Fanmade Friday | Darker Image part deux

When Marie sent me her plethora of pictures, this picture caught my eye. I had to know more about the Haunted Mansion house she was holding. When she explained to me exactly what it was, I asked her to fill me in on the details and I’m excited to share that with you today. This project really did warrant a post of its own.

Many of you are surely familiar with Haunted Dimensions by Ray Keim. He has been creating printable paper models for Haunted Mansion fans for sometime now. Ray has spent hours and hours perfecting his models and then graciously offering them FREE on his website, although donations are greatly appreciated!  I’ve been a fan of Ray’s work and even have some of his 3D art in my collection.  I wish I had the patience to tackle this project.  My fingers feel like thumbs with projects that require intricate cutting, sewing, etc.  

Marie, on the other hand,  has talented and very nimble fingers, even when she glues them to the table.  Read on to learn more about her experience crafting this amazing piece.

After browsing websites like Haunted Dimensions, and Disney Experience, and seeing all the little marvels folks like kreepy Karl B fashioned (and posted on Doombuggies), I wondered if completing a model was something I was capable of doing. Stepping away from the sewing machine was something I think I needed to do at the time and as a crafter, I break from what I know occasionally to challenge myself with a new medium. I always learn something, even if its “Well I’m never going to do that again!” and I come back to my other crafts fresh with novel ideas/perspectives. And of course out of my complete naivety I chose to start with a big paper model that Ray Keim designed and posted (for free!) on Haunted Dimensions. Oye vey. So goes the tale of my mini Mansion. 

In the beginning I had to work out the kinks like, “Alrighty…This adhesive did nothing but securely glue my fingers to the table.” I have to give a shout out to Karl for helping me out as much as he did in rough patches like this. He is the model making samurai in my book! He was also the one who suggested me perhaps putting lights in the house. This deviated from the instructions but was a fantastic idea!

So after I carefully counted all of the light fixtures on the exterior of the real Haunted Mansion, off to Michael’s I went. I was in luck and found a twinkle light set for bridal bouquets that had just the right number! With an X-acto knife I cut out all the glass portions of the model Mansion’s lanterns and poked the lights through. The challenge here was to turn the twinkle lights just so, so that the shadows that they cast matched the shadows that the 2 dimensional printed lights would if they were real. For the outdoor hanging chandeliers, I incised small holes under the second story veranda floor and ran the chord under that before having a small amount hang down with the light on the end.

My favorite part of this project was the floral additions. This was another stray from the instructions for the model with an addition of a mini 3D wreath for the front of the Mansion as well as hanging baskets. The baskets are the size of the eraser on a pencil and looked so cute sitting on my fingertip! Many replica crafters creating Ray’s models put little personal flourishes like these on their creations to make them unique, however if it wasn’t for designers like Ray, we’d never had had this figurative playground to play on! Thank you again Ray for all your time, talent, and patience!!!

Wow! Didn’t she do an incredible job?  The addition of the lights and foliage really adds to the depth and realism of this piece.  Thanks, again Marie.  

If you’re looking for inspiration for your own Haunted Mansion project, be sure to check out Haunted Dimensions and Disney Experience.  If you know of some other websites, please let me know.  I’d love to add them to my links in the footer area.  And as always, if you have a Haunted Mansion creation and would like to be featured on a Fanmade Friday segment, fill out the contact form or send me an email at carrie@HauntedMansionCollectibles.com

Thanks for stopping by.  Comments are always appreciated!