# Darkrose Manor - Almost ready!



## darkrosemanor (Oct 7, 2008)

We had some trouble with our electrical this weekend. We kept tripping the circuits, so we're going to have to run some brand new circuits from the panel to resolve the issue. The photos below were taken on Friday night. We've gotten quite a bit done since then, webbing, the FCG, and a several more dead tree additions thanks to my neighbors having a hack fest in their yard. I'll post more photos of the completed yard in the next day or so.

What do you all think so far? :googly:




























Comments and Suggestions welcomed!!


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

You must have the coolest house on the block on Halloween!


----------



## remylass (Sep 18, 2008)

I love the lighting. I would love to see more up close pictures because there appears to be a ton of detail.


----------



## throughthepatch (Sep 3, 2008)

Agree that the lighting is great! I'm finding that to be the most difficult part of the yard haunt.


----------



## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Simply awesome! Lighting is great. I too would love to see some close ups.:devil:


----------



## darkrosemanor (Oct 7, 2008)

Thanks for the compliments, guys! The lighting was tough for us too - especially now that we have an issue with the electrical, but we are pretty pleased with it at this point. Thanks again!



remylass said:


> I love the lighting. I would love to see more up close pictures because there appears to be a ton of detail.


Here's a slideshow with a few more photos, it includes some day shots so that you can see some of the details.

darkrosemanor :: Darkrose Manor October 2008 slideshow by darkrose1 - Photobucket


----------



## remylass (Sep 18, 2008)

WOW! That is amazing use of your space. Do you do all the webbing by hand, or do you use on of those webbing guns? The spider sacs are really cool. I love that you use the top of the house for the ravens and such too. 

I wish I had more yard!!!


----------



## darkrosemanor (Oct 7, 2008)

remylass said:


> WOW! That is amazing use of your space. Do you do all the webbing by hand, or do you use on of those webbing guns? The spider sacs are really cool. I love that you use the top of the house for the ravens and such too.
> 
> I wish I had more yard!!!


Thanks Remylass! Yes, I do the webbing by hand. Spent nearly the entire day at it just yesterday! I would love to try a webbing gun - maybe next year. 

I can't claim the spider sacs idea as my own - I think it was someone here or on Halloween forum actually. I saw it and thought, WOW! Cool idea and pretty easy to put together. They look really creepy under the blacklight too.

Thanks again Remy! -Pandora


----------



## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

That house is an eye catcher! Excellent work!


----------



## remylass (Sep 18, 2008)

I saw the spider sacs in the other post too. They just are really cool. 

I do the webbing myself too, but I admit, I have thought of getting one of those handy webbing guns. I just didn't know if the clean up would be a pain.


----------



## Spider Rider (Nov 8, 2006)

Holy crapitola, that is a cool setup you have there. I like the cellar on fire and the gothic arches on the upstairs porch. The potions shelf is amazing. Really a whole package from fencing to mega gargoyles. Awesome stuff.


----------



## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

Have freakin' mercy!!! That looks amazing! Your lighting kicks some serious butt! I love the coffin coming out of the ground and the lighting job on the witch's kitchen is just gorgeous! Your webbing is out of this world too though. It looks killer, you did a phenomenal job!!! Wow!!!


----------



## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

Love love love EVERYTHING! Your spider sacs are awesome, and your witches' kitchen is very realistic (that's kind of what my own kitchen looks like...LOL!  ).


----------



## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Outstanding set up...and lighting...good work


----------



## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Do your big bats on top of the house move/fly ?


----------



## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

Awesome haunt! You must be the hit of the neighborhood!


----------



## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Everything looks great
good job
How many floods are you using?


----------



## darkrosemanor (Oct 7, 2008)

*Thanks!!!*

Sincere thanks to _everyone_ for your kind words! I feel pretty darn accomplished knowing my fellow haunters like what they see! WOOT! 

Beelce - The bats on the top of the house were built on a small old pedestal fan motor with small steel rods attached holding the bats. - The original intention was to have them circle the rooftop or 'fly'. The whole mechanism worked great until we got it up on the roof. Then it seemed that the weight of the bats combined with wind keeps the motor from spinning as we had planned. So this year, we have 'haunted frozen-in-time' bats instead of the circling bats that we wanted. Anytime a light breeze kicks up they will move slightly but that's about it. My hubby was pretty upset about it - he's vowed to fix it for next year.

Lilly - We currently have 7 floods total, and 1 blue, 1 red and 1 orange party bulbs.

Here's the layout: There is a red flood in the front right corner that lights the coffin and ruins. There is a blue flood in the front left corner lighting the front of the tombstones. Another blue flood behind the tombstones in the back that is turned slightly towards the house to uplight the front of the house and the fountain facade. Another small blue flood in the front - far left corner that gives one of our guardian ladies just a touch of uplighting. Towards the back right side of the house we have a green flood (because we ran out of blue) in a work clamp (because we ran out of flood stakes) that uplights the right side of the house and some of the webbed hedges. On the balcony we have a blue flood that backlights the arches - combined with a small white flood. These two are hooked up to the lightning fx machine. On Duncan the gargoyle, we used a simple blue party flood that is hidden from the front view by half of an old plastic flower pot that was spray-painted black. We also lined the pot with a little bit of aluminum foil to reflect more of the light up onto him.

Other lights used include a 48" blacklight on the porch. Two additional 12" blacklights -also on the porch. A 24" blacklight for the FCG and strand lights to backlight the bottles in the witches kitchen. (If you want do this and you buy 'purple' lights - be sure to get them from all one place. I have four strands that actually do look purple and four that look more pink. This drove me crazy!) We have used several leds on 9volt batteries throughout for accent lighting, like to uplight the gargoyles on the porch, and to downlight the gate columns lettering and the fountain. There are flicker bulbs in the porch fixture and on the front of the porch gargoyle columns and we have a few battery operated led candles throughout both the cemetary and in the kitchen. We have a few of those battery-op mini-strobes placed randomly in the cemetary.

The inside of the windows on the house are covered in basic green cellophane purchased from Michaels so that when the house lights are on inside it gives a nice eerie glow rather than interferring with the setup outside. This is a little creepy in the daytime inside the house too.  This stuff is too fragile for a staple gun - so lots of scotch tape was used instead.

The faux boiler room has a red and orange bulb mounted underneath a box fan with red and yellow cellophane and a couple of clear plastic trash bags attached to give the appearance of flames. (We also run a blazing fire track from the basement to cover up the sound of the plastic flapping in the breeze. 

*Probably _way more_ info than you all really wanted or needed - but I couldn't help it. I am excited that you all like what we've done and wanted to share. :googly:

Does anyone have any suggestions about additions or what we could do differently or better for next year... or even this year? All of your feedback has been GREATLY appreciated!

Now, if we can figure out how to keep from tripping the circuits - we just might be getting somewhere!

Thanks again, Pandora


----------



## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

Really amazing. You get a better sense of it from the slide show.


----------

