Halloween Vampire

[Keith Outten]

Happy Halloween

This is the first stage of this project, cutting out two pieces of acrylic. The solid black piece which was cut is on top of the semi-transparent white.

The next step is to fabricate a deep shadow box style aluminum frame and paint it black.

Once the acrylic is mounted in the frame I will install LED lights which I hope will make the white areas glow.

The frame size is 29" wide by 46" tall and it will be installed in my barn loft window which faces the road we live on.
More pictures will be provided as we go along!
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[Mick A Martin]

Looks good Keith, is this for personal use?

I made some cat silhouettes for my wife using 1/4" MDF then painted both sides black.

Mick

[Mike Heidrick]

Would you share the files with us Keith? Looks great.

[Keith Outten]

Mick,

Yes, this is a Halloween decoration for our barn. I haven't been keen on holiday decorations in the past but I agreed to make a couple each year so we could decorate our barn for a couple holidays. Our barn is kind of a local landmark for the people in our area, I expect they will appreciate the entertainment factor and it should prove to be pretty spooky in the second story window that is about 200 feet from the road :)

The nice thing about this design is that the contrast will make it very visible during the daytime and the backlighting will do the same at night. If I can get the LED lights setup just right so the face has a dull glow rather than a bright white look it should be impressive.

Mike,

This design is copy protected. It came from a Halloween pumpkin decorations booklet we purchased for our daughters to use as templates for pumpkin carving. Otherwise I would be glad to share the design. A Google image search will provide a similar graphic.

Here is a picture of our 85 year old barn that we rebuilt a couple years ago, the upper loft window is where the Vampire will be mounted.
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[Nicholas Bukky]

Nice job Keith! The barn looks great! Is that where you keep my "deer";)?

Post pics of the vamp installed!!

Best,
Nick

[Keith Outten]

Nick,

Yep, your tractor is kept high and dry in the bay on the right side of the barn.
You wouldn't know it now but a couple of years ago this building was in terrible shape, the rear wall was rotten from top to bottom among other problems. Jackie and I were very close to pulling the building down with the tractor with some help from a couple large chain falls. I had planned to haul it to my burn pile once it was safely on the ground.

At the last minute we decided to do a complete rehab project, most of the building frame was in good shape and the cost of repairing the building was much less than new construction. Looking back we are pleased that we decided to save the barn, it has been a part of the area we live in for many decades and is a landmark here. Our neighbors seem to be pleased as well, they were very verbal about our considering tearing the building down.

This barn has been the home of several tractors in my family alone. My Dad had an old Ford 9N, then an International Harvester 504 High Clear, then my little Kubota BX 1500 and now the new John Deere 4105. Since 1972 we have owned a model 71 IH Cub Cadet which I consider to be a tractor even though it was purchased to cut grass originally and it still runs today but the grass cutting has been done by a Dixie Chopper for the last 12 years.

I am going to try to get the Vampire project finished this weekend if possible. Night and day pictures will be provided. Then I will be looking for a nice Ghost graphic to add to my Halloween decorations.
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[Jim Underwood]

I'm curious about the construction. You say this is just two pieces of acrylic?

Does this mean that the white a black pieces are the same size, and it fits together like a negative/positive mold?

[Scott Shepherd]

From the photo, it appears the black and white are the same size (you can see the white edge underneath), and the black has the shape cut out, exposing the white under it. When you light the white from behind, it will light up night and bright white.

[Keith Outten]

Scott is right, the white piece is just a backer.
All the cutting was done to the black piece.

I found some aluminum framing material in my barn yesterday that I think will be deep enough for the lights. Today I will cut the framing and install the acrylic and the LED lights if I have the time.
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