10th Anniversary

Original release date of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow was 10 years ago today - November 19, 1999.

My wife and I were probably on our 3rd date at the time we went to see it.

McFarlane Horseman

Image Source:

http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3489655613&size=large

Have to pick one of these up on EBay some day.

Read the legs on some of these were made of soft rubber and prone to rot.

Perfect.

Happy Halloween

Halloween Night 2009.

First time it wasn't sunny & 70 degrees on Halloween in a long time.

Warm but mostly rainy.

A small turn out but still better than last year.

We had a blast hosting a family party and our candy crazed little girls got to play with their cousins past 11 o'clock.

Hope everyone had a great night, Happy Halloween !

Steve

Legend Nights

Philipsburg Manor in a torrential downpour this past Saturday was a slop fest. Mud, mud and a heavy helping of more mud made getting around and enjoying the haunt rather difficult.

It was raining so hard at times you could not hear the actors, mostly stationed in barns or some type of enclosure. 2 witches who braved the elements, tried really hard to work the crowd amidst a terrible soaking. Drenchy Hollow!

Awesome Tim Burton inspired scarecrows through out. Really tall, 10 -12 feet high - burning real candles within. Definitely see incorporating more height to my own next year. Mine leans forward a little and comes in at about 7ft. By the way ...the little twerp was found later that night face planted from being monsooned upon. The burlap gets really heavy when wet.

The Horseman was great. Atop a giant black horse he came across as both monstrous and intimidating.

Legend Days

Lopped Off...Clean as Dandelion Heads

The Horseman grasps a freshly chopped head with the aid of some well hidden fishing line.

The Witch of the Western Woods

Overall darker theme this year. Days of wooden cut outs are long gone.

A few shots of an updated witch after moving some things to the front yard.

Veil material completely covers the body now, a creepier look I think. A necklace and some "smokey eyes" painted on by my wife. She hated how the eyes looked before. A cheap, plastic Friday the 13th prop axe repainted.

The Horseman still needs to be put together ....should be out this weekend.

Want to put a better effort into lighting this year...waiting on some LED's from minionsweb.

ScreenCaptures

Source:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://museum.enchanted-rose.org/pictures/albums/movie_sleepyhollow/screencaptures01/thumb_01sleepyhollow_008.jpg&imgrefurl=http://museum.enchanted-rose.org/pictures/thumbnails.php%3Falbum%3D86&usg=__cXgU65403mH2RlMIr1rlKFU2TdI=&h=55&w=100&sz=3&hl=en&start=53&um=1&tbnid=rgIfvUmzFEDtTM:&tbnh=45&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvan%2Bgarrett%2Bsleepy%2Bhollow%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1

A few cool screenshots from a place I recently came across.

There I realized how off base I was with the Crone's veil. It goes down to the floor! I'll have to fire my research department for that slip up. I'll see if it's possible to improve accuracy a little there without losing all of the dress details. I really hate being the only guy on line at the fabric store...maybe I can just use creepy cloth for it.

Family and I are making a trip to Van Cortlandt Manor for The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze this Friday night. We had a blast last year and we're looking forward to it again this year.

The following weekend it's minus the kids & back to Sleepy Hollow for Legend Nights at Philipsburg Manor & the ride of the Headless Horseman.

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/

We also will make our annual trip to Clinton Place in Hackensack, NJ. There you will find beautiful old homes on both sides of the long, closed street that decorate and go all out for Halloween. Original scary stuff and some really cute things for the younger kids as well...like The Great Pumpkin, Wizard of Oz and Nightmare Before Christmas. If you're in Northern NJ you should really check it out. Link to pictures below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_kay_1/sets/72157602675701646/

Where Brave Men Will Not Venture

The Witch Of The Western Woods

Some mention was made also of the woman in white, that haunted the dark glen at Raven Rock, and was often heard to shriek on winter nights before a storm, having perished there in the snow. The chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman, who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the church-yard.

Some shots before I move things into the front yard for this years display...Probably on Saturday.

The tree stump is actually a speaker I bought on EBay & repainted.

The Crone

About 1/2 way there. Still needs a major paint job on the dress. It just eats white paint and it still looks black. I need more creep cloth as well. Her chest skin color needs to match her hands & face as well.
Kind of like her sitting down pose...My display lacks a good visual starting point. So...It might look cool if she was in front ...say sitting on a tree stump with an axe embedded into it while holding a copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Witch

Late in the ball game but I'm putting a thing or two together and trying to have some new things by Columbus Day. With 2 kids and a love for a certain football team that's bent on providing me endless grief again this season - venturing into the garage has been a task.

The new figure will pose with a (throat slash\off with your head) hand gesture. Once again hands purchased from http://www.ghostride.com/. Repainted in a bruised, raw & weathered look.

Thick wire was cut and pierced through the fingers to allow the digits to bend and hold shape.

Both hands were originally straight at the wrist like the one holding the skull.

The "pointing hand" was cut at the wrist on an angle. A long wire was placed through the separated pieces to hold them together and Great Stuff was used to fill in the missing chunk of wrist. Excess foam was than cut & sanded down to complete the hands downward angle at the wrist.

I really have the urge to make this into the murderous Lady Van Tassel instead of the Western Woods Crone but it may prove too difficult. The Crone is filthy and inaccuracies are easily hidden by painting on decay and rot much like I did when creating The Horseman.

Also arriving today... the first dress I ever purchased for myself. A proud moment for sure. The dress is a real beauty -Black crushed panne and red satin. A Gothic vampire 18th century number - $80 (ouch) after 20% off.

A real shame....what I'm about to do to it. Tears, Great Stuff and texture spray paint.