Quick and easy plutonium rods

Our Halloween was nuclear themed, so if there's one thing that needs to be there, it's glowing plutonium rods! Never mind that plutonium, or any nuclear fuel, doesn't really look like that, it's how everyone pictures them. This is a very easy prop, and I feel almost stupid for posting this, but I really like how they turned out.

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Radioactive barrels

No nuclear meltdown scene is complete without barrels full of radioactive goo! Here's how I made mine.

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Roadblocks, part 1

Allright, here's the first entry in this year's batch of Halloween props! Like last year, we're part of the haunt in the local zoo. Last year we did a graveyard, this year is going to be something completely different. I'm not gonna tell what, though!
Here are some things I learned last year:

• Styrofoam and monster mud are great for static props, but not for stuff that will be transported. It's too fragile for that.
• Unless you're good at acting and improvising, don't count on visitor participation.

The first thing I'm going to build is a set of roadblocks, wich will be placed at the start of our spot. The roadblock will consist of a raised boom barrier with a stop sign, and two portable barriers. This post will be about the boom gate. There will also be a some sort of sign next to it, but I'm not gonna build that yet, mainly because it would give away our theme...

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Reverse bear trap mask

This is gonna be a long post! For Elf Fantasy Fair in September, my girlfriend and I were thinking about costumes based on the Saw-movies. My girlfriend will go dressed as Billy (the creepy puppet). We tried to find a tricycle, but an adult sized one is expensive as hell. I decided to build one of the traps. My first idea was the Venus flytrap mask from the second movie, but that would turn out to be too cumbersome. So I went for perhaps the most iconic trap of the entire franchise: the reversed bear trap!
The trap will be built mostly from sheet plastic. Concern number one is trying to keep the weight down a bit, because I will be wearing it one my head most of the time. The second one is making sure it stays on without wobbling too much.
The pictures aren't taken in chronological order, so you'll see pictures of painted parts before I'm talking about painting. 

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Lovecraftian coasters

A while ago, I made a silicone mold of the Sigil of the Gateway. I used it to make a medallion, as part of my costume for Fantasy Fair, but I didn't write a blog post about it. I still have the mold, and silicone resin is a bit too expensive to use just once. So I decided to use it to make something that's actually useful: a set of coasters!

Materials

• Cardboard (3mm thick and 1 mm thick)
• Oil-based modelling clay
• Silicone resin
• Acrylic resin
• Paint

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LED spot light, part 2

In my previous post, I explained how to make a circuit board. Now we're gonna fill it with components and create an LED spot light!
A word about buying components first. If there's only one place you should shop for components, it's Ebay. Seriously, there are lots of Ebay stores that sell electronic components at unbeatable prices! Most of them even ship them for free. You'll have to wait a few days, but it's definitely worth it.

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LED spot light circuit board

If you follow my Facebook page, you might have noticed I announced a technical project. Well, here it is! I'm gonna make a small LED spot light. Last Halloween, we had a big lack of proper light. We wanted to use candles and lanterns, but the flames kept going out. So no more candles this time! And since I like to tinker with electronics, I wanted to make something myself.
The light will be a green LED spot light, powered by 24 high powered green LED's. Of course, you can use other colors, I'll explain later on how to do that. But first, we're gonna make a circuit board, and that's what this post will be all about. The simplest option when building a circuit is using prototyping board. This is a circuit board with copper strips and holes already in place. You have to use wires to build the proper connections. Cheap and easy, but also messy, and in this case, the placement of the components was pretty important, so I had no other choice than to make a real circuit board.

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