The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disney parks attraction of all time. I used to visit Walt Disney World as a kid and stare up aat these awesome portraits in the stretching room as I heard the Gho…
Hi everyone, I had so much fun last month making my first house out of cardboard when I created the San Francisco House that I wanted to create another one from cardboard. I was inspired by this picture I found on the internet of an abandoned house that someone had drawn. When I started out this house had both sides, but it was to large of a house for what I wanted, so I cut the right side of the house off. This was one of my hardest designs to try to create since when I started looking at the inspiration picture that there was not one truly even square or realistic edge in the picture. The porch was also a challenge trying to create it from the picture but I think it turned out darn awesome. I think I spent about 2 weeks this May creating this Haunted Mansion and it was so much fun and enjoyable using the cardboard. Yes it kills my hands to do the Thousands of cuts to create the house but so worth it. I am loving Cardboard and love how I can design so much from it at a Low cost compared to using the fancy Expensive Wood that you have to buy at dollhouse shops. I spent one day alone creating the interior cardboard boxes and trash and newspapers for the interior, plus I didn't have any fireplaces to put into the home so I created some out of cardboard...lol.. I also am loving how the aged patina came out with the painting process of the house, which for the life of me I don't know if I can remember how to recreate it again. Again the use of cardboard made the house so light, but also so hard and sturdy. I hope you all like my newest creation. Have a Wonderful Month! Stan
I was curious if anyone had the AtmosFEARfx Unliving Portraits projection dvd. I am thinking of getting it, but was curious to know how people have us
Greetings, mischievous mortals! John and I are finally well-rested and back to our Haunted Mansion Halloween builds with high spirits. (If you missed our ghostly ballroom dancers, click here!) Today I'll walk you through our build of those beloved cling-ons, the Hitchhiking Ghosts. My favorite reference art of these three is by Doodleman Dan, an indie artist I've featured here before and know from local cons. Unfortunately his art has been stolen and sold by Etsy scammers, so I contacted Dan for permission first to use this, and also purchased his digital files, so he'd be paid. Even if it's just for a personal project, I always want to do right by the indie artists out there - and here's Dan's Etsy shop so you can do the same. (Plus you're really going to want to see his Figment & Slimer stickers, ermergersh. Bet you can tell which ones I already purchased. :D) Now, on to the build! First we base-coated a sheet of pink insulation foam in "Tantalizing Teal," a Sherwin Williams color we matched in a cheaper Lowe's paint. Next John worked some digital magic to fit all 3 ghosts onto a single 4X8 sheet of foam, as well as extending and detaching their arms: I traced all the lines in pencil: Then John began cutting them out with a large craft blade: I'm amazed how detailed John got with these cuts; no power tools needed! Next I painted in the shadows with a darker shade of the same teal: It's starting to look pretty cool, right? This is not delicate work; I was fairly sloppy and free with the paint, which was actually quite fun. And finally, using an even darker shade of the same teal, I painted in all the outlines. This step made me very happy. Look how they came to life! Ahhhhh they're just SO FUN. You'll notice they've all been disarmed, though. What's up with that? WELL, I had this idea... and it's one of those ideas that morphed into something much bigger and cooler in the end. At first I just wanted their arms to rock on a pivot, so you could bop them like a bobble head and get a little motion. So we did that. John added PVC pipe joints, metal rods, and a little silicone lubricant so the arms rocked rather delightfully when bopped. But THEN we got to thinking, "What if the arms were motorized, so you don't have to bop them?" We've never motorized anything, y'all, so I can't tell you how proud we are of the Frankensteined contraption we came up with: BEHOLD This was the result of some intense brainstorming, problem-solving, and at least one lightbulb moment when I realized we could speed up a too-slow motor with a gear. So satisfying. Even better, the only thing we had to purchase was this 3-pack of mini motors for $16, which includes the connectors and electrical plugs. From there John made the wooden gear and twisted aluminum bars, which we already had. The lower hanging bar acts as a counterweight, and later we added even more weight to help fine-tune the rocking speed. But wait. There's STILL MORE. In addition to making our ghostly cut-outs move, we also wanted them to transform at night. Enter... BLACK LIGHT PAINT. My good friend and prop master Kevin sent us some Wild Fire white, which is apparently the only industry paint that glows a true white - and even better, is perfectly clear in daylight. So after a little experimenting and a lot of swatch cards, I used a combo of Wild Fire with a greenish teal we mixed ourselves from cheap glow-in-the-dark paints. Did you know cheap glow-in-the-dark paints fluoresce under black light? Before this, I didn't! Because I was sparing with both paints they look the same color here, but in person you can see a variation in the glow from white/blue to green/teal, which I really like. We've never used glow paint before, so here's something else that's cool: using a combo of both black light and regular light! This is Gus before I added any glow paint... And here he is after, same lighting: SO COOL. But of course the real magic happens when you turn OFF the regular lights: I thinned out the Wild Fire to a watery consistency and painted in his robe, just for a hint of glowy shading. I used a very light hand with the glow paints, so I can tell you a tiny bit goes a loooong way. Here's a fun shot of Phineas, aka luggage guy, on the table: Here you can see the color difference between the white Wild Fire (top right) and our cheaper glow-in-the-dark teal mix (bottom left.) The two colors glow VERY similar on the actual cut-out, but if you look closely you can see them side-by-side on the carpet bag: one more blue, one more green. Btw, be sure to paint IN black light when using black light paints, so you can see what you're doing. We bought this 4-pack of exterior grade black lights we plan to use around the yard for Halloween, and they're incredible. (And on sale right now for 20% off!) This is before I painted out the shiny aluminum bars, but you can see it's a SUPER impressive transition from regular to black light: Like magic! (Oooh, y'all, I suddenly want to make giant Tamatoa cut-out. Eh? EH? Like a whole undersea Realm of the Monsters vibe?) (Focus, Jen, focus.) I'm not sure if we'll have this changing lighting effect for Halloween or not; the trick-or-treaters start long before dark here, so most will only see these fellas in daylight. It's nice to have a glowy surprise for the later visitors, though. Yesterday we did the finishing touches on the bases and bars, and now, at long last, our Hitchhiking Ghosts are ready to follow you home: One more transition, because it's so dang cool: I hope you enjoyed seeing our Hitchhikers come together! John and I are already well into our next builds: the Victorian horse-drawn Doom Buggy for the yard, and a glowing ghostly bride for the roof. So stay tuned for progress reports on those, and please keep your suggestions/requests for other Mansion elements coming! (I still don't know what my costume will be. HALP.) ***** P.S. I have to show you my new Fall pillows, because AHHHHH they make me happy: I found an Eva pillow! These are all pillow covers, actually, which means they're cheaper and easier to store later, a win-win. Here's the other couch: Can't believe I've never had orange pillows in here before. Or velvet pillows! So soft, so cozy. Again, they're all pillow covers, so I just covered what we already had. (We also snagged a couple of $3 thrift pillows since the packs gave me extras.) And don't worry, I got you: here come the Amazon links! - 4-pack of 18-inch Maple Leaf covers - 2-pack of 20-inch velvet orange covers - Black Cat & Pumpkins cover Anything you purchase through my links or the Epbot Amazon shop gives a little back to help fund our Halloween builds and also feeding our cats, so thank you for helping support us while you shop!
Sarah: My daughter, Lyric, as Madame Leota from The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. To make this I used 2 sheets of foam board taped together to make the table top...
"Our tour begins here in this gallery, here where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appeared in their corruptible mortal state. Kindly step all the way in, please, and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now." The Stretching Room is the first major show scene in all versions of the Haunted Mansion. Guests enter this octagonal room from the Foyer as the Ghost Host welcomes them. Four paintings, flanked by candle-wielding gargoyles, hang from the walls in this chamber, wh
The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney's most popular attractions, and it's no wonder why. It brings together some rather sophisticated (and simple) special F/X developed by Disney Imagineers, and has captivated generations of visitors. One of the coolest sequences is the quintet of singing plaster busts in the graveyard. How did they do it? As it turns out, with a bit of cleverness and a video projector. The projector casts an image of the singing actors onto the smooth, precisely-aligned bust su
The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney's most popular attractions, and it's no wonder why. It brings together some rather sophisticated (and simple) special F/X developed by Disney Imagineers, and has captivated generations of visitors. One of the coolest sequences is the quintet of singing plaster busts in the graveyard. How did they do it? As it turns out, with a bit of cleverness and a video projector. The projector casts an image of the singing actors onto the smooth, precisely-aligned bust su
August 9th is the 50th Anniversary of the Haunted Mansion. Find out how Disney World and Disneyland are celebrating here!
Explore giddygirlie's 23106 photos on Flickr!
Here's a papercraft Haunted Mansion stretching portrait bookmark to print, fold, assemble and enjoy. Disney Printable: Haunted Mansion Portrait Chamber Bookmark (via Super Punch)
Make your own DIY Disney Haunted Mansion Halloween decorations for your next Halloween party or lawn decorations.
Ooooooh aren’t these cool!!!! What a great idea to make large lawn art in the form of ghostly dresses out of chicken wire. They are made simply by shaping the chicken wire. You can see the ev…
Creating this portrait was an incredibly fun project that only took a few days, and all you need is Photoshop and the Prequel app. Here's a step-by-step guide of what I did to create this portrait so you can follow along if you want to make your own, too.
The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney's most popular attractions, and it's no wonder why. It brings together some rather sophisticated (and simple) special F/X developed by Disney Imagineers, and has captivated generations of visitors. One of the coolest sequences is the quintet of singing plaster busts in the graveyard. How did they do it? As it turns out, with a bit of cleverness and a video projector. The projector casts an image of the singing actors onto the smooth, precisely-aligned bust su
From Charleston to Morocco, these 13 haunted hotels from around the globe seem to be calling to us on a supernatural level.
Digital arts teacher, Paul Messerle has created a spooktacular Haunted Mansion setup in his living room for Halloween. Have a look!
I haven’t seen the Haunted Mansion movie, and regardless of whether you have you might still like these cross stitch patterns inspired by the movie. Designed by Amelia Wedemeyer for Disney Fa…
