# Unseelie Faerie / Dark Forest Theme



## Terrormaster

Ok, I know I've been talking about this most of the year so far. This is the theme for the Necropolis Manor 2008 Yard Haunt. I've got most of my prop cast lined up: Black Agnes (the cauldron witch), Beatrix the Soul Stealer, Pain and Panic (two goblins), Undead Fred (the fence shaking zombie), along with last year's undead Joe Rombie and Uncle Bob (not sure if Cinderella the FCG will be making another appearance - depends on if I can work her into the theme).

Other new additions will be an actual cemetery fence (replacing the 12" skull fences from the years before) with cemetery columns. Topping the columns will be two guardian gargoyles. Sound and lighting will also get a boost. I also have a good number of pool noodles that I want to turn into moving vines if possible.

So it's coming down to presentation and this where I need some help and advice. Here's my basic yard layout:










Last year the whole front yard was a cemetery. This year I'm condensing the cemetery to the portion of the lawn to the right (which is the darker of the two at night) of the walkway with a column on each side in the front. I'm pretty solid on the placement of my undead cast in there.

So now that leaves the left side a clean slate for the Unseelie Fae theme. My initial plans were to put a pseudo castle facade over the front porch completely enclosing it leaving only an arched doorway leading up the steps.

The facade would be built similar to the way I did last year's mausoleum entrance facade. The main difference would be in construction: last year was Scene Setter backed with black plastic for thickness and taped to a flat PVC frame; the new design would be a cubical PVC frame (think simple scaffolding) with the scene setter glued to cardboard backing and mounted on the frame - then glue on vines and dirt to age the Scene Setter a bit.

In the yard area would be a simple 8'x4' shack (constructed of shipping palettes) featuring Black Agnes, her cauldron, and a table of potions, spellbooks, some faux candles, and a skull. Might even pick up a web shooter and jute to make it look run-down. Hanging out near the shack would be the two goblins Pain and Panic. Also near the shack would be the large pool noodle vines with maybe one draping over the roof and moving.

Now in retrospect I've apparently got my hands REALLY full with this. Finance isn't so much a concern as is time. I'm pretty dead set on the cemetery side changes. But realistically thinking between the shack and the facade I may have too many irons in the fire.

One alternative is to nix the facade this year and use the porch as a shack for Agnes. This in turn will however leave the left side of the yard pretty bare. With that in mind, what would be some of the things I could do to trim the fat off my plate while still having something to show in way of my theme on the left side? Given the theme and my yard layout what would be some of your approaches to tackling this theme?

As always, any tips, advice, or help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-TM


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## Aelwyn

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of the Unseelie Forest. I love faeries (in fact, my business is making faery wings and accessories), so the Unseelie idea is right up my alley! You totally need some little goblins!!!


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## Lilly

maybe a couple of creeeeps would work for you..they are very easy to make..
from a contest on the forum
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=7948
or this is in the showroom 
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=9457

what kind of faeries are you making or do you have ?


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## Wyatt Furr

3 major projects in one season, fence,shack and facade. wow
Is the theme something you are sticking with,or only for this season?
If it were me,I'd bulid the fence and the shack.
You can get more use out of them ,even with a different theme
You can always put the facade on next years plate.
If you switch themes every year, go for the facade and place Agnes and the gang on the porch.
The left side could be brambles and branches with the "moving vines" and a small gaggle of "faeries" throughout.
just my 2 cents


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## Hellvin

The moving vines would be most interesting. I suspect a simple wire or cable being pulled at one end but fixed at the other would do the trick. By being wrapped around shrubs, bushes, or other flexible objects in between; sufficient elasticity would be present to allow the cable to move back when the drive end slackens. It would be like the vine was clutching or grabbing...

Or are you thinking more like a "twitching" movement?


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## TNBrad

Hey Terrormaster I some pictures of a prop called *"Vines of Terror"*from a make and take a group from cal. posted, some time back I can put in my photobucket tonight and I leave them up for a week or two (as they aren't really my pictures). that way you could see them or I could just email copies to you.
But they were vines that hung down from a structure that the TOTs would walk under and it looks to run off a FCG system.


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## Empress Nightshade

TNBrad said:


> Hey Terrormaster I some pictures of a prop called *"Vines of Terror"*from a make and take a group from cal. posted, some time back I can put in my photobucket tonight and I leave them up for a week or two (as they aren't really my pictures). that way you could see them or I could just email copies to you.
> But they were vines that hung down from a structure that the TOTs would walk under and it looks to run off a FCG system.


I'm very interested in those Vines, TNBrad. Could you send me some info on them?


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## Terrormaster

Same here Brad... PM me with details.

On another note... I finally got some palettes to build the shack with - six total. Now it's just a question of whether or not I have time for it. 

Also, have pretty much all the cardboard I need as well to build the facade. New neighbor was moving in across the street and I managed to catch the mover while he was unloading for them. Ask about boxes and he was more than happy to unload on me. He was supposed to come back later that night and drop them off - thought he had bailed on me. My wife IMs me the following morning after I got to the office to inform me there was a crap load of boxes sitting outside our garage. Sure enough there was a ton of em (about 3' thick and BIG boxes) - most were broken down already so saved me a little work there. Six were still assembled and were stuffed to the brim with shipping quality packing paper - can we say Paper Mache!

Now, as I said above, it's gonna come down to time to do all this. So given the materials I have now I'm still open to addition suggestions towards my theme. Love the ones submitted so far. Lilly, I just love those Creeeeps - might make a fun first foray into MM for me. Brad, looking forward to info on the vines.

Wyatt, yes the plan is to change up themes yearly with the graveyard being the one mostly consistent area.

Thanks again everyone,
-TM


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## Terrormaster

*Just an update...*

Working on the layout in Sketchup still. So far got the cemetery fence and columns in place.










-TM


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## Lilly

will you be adding some fake trees also in the left side?
nice mock up the add ons look great


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## Empress Nightshade

Terrormaster said:


> Working on the layout in Sketchup still. So far got the cemetery fence and columns in place.
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> -TM


You're a real talent. That looks great! Please, show us more when you have it available.


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## Lilly

T.. do you have any faeries that you will be using to show us?


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## Terrormaster

Lilly said:


> will you be adding some fake trees also in the left side?
> nice mock up the add ons look great
> 
> T.. do you have any faeries that you will be using to show us?


No fake trees or faeries at this time but I'm open to suggestions. If there's a source for wicked faeries I could use feel free to pass them my way.

Sketchup layout update:










-TM


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## Lilly

I don't know of any sources for wicked faeries ..sry.
If I see any I will let ya know.
I did try and google that.. not much there but you may get an idea from some


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## Dr Morbius

Swweet sketchup! I'm gonna try it too. I really need to up my haunt display this year and focus more on ambience.


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## Aelwyn

Froud faeries have some good "evil" fae types.....check out the book "Good Faeries, Bad Faeries" by him. Here are some random pics from the web, hope they help!

http://www.falconrose.com/FALCONROSE/Unseelie/IMAG0009.JPG
http://www.marcusdublin.com/Goblin_Color_001.jpg
http://www.tofy.hu/goblins/goblin_test.jpg
http://www.cartooncritters.com/dressupimages/troll.gif
http://eq2.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/NON-SOGA/NON_SOGA_Female_Troll.jpg
http://www.thirdwayblog.com/images/400/troll.0.jpg
http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/froud_queen_bad_faeries.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q272/missfrankiejean/froud/Brian_Froud_25_Unamed_Smell_Sprite_.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/Witches_Connection_Galleries/Artist-%20Brian%20Froud/Froud-06_Sink-Faery.jpg
http://www.laurelindorenan.com/al_Froud12_The_Queen_of_Bad_Faeries.jpg
http://www.worldoffroud.com/www/faeries/goodbad/images/bf101.gif


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## Revenant

I think any nasty little gobliny critters would do... make a few with wings... and a few little swarms of Lilly's winged skellies... maybe a person caught in a net or a gibbet (think hanged-man mechanism for twitching) with a few evil faeries on the ground poking at him with sharp sticks or little spears


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## Lilly

is your witch going to on the porch?
or by the shed type thing..
you maybe make a bunch of faeries and attach them to that facade all over the walls on that shed thing maybe a few into the graveyard
maybe one trying to get out of the cauldron.


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## Terrormaster

Ok, a little bit info to take in here...

@Aelwyn: Thanks for the links - some good stuff in there, I really like Al Froud Queen of Bad Faeries as she's the exact image I imagine for the Unseelie Witch Queen. I have a couple goblins planned (hope to finish them in time) - Pain and Panic, cohorts of Black Agnes.

@Revenant: Love the idea of a gibbet - thats one way of working a hanged man style prop into your display and not **** off the PC crowd. Trying to think if I have time to work this in - thanks for giving me even more work  hehe.

@Lily: The witch (Black Agnes), if I go with the original plan, will be in the shed/shack thats in the left lawn. Included in the shack will be a table/sheft with potion bottles, maybe some spellbooks, faux candles, a skull (which may or may not talk and interact with Agnes), and whatever other witch like cheap odds and ends I'll pick up closer to Halloween. I have been toying with the idea of having something moving in the cauldron.

Gonna look around for some faerie making tutorials and if I find some see how much work is involved. Again, my biggest issue is time.

-TM


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## Terrormaster

Okies, just had a wild wacky crazy idea. Ditch the tower design in the facade. Instead texture it with a bark like pattern and make the porch into a tree cave. Have the vine hang from and lead off the tree. Maybe have some spiders on the inside and let the ToTs come in to the cave.

The only catch is I typically stand out in the yard and hand out treats from a table (see last year's pics). There's no one home other than me cause the wife takes my daughter out.

But still, liking the tree cave idea now. Perhaps incorporating the gibbet with a child size dummy hanging from it somewhere into the tree design.

On the fake tree front, I've seen a few poultry wire and mache tree tutorials about. Anyone done one of these and what kind of time is involved? Don't have a lot of storage options, how easy are they to store?

-TM


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## Terrormaster

Okies, got tons of character ideas brewing here, thanks everyone. 

What I'd like to focus on more is set design vs character design (which I think I have enough ideas for now that could take me till next Halloween to complete).

I like to think of my yard as 3 separate, but often interwoven, set pieces. Left lawn, right lawn, and porch. These are my basic configuration options I've come up with so far:

A. Right, Graveyard; Left, Witch Shack and Faeries; Porch, tower/castle facade.
B. Right, Graveyard; Left, Unknown (???); Porch, Witch shack.
C. Right and Left, Graveyard; Porch, Witch shack.

Configuration A was my original plan but could just be too much work for the little time I have left. 

B is not bad but I'm not sure how to dress the left lawn. I don't want to just put characters out in the left lawn just standing around in the grass. I want them in a scene of some sort - but I'm drawing a blank, everything I come up with involves another major set piece (trees, the shack, etc.).

Given the time and circumstances configuration C seems to be the best candidate. But I keep shying away from it because it just doesn't feel like there's enough emphasis on my theme in that layout.

I'm open to suggestion or other layout ideas.

Thanks,
-TM


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## Lilly

ok you have graveyard on the right as looking at picture...
on the right the witch shack with with and cauldron ( I still say cooking a faerie would be cool) and others on top of roof etc..
the porch you could do a few demons,, 
or creeps ,
or set up a caretaker type thing for grave yard..
or the basic ghosts..
or some cool spider webs and spider sacs, spiders, maybe some victims or just parts hanging 
unless you can hang the trees from your garage ceiling I don't know where you could store them.. 
they would take time to make including drying and painting I think ghostess has made one or some ..but if you are going to make creeeps might as well have the trees ready for mud also.
If I think of anything else I will post it.
hope this helps or gives you an idea for something else


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## Terrormaster

Thanks for the other suggestions Lily. 

Still torn on this issue. I'm really trying to nail this down as best I can as it will determine which additional character props I build, lighting choices, sounds, etc. 

My daughter likes the idea of the witch on the porch and my wife likes the witch in the shack. I tend to agree as it puts her more in the yard. And since she's my big animatronic project this year I kinda wanna showcase her.

With this theme the facade just doesn't feel right this year and I believe I've almost relegated myself from doing it. But what to do with that darn porch if I don't close it in. I have to admit turning the porch into a giant tree cave is appealing still. Maybe I'll start a new topic on that subject just get opinions on how difficult that would be.

-TM


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## Terrormaster

With everything going on and all the new additions I'm adding to the haunt this year, this theme just became WAY to cumbersome to pull off in a timely manner. I haven't even started my fence and columns yet (fingers crossed that there will be breaks in the weather this weekend to at least start the columns - I have all the materials for both).

I've simplified the facade concept a lot and have changed the theme to something more manageable. I'll start a new post just for that. I've taken all the notes from this thread and compiled a list as I will be attempting this theme in 2009.

Thanks again everyone for all the excellent input and feedback.

-TM


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