns because they remind me of the Haunted Mansion at Disney. 

Here's the yard, pretty much all lit up at night!  I added lots of solar lights because it really helps at night for the Trick Or Treaters to see the decorations.  I think my neighbor's at this point think we're pretty obnoxious.  😁

In the backyard we have a more peaceful vibe -a metal pumpkin lantern, cute Sanderson Sister Hocus Pocus throw pillows and cozy Pendleton blankets.  But don't wander out into the yard, you might run into a ghost or two!

 Happy October and Happy Halloween....!

xo
Cathleen 

Halloween 2023 Indoor Tour

It's October 1st and I'm pretty much done decorating the house for Halloween. I was so eager to get started this year since I spent several days in July and August making tombstones and cemetery gates for the yard.  I have also picked up a few new things from thrift stores these past few months. So here's our Halloween tour...

I hung a five candlestick candelabra in the foyer. I found it for a just a few dollars and spray painted it black. The candles are battery powered so I don't have to worry about the house catching fire. 

The entry way now sports a vintage wooden urn that I picked up at an antique store.  The hanging bat is new this year too.  Each year I try to arrange things a bit differently than in the past just to make it bit less boring.

 

I hung floating black candles in the foyer that are controlled by a remote. They add a lot of whimsical charm. I used tiny clear command hooks to attach them to the ceiling. The strings are very thin clear fishing wire. 

I liked this hanging lantern that looks like a skeleton hand coming out of the wall. It's battery powered and looks very cool when it's dark.

This year I ordered some digital Halloween files from Etsy that I was going to print at home. For some reason the files were too large so I placed an order for prints from Shutterfly. They have options for large prints on cardstock in various sizes. I think I ordered around eight different prints. I had fun swapping out summer prints with the dark academia style ones. I also added some prints to the front wallpapered wall. Joe is going to love seeing all of the new stuff I hung while he was away in Europe!

The masked bust lady is new this year from Home Goods. I am loving Baroque style decor lately.

I found two very heavily beaded throw pillows at Home Goods as well. I love the dark gray cotton farmhouse fabric mixed with the glamorous beading.

This year we put our teal sofa upstairs and added these velvet chairs. Finally the living room has a cohesive look and also the colors just really work with Fall decor. 

My crows above the sink got a new stick this year. It was very easy to wander over to our forest and pick a new one out. My son braved standing on the counter to tie it up for me with twist ties. 

Fake worms on red pears for the kitchen Halloween win! I can't believe how realistic and gross these look. 

The "bar" area has quite a few new additions of apothecary jars and art work. Still waiting on the second half of my Shutterfly delivery so this is not totally complete.  The sheer lamp spiderweb lace covers are from the At Home Store. The metal Salem Brewery sign is new this year too.

I really wish I had the know-how to get this vintage wooden sconce wired in. For now I just put it on a nail in the wall. It looks so great.

Th eat in kitchen has the bleeding candle chandelier this year.  You can see that we've already burned them some. 

The Grandfather clock got some purple vines over the top and the chime adds a very spooky feel to our house this year.  What is creepier than listening to a clock ticking in pure silence.  The furry black spider is from T.J. Maxx. His name is Kitty.

This year I had so much fun finding books for the coffee table that include many from Grim Grisly and classics like Frankenstein and Edgar Allen Poe.  I added my stick of Sage too. The fortune teller globe adds a very nice touch especially when we get out the Tarot Cards.  

The perfect cozy spot for reading all those great novels. 

I found a few larger crows at Michaels this year. I still love placing branches in the corners like this to display the birds. Four velvet pumpkins placed in a potted plant turn the houseplant into Fall decor.

Another new Bust sits on the fireplace hearth. Her eyes light up red. 

I discovered Youtube has Halloween screensavers that will play for around 10 hours if you like adding ambiance to your house without having sound. Good for when you want to have music playing in the background as well. 

I had fun this year at Michaels buying lots of faux flowers with eyeballs in them or foliage to add to existing houseplants.  And I have to say that my existing decor is already pretty neutral so adding Halloween accents isn't too cluttered feeling. 

One of my favorite little corners is this one, where I keep a little upside down glass lamp that is basically a little greenhouse for several small houseplants. I popped in a few eyeball flowers and some fake butterflies and it really gives it a creepy factor.

The kitchen table got a new table cloth this year. I sewed one very large lace skeleton fabric tablecloth using fabric from Joann's.  I used black hem tape and hot glue to finish off the edges.   The white napkins are from Etsy. They have embroidered spiders on them and our initial. The stacked skeleton candle sticks are from the At Home Store. 

We have other little spaces decorated around, like the downstairs bath, but I think I make my posts too long!  Tomorrow I will share the outside.

xo

Cathleen

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