CHILLER -

Last year I bought a fog machine. I wanted the effect of fog rolling acrossed the cemetary that I set up in my front yard. I decided to build a simple chiller from a styrofoam cooler. However, I did't just want the fog coming from the back of the cemetary, I wanted something that looked cool. I decide to build a tombstone with a skull on it. The chiller would be behind the tombstone, the fog from it would be directed into the skull from the back of the tombstone and then exit the mouth of the skull in the front. The effect I was looking for was fog coming out of the skull, rolling down infront of the tombstone and acrossed the graveyard.

First, I needed a tombstone. Luckily we got a piece of equipment at work that was packed in a styrofoam box. The lid was the perfect size. It was very plain, but still would work. I then decided where the skull would go and cut out a hole for it. The skull I used was a $5 glow in the dark skull from Party City. Once the skull was fitted the way I wanted it, I glued it in place and caulked it to make the transition smooth.

I then cut a hole in the back of the skull where the discharge tube from the chiller would fit into. I then built the chiller from a $2 cooler and some PVC pipe I had laying around. I adjusted the height of the discharge tube so that it would fit into the skull.

The fogger discharges into an openning in the back of the cooler. It's hard to see in this picture, but it's made so that the fogger sits on the ground behind the cooler. We then cover the chiller with a black cloth to hide it.

THe first tests went well. Some fog did come out of the skull from the back and float down and around the tombstone, but even that looked pretty good. I wanted a little more from the front however, so I decided to cut out the eyeholes so that fog could come out of them. This had an unexpected bonus. Because the back of the skull is dark the cutouts act as pupils. Because of the distance between the eyes and the back of the skull, it gives the illusion that the eyes follow you as you walk across the front of the tombstone. A nice extra.

My wife then came up with the idea of adding letters to the tombstone. She printed out words on the computer and cut them and pasted them to the stone. A little of the white was left around the letter edges so that the black light makes them glow. THe whole project came out well I thought. I got a lot of compliments on it...