As a Disney Haunted Mansion fanatic, for years I kept hoping Disney would release a Madame Leota prop that I could use for a Halloween decoration. A couple years ago, I decided to just make my own Leota. Fun project and not that difficult to achieve. It’s been a huge hit at Halloween. Here’s how I did it:
Found the Madame Leota video on YouTube
Mannequin head https://amzn.to/2LJ4cSJ (Important step: gently use sandpaper to smooth out the lines around eyes & lips for better projection results)
Wig (teased & sprayed with glow in the dark hairspray)
Wood pillar candleholder (covered with black glitter spray paint)
Projected from the front. Placed the projector on small tripod in front of the crystal ball and placed a tombstone in front of it. The flameless candles near the crystal ball and lighting in the yard help to camouflage the glare from projector.
I was searching online to try to find a hitchhiking ghost mirror to purchase. I stumbled across this blog and decided to try to create my own. Blog that gave me the idea: https://www.cre8tivecompass.com/diy-haunted-ghostly-mirror-with-krylon-looking-glass-paint-tutorial/
Print 2 copies of full-color image on Vellum paper or thin paper (Tip: to ensure vellum paper will feed through your printer, you can tape it on to regular paper)
Mix some of the green & aqua glow powder with some mod podge for paper. Paint the mod podge glow mix over entire image on ONLY ONE of the images
Let dry completely
Layer untouched image on top of the glow in dark painted image, attached together using elmer’s spray adhesive
Cut around the image removing the excess vellum paper. I cut along the silhouette of the ghost.
Remove glass from the frame. Spray one light layer of looking glass over entire BACK of the glass. (Tip: if using frame with real glass, suggest heavy gloves when handling glass from picture frames. Glass may have sharp edges that can easily cut your fingers and hands)
Make a paper pattern with similar shape of ghost image you are going to use. Place the pattern on mirror where you want the ghostly image to peak through the mirror and then spray the rest of the glass with a few more layers of looking glass until you achieve the look you want. I wanted the look of an old mirror so only did about 4-5 light coats.
Once glass is completely dry, carefully position your ghost (I used small piece of tape to attach to side of glass and frame, then carefully placed the back on frame) Tip: If you spray too much looking glass spray in the area where you want to place your image, you can use a brillo pad to gently remove some of the paint.
Image is visible in regular light, however using it in area with a blacklight creates a great effect. It has a glow very similar to haunted mansion ride.
A simple but creepy DIY project to add a special effect to your Halloween décor. Making the eyes concave gives the illusion that the eyes are following you.
What you need:
Large portrait (I had mine printed at Walgreens on 16×20 poster)
Attach image to foam board with spray adhesive (purchased at Michael’s)
Apply regular gel gloss with flat paint brush over entire portrait to give the appearance of an original painting.
Take two of the eye props and remove the iris of each. I used a knife to slowly work around the iris prying and cutting a little at the edge around the iris until I could pry the iris off the front of the eye prop. Turn the eye around to hollow side (concave side), glued iris directly into middle of the hollow eye prop.
Once paint on image is completely dry, cut off excess foam board then use knife or some other tool to cut out eyes of image using the eye props as a guide for cut. You want the hole to be just a little bit smaller than the eye prop. Be patient with this process. Working on the proper size of cuts was more work than any part of the project. As you can see from my video, I still didn’t achieve a clean cut, but decided it was good enough for my first attempt at this project.
Carefully position the concave eyes behind the eye holes and secure with tape. Or, once you have the perfect placement of eyes you can glue them on the foam board.
Remove glass or plexiglass from frame (you don’t need this for this project, but you can save the glass to create a pepper’s ghost effect prop…DIY post for that coming soon)
Optional…I taped small string of lights around the eyes to give them a glowing effect. You don’t need the lights to get the following effect, but the lights really help to highlight the illusion. String lights: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G91W6PA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Place portrait on a shelf or mantel where guests frequently walk by, or hang on a wall with wire so that there is space between eye props and wall.
Our attempt at an homage to Haunted Mansion. I bought the Haunted Mansion soundtrack on iTunes so I could incorporate it into some of the video projections. AtmosFX digital decorations used: Boo Crew video to get the image of the haunted room projected on my garage door (edited in iMovie to display room only); Sinister Shadows Grave Digger, Dancing Dead and Boneyard Band. AtmosFX media player with sensor and the AtmosFX projection material https://amzn.to/2LzrYlf were used for the Hitchhiking Ghosts. The Leota and singing busts videos I found on youtube and projected those videos on to styrofoam heads. We made the faux brick columns out of brick paneling, moulding, post lights with flame flicker light bulbs https://amzn.to/2O3gd8r
