# Haunted Mansion Portraits-how to make?



## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

In my nutty plans for this year, while there are a lot of props I could work on for the outdoors, we also throw a party while trick or treating is going on. And sure we have the usual cobwebs up and the halloween food and my Dept 56 Halloween village up, but my wife and I are big Haunted Mansion fans, and we have been looking at buying some reproductions of the 4 portraits that are in the first room you come to, the stretching elevator. Here is the Mickey Mouse version (Literally!)







So lets say I want to do this, the HauntForum way! Meaning, I want the picture to actually stretch. How would I go about this? Would it be possible to get an art student to make a 3' canvas, roll it up in a tube, and then get it to stetch by hooking a servomotor moving very slowly to pull the picture out of the rolled up tube? If I had the electronics above with a wire to the rolled up picture, say a Prop-1 with a Hi-Tec servo, wouldn't it work, except for getting the servo to rotate slowly? Any other thoughts or suggestions? Crazy idea, but its cold outside and we like to brainstorm in the warmth of our house. Plus, it'll be really cool for those that come in for the party or to talk. Thanks for any help you can provide!


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Someone posted thier creation of those portraits online here. I am not sure who or under what heading though. See if you can find it. It might give you some insight. 

As to actually making it stretch, without the elevator room that might be tough. Maybe using an artificial wall or something?


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## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

I'm leaning towards a rolling shade in reverse kind of movement, so the first 18" or so of the painting would be visible all the time, and then I would either have a timer or a PIR sensor that would trigger the motor to pull the rest of the stretch painting out. I just wonder how feasible this would be.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I am assuming whatever mechanism you used would also have to "strech" the frame so as to capture the same effect as those in the 'Mansion. Of course that could be done with the frame being built like one of those expandable swords, the excess being hidden behind/beneath the visible portion and sliding out as the "shade" unrolls. The window shade roll could also be hidden beneath the bottom of the frame. But paint on canvas would not be a good idea, as rolling and unrolling would eventually crack the paint. You would have to use a more flexible medium for the actual portraits.


As far as feasablility? HA!!!! We haunters follow no rules as to how feasable something may be. We are artists, right? Well, in a sort of twisted way.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I agree. I wouldn't try to stretch the canvas, I'd stretch the frame. The objective is to get to a full size image. Something like this...










So I'd start with the full dimensions of the picture as a way to define the extended size of the frame. I'd make the side pieces of the frame extend to the full size and allow them to slide inside the top and bottom pieces. The collapsed frame would have a portion of the sides hidden inside the top and bottom.

The amount of extension in this case would depend upon how much frame you can feasibly hide and expand (see arrows in image). To get a better stretch, I'd make the top and bottom slightly wider/taller than the sides.










If you went with this method, you have to put your frame on a fake wall, where the canvas can slide behind a thin layer of wall or wall paper. If you paint with very thin watered down acrylics, you could get away with bending it around a rod, but that means you now have to hide the rod mechanism. I'd think it's easier to hide the canvas.

Note - the canvas doesn't have to be flexible. You could make it on a very thin board. That would depend on how you choose to hide it.

To carve the grooves for this type of a frame, I'd definitely use a table saw or radial saw. You can cut a very clean portion for the frame to slide. And if you want to get really fancy, you could try to make it expand with springs. That would be a bit more than I would attempt.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Going with the concept of a rollup window shade, you could do this same thing of expanding the frame - with an image that has been printed on the shade. With a bit of trial and error you might be able to use a t-shirt transfer method to do it yourself, but I'd have someone with proper equipment print it. With that method, flexibility isn't an issue because there is no paint to crack.










_I should point out - I've never been to the haunted mansion. [hides head in shame]_


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Both are good ideas, but I am betting that the unrolling would be tougher than using a full sized but partially hidden portrait. The mechanics to do the unrolling method seem, to me, to be more complex. In my experience, complexity means greater chance of failure.


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## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

Great ideas and love the artwork Darklore! The first method I could envison as an almost garage door effect, if I put in 1/2 or 3/4 metal u channel with small rollers, and a motor with pulley bringing it up. I was kinda going for more of the rolling shade option, as I thought the lighter material would be easier to pull up and down. Still, its the actual electric portion of this that still is a real sticking point. I'd like to be able to either press a static button to operate this or my real favorite would be to have it go every 5-10 minutes or so, enough so people at the party can show each other. So to do the time elapse method I'm thinking a Prop-1 with servomotor, but the static button would allow me to just find a 4 -5 rpm motor that would go forward or reverse. Wiper motor perhaps? The funny thing is that with pneumatics this would be simple-its a drop panel! But when you go electric and indoor I have suddenly developed a new syndrome- the dreaded "PROP BLOCK"
Thanks for all the good ideas! Keep em coming!


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## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

It is my understanding the actual portraits at the Haunted Mansion roll up.


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## Darkmaster (May 9, 2009)

I can see how the window shade idea will work. If you unroll the amount of the actual picture, then the rest of the picture to expand, will unroll with less tension on the motor. The only problem that may be encountered, is the locking mechanism. When the picture is to be rolled back to the original size, it may go into lock mode.

I believe this is a do able method.


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