Greetings Halloween Lovers! Welcome to Lincolns Premiere Haunt Club, Fearcrafters! We are very proud of this fist edition of the Fearcrafters Newsletter! As new members join and as Fearcrafters grows so will the newsletter! Future editions will include different web sites, how to's, and many items from our members! If you would like to write and article or suggest a subject for the newsletter, please Click Here to send it to us! In this edition you will find many different sections & articles in which we hope are very helpful and informative to everyone! This edition's features: (click on article to go directly to that section) What's New Featured Haunt - Terror Syndicate Productions "Dark Works" Featured Web Site - Mark Butlers Monster List of How to's Tips and Tricks - Black Light Magic Recipes - Pumpkin Bars & Pumpkin Pie using a real pumpkin Extra Goodies - Haunt Magazines Hauntcon 2009 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin If you have been to Hauntcon before you know how much fun and educational it is! If you haven't got the chance to go yet, you won't regret the decision to go! You will have to purchase a weekend pass in which you will get a ton of very educational classes to choose from in different hour slots to go to. And depending on what else you decide to participate in you may have to purchase additional tickets for that event. Subjects for the classes vary from year to year some examples are, lighting, scene decoration & design, internet marketing, web site design, corpsing, making set design with styrofoam, molding & casting, advertising, make up, character development, etc.,and for an additonal fee you can sign up for "make and take" classes where you learn to make a prop and take it home with you. Here are some other activities you can participate in: Spooky Kids - activites for the kids while you are learning Costume Ball - Awesome! Hearse Show Garage Sale Tour of local Haunt(s) Dinner Socials Movie Night Paid Workshops - for a whole day or more For additional information and Costs for activites and fun things you can participate in go to www.hauntcon.com Terror Syndicate Productions "Dark Works" Image copyrighted by Terror Syndicate If you haven't had the opportunity to see any of Terror Syndicate Productions Haunt, props or web site www.terrorsyndicate.com take a few minutes and treat yourself! Owner Steve Hickman started his home haunt in 1999, since 2001 patrons have been treated to "Dark Works". He has a great talent for making a variety of creatures, corpses, candles and many other ghoulish creations and not to forget, being able to put on one heck of a great haunt! On www.terrorsyndicate.com if you visit the "haunts" page you can view tons of pictures of all of his haunts since 1997 including "Dark Works". If you visit the "props" page you can view pictures of all the props he has made for each year. If you're like me you will spend a lot of time viewing these as his creations are so awesome! Not only are they cool to see how much work he puts into each one but, hopefully as they did for me will inspire you to try a few new ways to create props and spark your imagination to come to life with new and unique ideas as well. On the "gravestalkers" page, you can purchase items from past years that he puts up for sale as well as custom made foam cast items such as hands, a large varitey of different full skulls and 1/2 skulls (both in regular size and tiny) and several candle foam candle molds (these are unpainted & unfinished and can be used to make whatever your imagination comes up with! Very Cool!), skeleton props, fog heads (to use with your fog machine), and zombie heads. On the "products" page you will also find "Dark Soundscapes" cd's, their very own "Home Haunters Prop Building Handbook's" and "Home Haunters Prop Building DVD's" where you can learn how to make Terror Syndicate Production props. You can also get "Dark Works Tour DVD's". Mark Butler's "Monster List of How To's" If you are someone who likes to make their own props the, this is definately a web site for you ! If you haven't discovered Mark Butler's "Monster List of How To's" yet, I guarentee you'll visit there quite often! The "Monster List of How To's" is a large web site that is full of goodies! Here you will find a large volume list of 100's of props. The list is in alphabetical order and at the top of the page there is a legend with many different icons, these icons are listed on the right of each prop or item. The icons will tell you if it is an advanced project, if the project involves dangerous activities or assumes a significant skillset,if the project creates an animated Halloween prop, if pictures of the project in progress are provided, if the project is an extremely detailed how-to, if a downloadable movie or animated GIF of the prop in action is available, if the prop is static (unmoving), or if the the prop is newly listed. This way just by looking at the list you can tell what your getting into before you start and easily see if any props have been newly added. On the list you will find many different types of items/props. For example props that pop up, fly, jump, are animated or move somehow, lighting useing leds, control boxes, corpses, haunted furniature, and many different creatures - just to name a few! So, if you are hungry for knowledge and want to learn how to make all kinds of props, this site is fou you! Boneappite! Black Light Magic Do you want to add some blacklight magic to your Halloween display or haunt? If so this article is for you! In this article we will discuss many different ways to illuminate items, props and scenes in your haunt. Weither you are new to using black lights or have been using them already, hopefully everyone will learn something new. First of all, lets start out by discussing blacklights. As you may know black lights are available in many different forms, lets go over them one by one. Regular light bulbs "black light bulbs" (usually painted bulbs or tinted glass) First let me start by saying I DO NOT like to use these bulbs! They get extremely HOT and can either start a fire, cause serious burns or if you are using them outdoors and a drop of water or if it starts to sprinkle/rain these bulbs will explode! These bulbs do not have a very good output of an black light effect. They are regular light bulbs that fit into a standard light socket. Twisted Fluorescent Tube Light with regular screw base These are great! Especially if you don't want to buy a fixture for a straight fluorescent bulb or spend the money for a fixture that comes with a bulb. These are a "true" black light that has a regular screw base and they don't get as hot as the regular light bulbs that are painted or tinted. You can use these in a ceiling light to illuminate a whole room, in a lamp, in a short light base (which will allow you to put right in front or behind a prop), clip lights, a hanging tredle light, porch light to name a few places. Fluorescent Bulb/Tube If you are going for a "true" black light effect this (along with the twisted fluorescent bulbs we just discussed and uv led items we go over as you read on) is your best choice. The fluorescent bulbs are available in many different sizes and types of fixtures, lets review some options. *NOTE* You can buy the bulbs with out the fixtures for replacement 4 foot bulbs - The 4 foot fixtures usually have chains to hang the unit and comes with a standard plug in (bulbs are not included). You can find both at your local hardware store, menards, home depot, lowes, etc. 2 foot and smaller bulbs - Usually these fixtures include the black light bulb when you buy them and also have a regular plug in. Some of the fixtures are hand held or are for use in an automobile, these are battery powered off the cigerette lighter plug in. *If you have a creature or any haunted items in your car, these work great to illuninate items without having to run extension cords into your car! You can find these at some of your local auto stores or on the internet.* Most of the fixtures that are 2 feet or 1 foot long have nail holes on the back side to attach to the wall or ceiling. Great to light up a small to medium area. For example, at the bottom of a window, illuninate a picture, or on the top of an FCG frame. A couple of other ideas for you is to get fluorescent treble lights and replace the white tube with a black light one, usually this units well protect the tube and you can hang easily and you can also find at some of your party stores "strobing" black lights. I believe the black light is 18 to 24 inches long. I have a couple of these untits and I really like the effect. These untits create a strobe light effect but, unlike a regular strobe light this one does nbot turn completely turn off during the "strobing" it is close though, it is dark enough to get the "strobing" effect. These are great to use in a tunnel, dark room, or anywhere you use glow or fluorescent items or props especially if your items/props are moving around! Try creating a fluorescent dot room with an actor dressed in the same costume to match the walls. Spotlights Just like a regular spot light, you can also purchase them as a black light. To be honest I have not used these as I am not sure how efective the black light "effect" is. I do know it is not a true black light as the color is either painted on the front of the bulb or it will have a colored plastic cover on it (unless you find and industrial black light spot light). And, like the regular light bulbs painted to be black light also get very HOT! The only "true" black light spot light you can get, that I know of, is one made with uv leds or an industial use one. L E D's These many be tiny but, they put out one heck of a "true" black light effect. You can buy the led's separate to use in or make into your own props, for eyes, or mini spot lights. Your can also purchase from mini to large spot lights made with one to many leds put together for a large output of black light and various dj lighting machines and bulbs for lots of different uses. As new and more items are being made with led's not only are the very bright but, they use very little energy. If you are using them to make props or minispot lights, which are great to light up a small area without spilling light into a whole scene or area, you can wire them up to battery packs or use a 12 volt adapter, using the correct resistor with them of course. How to get that magical "glow" As you know to get that black light "glow" you must use fluorescent or glow-in-the-dark items. Besides using props already made for use with a black light, you may want to incoporate some of this wonderful "effect" into your haunt, halloween display or props you are making. Here is a list of the various forms of fluorescent items. UV BUBBLES That's right you can now get UV BUBBLES! Great if you are having a party or if you live somewhere where it is some what warm on Halloween night you can use them in your Haunt or Halloween Display! They are available in either gold or blue. Also, this year I have seen "fog bubble" machines which the bubbles come out with fog inside them and when they pop you get little puffs of fog/smoke, way cool! Now try that with the uv bubbles! You can also get "fog" filled bubbles by placing a fog machine right behind a regular bubble machine so when it is taking in air to make the bubbles it is taking in fog! You can purchase the uv bubbles at www.teknobubbles.com! Paint available in a variety of colors. You can get spray paint, water color, poster paints, finger paints and laytex. Most of these you can find at either your local hardware or craft store. Speciaility fluorescent paints like ones that are invisible in regular light and can only be seen under a black light or highly concentrated fluorescent paint are a sometimes more expensive but, well worth the extra money. These can be found at www.clearneon.com, www.unitednuclear.com, www.wildfirefx.com, and various compainies on the internet. Glue available in basic colors. I have mainly seen the elmers brand in fluorescent. Since most of these have a small tip this works great for lettering. Hot Glue available in a variety of colors, glow in the dark, and uv (glows a light clear blue). You can purchase these through various companies on the internet. You can use the hot glue for glowing webs using a web shooter, blood splatters, and lettering. Powder you can get either Phosphorescent (Glow in the Dark) or UV reactive powders. You can search the internet and find different companies that carry a variety of colors and prices. You can add these powders to gel candles, wax, nailpolish, soap, paint, plastic for molding, and many different mediums to make many different items. Fabric Paints available in a variety of color and glow in the dark. I love to use these for lettering on just about everything! The tubes have a very small tip! Ink just like the powder you can get either Phosphorescent (Glow in the Dark) or UV reactive (invisible unless under a black light). Mainly used for security stamps on money or events to get in or out. You can use it on material, in water, or on paper. Dye you can get uv water dye for your pool or water fountains. I believe www.wildfirefx.com carries these water dyes and you can probably find other companies on the internet too. You can also buy RIT dye brand "whitener brightner" , you can get it in powder or liquid form. The whitner brightner glows a bright light blue on anthing you put it on. But keep in mind it will not wash off. If you get in on your skin weither your just working with the stuff or purposely writing letters/words on yourself, it will still be there days later! (make sure you spell correctly and in the right direction!) This stuff you can use in your washer or put into a bucket to soak fabric like cheese cloth for ghosts and ghouls, or you can mix with water into a jar or use the liquid form and while under a black light paint onto walls, props, skeletons, paper, or whatever. It will be invisible until activated by the black light. I use the heck out of this stuff! Love it! Silly String You can get glow in the dark and uv reactive, both great to use in a black light scene in your haunt. Just hide and spray and watch them scream! Fun at a party too! Tapes Mainly avaiable in duct tape, you can get the basic fluorescent colors. Flagging Tape Available in your basic fluorescent colors. This stuff is like a 1 inch wide plastic ribbon it is actually not sticky. Weither you are using this under a black light or not you can use with wood stakes for making a barrier, fence or pathway through your haunt. (Mainly what I have used this stuff for). Household Items Tonic Water - glows light blue Baby Powder - glows white Woolite - glows green Rit Whitner Brightner - glows light blue Tide - glows light blue Milk - glows a pale orange I am sure there are more but, these are the ones I know of. : Pumpkin Bars & Pumpkin Pie using a real Pumpkin! Pumpkin Bars - From Tracy Moul Combine and mix well... 4 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups Crisco oil, 2 1/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 can (16 1/2 oz.) pumpkin. Pour into two 9 x 12 inch pans with sides that have been well greased. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool and spread with this frosting: Beat until smooth and fluffy 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, one 8 oz. package cram cheese, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning(optional)and 1/2 cup soft margarine. YUMM! Pumpkin Pie using a real pumpkin Ingredients: 1 medium sugar or baking pumpkin (4-5 lbs = 1 ¾ cups pureed) 1 can evaporated milk 2 eggs ½ tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp ginger 1/8 tsp cloves 1 piecrust Cooking spray Directions: To cook the pumpkin Cut off the top of the pumpkin and clean out all of the seeds and strings from the inside. *Note: A sugar pumpkin is usually advertised as a "pie pumpkin" but I know of people who have used regular pumpkins and their pie has turned out fine. Just stay away from the really large pumpkins with stringier flesh.* Cut the pumpkin in half. Spray the cut sides with cooking spray. Place the pumpkin halves flesh side down on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Bake the pumpkin at 325 degrees for about an hour or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. When the pumpkin is done use a spoon to scrape the pumpkin from the skin. Then beat with a mixer or in a blender until it is smooth. To make the homemade pumpkin pie: Place the prepared or homemade piecrust in a 9-inch pie pan. Mix the spices and salt with 1 ¾ cups pureed pumpkin. Add the eggs and then the evaporated milk. Stir until all of the ingredients are well blended. Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the crust. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted about 1 inch from the edge comes out clean. Extra Goodies! Still hungry for more? Here are a few extra goodies for your hunger! *Haunt Magazines* Haunted Attraction Magazine Haunt World Magazine Haunted Media DVD Magazine