Monday, September 21, 2009

The Decaying Wreath

Outside the doors of the mausoleum in Spooky Acres you will find a wreath on a wrought iron stand. It seems to have been left there from a funeral long past. The leaves of the wreath are dried and brown. Some leaves have even started to fall to the ground...



The wreath is made from Mesquite branches clipped from our tree in the front yard. It grows really fast and I find myself with a large number of these branches. From the tree they are very pliable and as such they are very easy to weave into a wreath form. I imagine any tree or bush cuttings that are pretty green would be usable. The leaves of mesquite dry out to a really sad brown color which I think is perfect for a yard haunt. After I made the wreath and let it dry out in the sun for a while I made the stand.

The stand is actually made from some old curtain rods. When we moved in there were curtains in our living room. My wife and I put up with these curtains for a long time. Finally, we decided to get rid of the curtains and put in blinds. We had some made and the room looks wonderful, but I had two sets of rods with the strange fire-like finial. When I was painting the coffin (seen in the picture above) I took one of the rods and gave it a coat of black paint. The Lincoln Cottage Black that I use dries to the right look of wrought iron.



I cut two legs in addition to the one that I had already painted. Then I drilled some holes and bolted everything together. I didn't quite line up the holes on the leg with the finial, but I don't think it is very noticeable. A cup hook finishes up the structure and it is ready for displaying.

I am going to add some black ribbon and bows to give it an extra creepy feel, but overall I like it. I guess this year's additions to the haunt are mostly small subtle things that bring it all together.

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