Lovecraft's Grave

I don't normally focus on static Halloween displays, but this particular example is a lesson in how to craft a fantastic prop using simple materials and a whole lot of talent. Not to mention the fact that it's about as Lovecraftian as one can get. Hector Turner is the artist behind it's creation.

My latest endeavour is a H.P.Lovecraft tombstone for my Halloween display. Not true-to-life of course but what I envisioned it could be. The back-story is that someone, using pages from the Necronomicon, tried to raise H.P.Lovecraft from the dead. Instead they called up something unspeakable from beyond that broke out of the tomb to gain access to our world. Really I just wanted to do a cool tombstone with tentacles!

It was built as part of a contest for HauntForum and I could only spend a maximum of $20 on it. I had to get fairly creative in my use of materials to come in under the limit. This included using Froot Loops as suckers on the tentacles! For extra detail I even included a page torn from the Necronomicon. I scanned an illustration I did for the tome I'm working on and added some text & textures in Photoshop, then aged and burnt. Here are a few images of the prop under construction and finally finished. If anyone is a member of HauntForum the voting is on until Saturday, May 8th.

Here's what the finished project looks like, along with some interesting construction photos:







The finished project in daylight:



A detail shot of the Elder Sign finial:



The misused page from the Necronomicon responsible for this horror:



One of the hell-spawned tentacles:



A closeup of the engraving on the tombstone:



A construction shot demonstrating the prop's humble origins:



The tentacles, made from newspaper, masking tape, and ping pong balls:



The tentacle suckers, in cherry, lime, grape, and lemon flavors:



You'll find a full materials list and build log over at the HauntForum discussion of the project. Jump up one level in the forum and you can see the other entries in the group's $20 prop competition.