Monday 26 April 2021

Halloween Haunted House Decoration

This is my prototype for a hanging Halloween decoration using seasonal MDF shapes from BR Crafts.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/qualityquickly?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

I had hoped to make a few more  at the same time but I ran out of orange acrylic paint, doh!  However, I started off by painting both sides of the house white as I wasn’t sure, with the wood being so dark, how the orange would turn out.

IMG_0176

This was followed by two coats of the orange paint I had.

IMG_0205IMG_0206

I covered the MDF ghost and skeletons shapes with white Range Enamel Accents. The bats were simply coloured with a black Sharpie pen and the headstone with a grey one. I then added a few doodles using a black biro, however I am not sure if that was entirely necessary once the oozing green was added.

IMG_0207

When everything was dry it was time to position the figures.  I could see at this point more colour was definitely needed.

IMG_0221

I know I go on and on about the white Ranger Enamel Accents but I love it, however I am, for some reason having difficulty using the coloured range, it just doesn’t flow as freely as it should, I wonder if I just bought old stock, but the fine applicator always seems to be blocked and plenty of pin action is required to free it …… I also wonder if I need to warm the bottles up in hot water or on the radiator before use?  I used the green Accents for the oozing slime.

I could see that again more colour was needed …… so I added a few purple stars, everything was coming together.

Then I decided to go round the back, if something is to be hung I like it to look good on the back too. The first thing I did was coloured the back of all the MDF shapes that were visible in their appropriate colours.

I doodled a couple of spiders webs, outlined windows and edges as well as adding a few clusters of three dots here and there using a black fine liner pen and white gel pen. 

I know the Trick or Treat square isn’t quite right, it's too precise, when I get round to making the rest the paper should be torn with jagged edges.  However, the purple does add colour to the front as it backs two of the windows.  Three confetti spiders finish the “look”, before finally adding a small bail fitting from which to hang the decoration.

I am really pleased with the finished result, there is a little fine tuning to be done on the others I plan to make plus I have a few more different Halloween shapes that are also begging to be used ……. but first I need to wait until I can get my hands on some more orange paint.