On Halloween night you will need a festive being to preside over the graveyard, greet guests, or simply wait hidden at the top of the garden. Uncialle's Reaper is shown above. This is not a painting, but a photo (a little PhotoShop magic created a new background). You, too, can host this frightening presence. These basic instructions show how to make your inhuman helper. Although the figure featured here is the Reaper, you can modify the clothing, head, and hands to make Zombies, a Witch, Dracula, or even the Dead Elvis, a fearsome creature indeed.
You will need: duct tape; two pieces of PVC plastic pipe (one piece about 5 feet long; the other piece, a "T" piece, about 18" long--you can get the store to cut it for you); a sturdy metal rod, or better yet--a 3' to 4' foot-long steel fencepost; duct tape; a sturdy stick or dowel about a foot long; two coathangers; plastic hands or skeleton hands; a plastic skull (or, alternatively, a Halloween mask, whole-head type); a hammer; a robe.
1. Select the place in your yard where you want the Reaper to stand. Using a hammer, drive in the steel fencepost until only about 20 inches remain above ground.
2. Place the long piece of PVC over the fencepost so it stands upright.
3. Place the PVC T piece down over the long PVC piece, as shown in the diagram. These are his "shoulders." The two pieces may be glued together with the "purple stuff"--PVC glue.
4. Straighten out the coathangers and wire and/or duct-tape them together so that you have one long piece. Duct tape one hand to one end of the coat hanger wire.
5. Thread the wire through the T PVC piece. Then duct-tape the other hand to the free end of the wire.
6. Duct tape the stick or dowel to the upright PVC pipe so it sticks stright up about ten inches above the T.
7. Put the plastic skull on the stick--or stuff a whole-head Halloween mask with foil or newspaper and attach it to the stick.
8. Now add a dark robe, bend the arms satisfactorily, and--there stands the Reaper. If you want to make his body seem more robust, fill a small (white-type) garbage bag with mailing "peanuts" or "starchies," and duct-tape it to the chest region of the PVC upright; do a smaller bag for the hips.
The Reaper wields a scythe used by Uncialle's grandfather to harvest wild hay on the Snake River Plain. (Never hold a scythe this way! The Reaper, of course, is immune to death.)
There is only one thing more frightening than the scythe of the Grim Reaper, and that is--
Uncialle's Tips for Fast Haunting
Celebrating the Summer Solstice
Strange THINGS of the Universe
Previous Haunt: How to Make the Heartthrob
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