Monday, August 25, 2008

Nightmare Playgrounds 2007: Twisted Fairy Tales

Nightmare Playgrounds proudly presents Twisted Fairy Tales. This was our most ambitious haunt yet. The amountof time and effort that was put into it easily dwarfed all of our other efforts.

I want to thank everyone who helped us on our haunt. Folks even came by while I had to go to the paying job and helped my wife work on the build. If I took the time to mention everyone who helped and how much we appreciate it I would have to do a whole other blog. We just want you all to know it was wonderful having you with us and we could not have done it without you. We love you guys.
Also, I want to thank my wife who took my vision of a pretty neat haunt and made it our best yet. She took a good idea and made it scary and worked really hard on it. Above all she made a haunt that would have been a bit two dimensional into a three dimensional place where things could sneak up and jump out at you. On to the pictures and descriptions.









How do you make a Twisted Fairy Tale Forest? Well first you build 1x4 frames, use some PVC for lightweight but sturdy branches and wrap them in chicken wire. My arms looked like I had been using cats as bowling balls. But, hey, bleed for the cause.






Then carry them to the garage where no cars can park for 3 months . Yup. We started this in August.


















Wrap them in canvas and muslin, staple chicken wire to the ceiling for texture and fasten the bases together.








Then coat them in the wonderful substance: MONSTER MUD. Slather it with the creamy goodness. Don't forget to wear gloves and clothes you don't mind ruining.

Do some minor sculpting of a creepy tree.







Paint some visual texturing. Have a nice sturdy platform sitting in the middle of your trees (The better to pounce on you from, my dear).


Paint the creepy tree some more.



















Then ask an expert how a tree looks.


































And then follow her advice.
















Mark creepy forest off the list.

Now for Granny's house.













2x4 frame, 1x4 supports, some reed fencing bought from a home improvement store.














A custom door covered in painted muslin.

Add some visual texturing.

















Texture the door, add some decor.



Hide the water purifier with chicken wire, muslin, monster mud and moss. Put up some cheap plastic scenery. We improved it a lot by adding red rosin paper used for covering floors when painting. My wife continued the bottoms of the trees onto the paper making the trees go to the floor.







Set up the car port tent as the walkway to the woods. Cover the carport in camouflage netting.

Throw in some giant spiders and webs.






Add some creepy fairy tale characters like the Mad Hatter.


Find some kids and adults to scare the crap out of.




And have a howlin' good time.


Below are some pics for your enjoyment.












I have some more pics squirreled away, if I come across them I will add them.