5 Days 'til Halloween: Witch Post


I created a witch post to stand near Grool in the cauldron. Perched on top, keeping watch, is the witch's familiar, an old crow I've named Nefarious. This was a really quick prop I knocked out in a couple of hours as a last minute idea. It was fun to make and will definitely get re-done for next year with extra TLC when I have more time. The post itself is just a tree branch I held onto from some summer pruning. It was going to be used for the cauldron's fire pit until I changed my mind and made it coal.

Nefarious the crow is a old, beat up store bought one from my stash. I gave him some personality with large eyes and heavy brows. They are glued on painted marbles with Model Magic sculpted around them. I heated and bent his claws so they'd grip the post top a bit more naturally.


The lantern is one from my sister Monica's outdoor wedding reception years ago. I've kept it as a souvenir for a long time hanging in the backyard. I thought fun to use as it's gotten very rusty and fits the prop really well. I'm going to put a real candle in it Halloween night. A few odd foam bones hung together are one totem and an ordinary cheap rubber bat tied up is the other. Spray gluing dirt over it and cutting a few holes in the wings as if tears give it a surprisingly realistic look (at first glance at least).


Since the post stands next to the brewing cauldron, a couple of ingredient bottles hang at the ready. This recipe calls for one cup of Ghoul Gore and Guts cooking oil and a tablespoon of Yeti Mucus. The oozing contents are blobs of white glue that I dribbled some craft paint on while still wet. As gravity took hold and it dried, it created a nice transparent look with crusty opaque bits.


The label art was done quickly in Photoshop and aged with coffee. Nothing fancy but here they are if you want to grab and use on your own prop bottles. Click on the images to enlarge.


8 comments:

  1. This is great!! Thanks for the tip on using marbles as eyes....and love the labels, too!

    I would love to see a pic of it with the candle lit ;)

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  2. It seems appropriate to have one of my wedding decorations be apart of a witch post. :)

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  3. He he he.... I see your sister has a great sense of humour!! Love how you spiffed up the crow and solved the crow foot problem. Thanks for the labels and wish me luck; yeti mucus is so hard to come by this time of year! :)

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  4. Thank you for sharing your art and yard with us. I did my first ever yard decor with homemade guy cutting off the head of girl on a big tree saw this year. I was brave enough to try it due to your inspiring work.

    Thanks again

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  5. Dave, you're going to laugh because of how little time you spent on this, but this is one of my favorites out of all the props you made. It looks fantastic and Nefarious has a lot of personality.

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  6. Dave, I have been following your blog after I found it looking for some project ideas for Halloween. My 7 year old was born on Halloween, we just moved into a house (I have a lawn to decorate?), and my son finally agreed to have the "Halloween Birthday" that I have been waiting 7 years for.....muuua ha ha. I cannot begin to tell you how much you have inspired me. I started going back to the beginning of your blog, so I can read it from start to finish.

    I made one of your toilet paper tube/hot glue candles and now everyone is telling me that I am clearly in the wrong profession!

    I cannot get enough of your Star Wars/Indy/Galactica cartoons and drawings.

    So...THANKS! By the way, I just finished reading a book called "Ready Player One" which if you have not already read, you should.

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  7. I just picked up 5 of these birds and remembered this post. Being a bit of a bird nerd, I realized what you made is more like a myna bird than a crow. When I was kid, there was a creepy pet store up the street, and it has a myna bird that never shut up and would heckle customers. I like this look better than an all-black crow. Hope it's okay if I "borrow" it...I think the orange accents and yellow eyes make it stand out more. I plan using them at my kid's Halloween dance next year. :)

    d5, Hauntforum

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  8. Just spotted this on Pinterest. Love it! Makes an excellent prop and thanks for the useful creepy crafting tips. Sue

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