I love scarecrows.  There’s something eerily majestic about the way they stand guard over isolated fields, just swaying in the wind.  They’re selfless as they monitor everything that happens, day and night, silently watching.  Waiting.  I’m pretty sure they eat the birds that make the mistake of landing on them, and its entirely possible that they do get off their perches and walk around while I’m asleep, but, I can’t confirm that. With all of that said, if you’re interested in building a scarecrow, Nightfisher posted some great details on the build of his Creepy Scarecrow over at the HalloweenForum that are worth looking at. This project started by hot glueing some burlap over a foam skull and stretching it tight so most of the features of the skull would be visible through the burlap. After adding some stains and shadows Nightfisher added some large metal staples along the scarecrows mouth.  The skull itself rests on a PVC spine. The shoulders and arms of the scarecrow were crafted with some heavy branches. The torso was created by spraying some Great Stuff over a 2 inch block of styrofoam. Nightfisher did an awesome job of spraying the ribs with expanding foam because I’ve got to imagine that was a fairly stressful process.  A few vines were sprayed over the ribs as well to complete the torso. Once completed some black latex was painted in between the ribs and all of the crevices of the torso.  A base coat of brown was dry brushed on after the black latex dried followed by another layer of black and a final coat of light brown.  The vines were given a coat of green paint.  Finishing touches included adding some stitches to the eyes, wrapping some twine around the joints of the arms and hands, and of course, adding a...

Like a giant sentry standing guard against the legions of masked marauders that descend upon our fair homestead, the pumpkin king provides tasty treats to the interlopers in exchange for their deference.  Ok, that may be waxing poetic a bit, but I’ve always wanted to build a giant Pumpkin King prop to mount to the side of our garage to welcome the neighborhood kids to our house on Halloween. Most of the ones that I’ve seen involve using vines to create the body, and while I think that those tend to look more realistic, there’s just no way that I see myself gathering all of the vine necessary to pull it off.  That’s why the DemonWare Scarecrow tutorial appeals to me, because with a pvc frame, I could actually see myself getting this one done.  You can still use vines to fill in the gaps, but it’s not the major component here.  The best part is you can make this prop as tall as your house if you want (although the size of the pumpkin may make it look a bit disproportionate if you do).     Items needed to complete this include: 20 feet of PVC pipe PVC Fittings: (2) tees, (2) 45° Angle, 2 straight 2 Yards of crinkled cotton (or other cheap material) Fake Pumpkin Sticks- 6 long ones for fingers, 6-8 short ones for ribs Screws Paint (to cover PVC) Raffia (found at local craft store) Wire RIT Dye, 2 boxes of purple or black 5 Gallon Plastic Bucket Optional Materials: Large cardboard box Leaves 50 lbs of sand Eye hooks 5ft 1/2 – 3/4 in metal pipe PVC and connectors for...