Shadow magic and the evolution of decor

   At this time of the Halloween season, almost all the decor is up inside. This is the time that things get tweaked, evolve, improve, and in some cases, obsessed over.
    It's all in the details. I find most Halloween fanatics love attention to details, and I am no exception.
 
   At the start of the season, I was presented with this old yard sale candle holder by my mother :

   At the time, I had no idea what to do with it, I even thought about stuffing it in my own yard sale bin for next year. Little did I know it would evolve into a focal point. I took the above and transformed it into this :

   A much more fitting Halloween fixture. I began to experiment with different objects for it hold such as :

   Let's fast forward to October 1st. We set up the top of our living room bookshelves for decorations after we covered them both with multiple layers of creepy cloth. Here is the outcome of that labor:

   I experimented with different bulbs for different effects on the globe. ended up using 2 blue bulbs and a flicker bulb to achieve the purplish "moving" globe. 

   I really liked the owl and the witches with this. I was not sure about the black candle or the Hallmark Ghost teal light holder located on the far left and right. 

   The goofy grin on the ghost just did not fit with this theme we had going on the bookshelf.  We moved the ghost to a more suitable location and I was left trying to figure out what to go with next. 

    Here we are today with the current (and hopefully final) evolution. I cut out a small cardboard skull and added to the globe.

   I like the shadow effect, but not sure the skull works. I may try a mournful ghost face later. I also added a Gothic lantern where the ghost had been. 

   This was one of those props I did not think I would use. It started out as one of those fan blown silk  faux flame lanterns. When it was on, it looked like you were carrying a small bonfire in a lamp. I gutted the fan and lamps and replaced them with a simple flicker bulb. The result was a very cool Halloween decoration. 

   I also nixed the black candle and added a nice black and white photo of Miranda and me from last years Halloween Party. 

   I am pretty happy with this final outcome. I may fool around with the lighting in the globe and the shadow it casts, but I think this focal point is complete and ready for the wicKED weeKEnD Halloween Party. 

   

   And here is the last shot of a better skull shadow I did after the blog post.

   Today will be spent printing out apothecary labels and other signs to finish up another part of the party's decorations with detail work. Finally the house is looking more like a Halloween Party and less like a tote trailer park attacked by a tornado. 

As usual... Lilly is no help at all.