Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Lights! Camera! Action!


Well, lights and camera, anyway. Today I happened into Big Lots in search of a new shower curtain. They didn't have one I liked, but in wandering through the seasonal aisle I spotted a string of 20 LED lights in the shape of cheerful little ghosts. They were too cute to pass up, and since I hadn't figured out any kind of lighting system for the Haunted House, I bought a string.

The little perishers are rather awkward to work with, as they are bound by plastic coated triple wires that don't take kindly to holding a bend. I'd hoped to have the ghosts floating around inside, but without doing some major cutting to move the string from room to room, it just wasn't possible.

So, the ghosts have formed a greeting committee outside. Is it a warning-off committee or welcoming committee? I think the latter; they do babble on a lot in a friendly way. The photos show the string taped in place. The porch roof will mask the wires on the ground floor, and the Washington 2.0 has a nice overhang on the upper floor where the wires can be tucked away. Tomorrow I have to figure out how the string will be fastened. I'm thinking a series of two small holes drilled in the porch roof and the attic floor where it overhangs, then a thin wire around the light wires and twist to fasten. The twisted bit won't be seen in the attic, and the twisted wire on the porch roof can probably be hidden under a shingle or masked with moss or a spider or something.

I may have a better idea by tomorrow. (Suggestions welcome!)

I pulled out all of the autumn/Hallowe'en decorations I could find. Once the lights are fixed in place, I can start filling window boxes and adding shrubbery and vines to the house, along with a whole herd of spiders and bats and ...

If you ignore the camera glare, the lights shine a nice spooky blue. It looks really good in real life.

I have a couple of battery operated tea lights in the accessories box. Somehow they'll find a place inside. Don't want too much light on the subject. Might frighten the skeletons!

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