Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Getting in the Spirit


The Haunted Hangout got a lot of decorative touches today. There is still more to be done, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel ... or is that the light on the other side?  Ooooooooh.

Here are updated pictures of the four rooms. You'll notice I've decided not to hang curtains. There's enough going on in each room to intrigue the viewer, and I don't want to block light from the outside. Almost everything in each room  is glued down with the exception of the skeletons. I want to get some good individual photos of each one before they get glued in place. (Yes, I'm gluing everything down. I don't want anything flying around when the house gets turned or jostled.)

The game room now has a light made from a flickering tea light with a shade made from part of one of those tiny bottles of shampoo one gets in motels and hotels. It doesn't add much to the illumination, but it does add to the ambience. The awkward table has been replaced with a rectangular one that works much better.  The bench under the window now has playing cards and a book of card game rules. The wooden chair at the left has a cloth seat. One of the pets has crawled out from under the table to see what's going on. He's keeping his favorite bone close.

One of the skeletons is holding the box of game pieces, ready to set up the board.

The wall hanging is made of punch out pieces from one of the Orchids embellished with puff paint and feathers.

I'm pleased with the pose on the skeleton moving the table. He may appear a bit stiff in the photos, but he looks very real in real life. If you look very carefully at the tea light, you can see a translucent bat glued near the top. It's more easily seen in real life.

The two skeletons visiting in the parlor have updated their costumes. The table of potion bottles is new. I build it with more scrap wood and added some bead bottles I had in my stash. The light is another tea light with a bottle shade. They add a nice bit of flickering light to the scene on the ground floor, which is somewhat shaded by the porch roof. The upstairs rooms are brighter and don't seem to need extra light. The rug has been changed out. The paper rug is gone and a piece of fabric from a designer's sample book has replaced it.

The next photo is blurry and I apologize. I want you to see the relaxed pose of the skeleton on the sofa. The pot of flowers that you can barely see in the back corner is also new. A pot from the stash plus some snippets of real life plastic flowerlets.

The reading room also has a new rug from the same source. The furniture has been moved around a bit.

It's easier to see (and appreciate) the corner cabinet in this corner.

If I'd realized this was going to turn into a reading room/library, I would have filled this with books instead of dishes and foodstuffs. Oh, well, it makes the room look cozy. I added some flowerlet snippets to the vase of peacock feathers to give it a little more of a presence.

In the room with the stove, I added two floral pieces, the ghost on the wall, and a cushion to the bench. This fellow looks rather pensive. I wonder what he's thinking about.

The little ghost on the back wall is from the scrapbooking packet. The table with potion bottles that is in the parlor was made for this room, but I like it better in the parlor. This room needs something. Not sure what.

The stove wall needs some decorations and a touch of "rust" on the stove and coal scuttle. I did a wash of raw umber on parts of them, but it doesn't show up.

5 comments:

  1. I love your skeletons. They have a lot of character and personality!

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  2. Thanks, Isabelle. They took on a life of their own as I worked with them. Such characters!

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  3. Tus esqueletos tienen una casa prefecta...te quedan muy bien y tienen mucha personalidad...

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  4. It looks really spooky! :)

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