Magic Made and Lesson Learned – Disneyland Fireflies

Disneyland Fireflies (pirates of the caribbean)

Cost of project – less than $40.00 --Could be cheaper if you already have strippers (the wire kind) Project time - 2.5 hours --Could go faster if you already have strippers (the people kind---to help wire)

For some reason, I have decided to incorporate fireflies into my haunt.   Not scary, I know, but magical…especially for my smaller guests.  So I went to work Googling and found these:

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Imagineering/Fireflies.html

The guy that designed these has an amazing story and if you get a chance, you need to read about him.

Anyway, I thought this was a great first-timers project.  It would have cost even less but I didn’t own a pair of wire strippers that would handle the tiny blue wire.  Most of the parts were available locally. He even gives the parts number for radio shack and that makes it super easy. If you go around looking for a 12 vdc transformer, you will get confused looks from all the teenagers working at Radio Shack... or Wal-mart...or anywhere else you go... I ordered mine off Fright Ideas...with some other parts, because i actually did not have a scrap one at the house.   The only problem with the tutorial is that there are no pictures, and I’m a visual person, so some of it was a little hard to picture until it started coming together.

He recommends using 8 feet of blue wire per bulb…but if you make 8 fireflies, you will need to buy two rolls of blue wire… so I only made 6. And it worked out to just enough.

Also, i just bought black posterboard because i didnt want to color that much.

It took me about 2 hours to wire all of this.  I have never wired ANYTHING in my life.  I kind of guessed that white had to stay with white etc… apparently that was correct.

So at midnight last night, we ventured into the backyard to test them… outside of the house in the event of fire due to my wiring.  Phil had the fire extinguisher in hand as he plugged in the power cord. It was a little sad that he didnt have much confidence in my abilities, but neither did i really.  It sparked.  But the lights came on!   It worked! All that wiring and it worked!  That’s when it hit me.. Instead of the 12 vdc power cord I had purchased, I had grabbed the wrong one..but what did this power cord go to?  OH NO!... it was the 5 vdc charger for my mini projector.  Now I have to rewire it with the 12 vdc and I ruined my projector charger.

Kids, the lesson here is keep all the parts for your projects together.  Since I have to order most of my parts and I am working on several projects at once (as the parts trickle in) it is easy to get confused as to what part goes where.  From now on, I am going to label boxes with the project name and when the parts come in, I’m going to drop them in the box. 

I still have to put them in my tree and add the fan.  I will try to add a video if it works.

I have included the instructions below for your convenience.  I plan on adding some pictures later.  I would say that even though I had a major fail with my power cord, this project is a success!  Now to figure out how to add fireflies to Halloween.

Parts List

• 12 volt transformer for up to eight fireflies
• Tiny hobby lamps (Radio Shack part: 12-v microlamps 272-1092), commonly called grain of rice light bulbs, the kind used in miniature work that have two wires extending from them.
• Insulated single core wire, the tinier the better (Radio Shack part: blue wrapping wire 278-503). Allow eight feet per firefly displayed
• Thin cardboard, 3" X 1.5" per firefly
• Black felt tip pen
• Black electrical tape
• Speaker wire of necessary length to reach
• 6' or taller ladder
• Electric fans, as many as needed to propel the fireflies

Building Instructions

Always keep bare wires apart from each other so the will not short and always unplug the transformer when connecting wires so you will not short the transformer.

1. Take the transformer and make sure that it is unplugged at both ends
2. If necessary, cut off plug end that would normally go to calculator, etc.
3. Remove 1/2" insulation from the two low voltage ends.
4. Repeat these instructions for each firefly you wish to display:
1. Take eight feet of the single core, tiny insulated wire and loop it in half tying a knot six inches from the two ends.
2. Tie knots every foot or so to keep the wires together until you reach the loop. Alternatively, you may tape the two wires together.
3. Cut the loop, making two wires four feet long and tied together.
4. Remove insulation 1/2" from the four wire ends.
5. Blacken the cardboard card on both sides with felt tip pen
6. Punch a hole in the center of card.
7. Place one bulb wire through hole in card so that there is a wire on each side.
8. Tape down the wire on each side with a small piece of electrical tape.
9. Connect the tiny insulated wire, that you tied together, to the bulb wire, one end per side, by twisting and cover all exposed wire with electrical tape. You can solder these for a stronger connection.
5. Repeat as you imagineer the right amount of fireflies for the scene you are creating:
1. Make sure the transformer is unplugged.
2. Determine the length from where the transformer will be plugged in to the firefly you are installing and cut the speaker wire accordingly.
3. Remove 1/2" insulation from each end.
4. Connect the transformer wires and the one end of the speaker wire together by twisting and covering with electrical tape.
5. Affix the speaker wire above the scene you are creating, using tape or thumbtack, taking care not to short the wires. You can attach to the ceiling, hang the wire from lamps, or tree branches.
6. Cut speaker wire where you decide to hang the firefly. Remove 1/2" insulation from both ends of the speaker wire.
7. Connect speaker wire and firefly wires together.
8. Use the electric tape around the first wire connection, and next around the other wire connection, ending with one black tape wrap and a descending firefly.
9. Turn on or plug in the transformer to see your lit firefly. If the firefly does not light, recheck the wire connections.
6. Sometimes, if an object is too near, they can "flashlight" onto the firefly, spoiling the effect. To adjust the intensity of the fireflies lower the voltage, if there is a switch, or to create a smaller light aperture with electrical tape being applied over a portion of the bulb or pain the bulb or a portion of the bulb.
7. Plug in small electric fan(s) and place them in as hidden an area as possible, point the fan(s) at the fireflies in order to get the right amount of movement.
8. If the air current of the fan is limited, a lighter material can also be used in place of the cardboard.
9. Wait until dark, or make it dark, and you have the best of Disneyland in your own backyard...

Mirror Mirror on the wall.

About 3 years ago, I got really tired of reality and started making my own world of characters in paper mache.  Last year, I started thinking, “what if they moved”?  Well, I kind of filed that question under the someday file in my brain and moved on.  Then I started watching “Once Upon a Time” (hereafter referred to as my show).  Now I have always had a fondness for evil queens.  In fact the funnest (yes that is a word I used often) Halloween I had was when I went as Maleficent and scared the bejeasus out of a kid at Burger King on my lunch break.  Anyway, back to the beginning.  After watching my show, I decided that I needed my own magic mirror.  What to do? The same thing I do every night, Pinky, try to take over the world… by searching google. On a side note, if you don’t google, I highly recommend it.   People ask me for advice all the time and I am always shocked when I asked if the googled it and they say no.  Anyway, so I started googling how to make my own magic mirror…Behold, as if cast by the evil queen herself, there appeared a website called www.diymagicmirror.com.  It tells you exactly what you need, but it tends to get pricey.  Now, I work in trucking and make paper mache art, I have no disposable income.  Basically, I am giving up art supplies for my haunt and I can’t afford to spend a gazillion dollars. I did find, however, another site www.imagineerieing.com.  Not to be confused with Disney… notice the eerie.  They sell a downloadable puppet for like $15.  Much more doable.  Plus I happen to be married to a programmer with a deeper voice, so I figure he can totally personalize it for me.  I am still in the process of gathering up my final pieces for this project.  Once we get started on the programming, I will list a tutorial on it.

Magic Mirror Supply List

Cheap Computer (I got an excellent one for $75.00 off ebay)
12x12 two way mirror (http://www.hiddentelevision.com/sample.htm $20.00) make sure to get the dielectric.
Cheap 15” lcd monitor (got mine for 24.00 off ebay)
Download of the puppet from imagineerieing or the kit from diy magic mirror
Frame and oval mat.  Still looking for that.

We will get into the guts when I start the build.

Madame Leota Build

Madame Leota

Projected crystal ball prop

Approximate cost: $150.00

After seeing the various props online,  I decided that I too, needed a Madame Leota.  Actually, I feel like this is a good first prop for anybody because it’s really not that hard and the awesomeness and gratification are enough to make you want to continue on the quest.  Several of the online tutorials use a Gemmy Spirit ball with the guts removed.  Good luck finding one of those now…at least for a decent price.  Instead, I opted for the 16 inch acrylic globe from Light Bulb Surplus.  It costs 35.00 and I think with shipping was around $47.00.  You might even get the 14 in ..i think that would be plenty big...   Here is the bonus…they will cut the opening to any size you need.  I asked for 9 inches and I think that’s a pretty good size. It doesn’t come with a lip or anything, but I think I might use a cake plate for the base of the crystal ball.

Next I got a Styrofoam wig head from Hobby lobby.  I opted for the female one.  She has no ears, but I think once you add the hair, it won’t matter.  She runs $6.99 but I used my 40% off coupon.  Several people said they had to widen the chin to keep the mouth from looking strange.   With the loop I downloaded off Youtube, I didn’t find it necessary, but I’m not a super perfectionist… maybe I was just blown away with the coolness of the project.

You will also need a projector.  Here is the first place I really messed up.  I know nothing about projectors, but I do know that we tend to have a lot of thievery in the neighborhood… that being said, I wanted to go as cheap as possible.  I opted for the PPP03 Pico pocket projector… The reviews all said the video quality was lacking, but since I wasn’t watching movies, I didn’t care… here is what I care about…there is no sound.  Well, it’s there, its just so quiet you can’t hear it… and there is no way I have found to add speakers.  SO that was $72.00 down the drain ( I may actually use it for my peppers ghost later, so maybe not a waste).  What to do?    I could actually use this projector if I wanted to mess with sound editing software and try to get the timing down… then I could loop the video and the sound separately and hope they look ok.  Im not sure I want to do this so now I am looking for a projector that will allow speakers. I really wanted one small enough to mount inside a skull to sit on the table in front of her, but I’m not sure that would work anyway unless the picture is adjustable.  The PPP03 adjusts the size of the picture by moving the projector closer or further from the screen.  In my case, I needed a distance of about 7 feet to get the face to fit on the head.  Right now, I am considering a Discover Wonderwall.  There are a lot of complaints about this model as well and it is a lot larger than I wanted, but I think it might work for Leota.  This is also the projector I am considering for the Grimm Grinning Ghosts.  I will let you know how it works.

As for hair, some people use wigs and some use fiberfill stuffing.  I haven’t decided what I will use.  I am curious about spun glass angle hair.  It’s a bit pricey, but I wonder what the effect would be.

One thing you will notice is that there will be a glare from the projector.  You aren’t the only one having this problem and if you come up with a solution, let me know.  One person on a forum suggested a light coating of gold paint…but if you get too much, I fear you might run the risk of a double image projection.  We briefly thought about cutting a tiny hole in the plastic where the projection was actually reflecting but decided against it as it might be impossible to ever line it back up perfectly.  Another person said they didn’t worry about it because in the real setting, there will be other lights reflecting on it too.. this makes sense to me, so I figure I will just add some fake candles and stuff to distract from the projector light reflection.

You may notice that behind your ball, there is a projection of a large square with things like the battery image and other things from the projector.  This is fixed by taking some thicker paper like cardboard or cardstock and piercing a hole in it that only allows the face image through.  This part can be tricky because this hole is small.  I am still trying to work out getting the hole small enough to only let the face through but large enough to not darken the image too much.

I plan to use things I already have around the house to finish off this prop, I cant put anymore money into this one.  I think a table with drapes, a skull and some candles and books will do nicely…  once I figure where the project will go, I will follow up to let you know what I did to hide it.

For the download, I am using a great loop I found on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b08B4EKNJc&feature=youtube_gdata_player  . 

Supplies:

Wig head – hobby lobby 4.20 (after coupon)

Acrylic Globe 16 inch with 9 inch hole http://www.lightbulbsurplus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=431

Wig – some people are finding these on ebay for $10.00  be sure to get the lightest color you can. Or you can use fiberfill… that’s about 2.99 per bag at wal-mart

Cake Plate – free from my kitchen

Projector – 72.00 ebay… PPP03 Do not get this one.   The wonderwall is running about the same price… if anyone has suggestions on another projector, please post.

humble beginnings

Hi, my name is Teresa. This year I have decided to build my first haunt. Sure I’ve put up the fake spider webs and carved pumpkins in the past, but this year, I am building a little bit of Disney in my front yard.  I am starting this blog to maybe help anyone like me who has absolutely no idea what they’re doing or how to get started. 

First, about me. I grew up in Huntsville AR.  It was a nice quiet place, but not a lot of things to do.  It was the kind of place where decorations consisted of pumpkins and neighbors gave out apples or popcorn balls.  As I got older, I never really paid much attention to Halloween.  I grew up, moved to Fort Smith and promptly had my pumpkin stolen on Halloween. I wrote off that holiday and all those sorry-good –for-nothings who took my candy and stole my pumpkins.

This year though, Im blowing it out. Or at least hoping to.  I know nothing.  NOTHING.  My professional background is in trucking, my educational background is marketing and political science. Sure I took science classes, but I always made sure I took the same ones as the athletes…you know what I mean. I was taught geometry by a 200-year old high school basketball coach…. Basically, I am having to learn as I go. 

I have found a number of tutorials online showing how people built their props and animatronics and such, but they all have an assumption that the reader would know something about this stuff.  Nope. I had to google search most of the words I came across in the tuts.  So for those of you like me, who are ignorant and broke, I start this blog.  Over the course of the next few months, I will chronicle my experiences.  I will show my failures, I will post my successes, I will provide links to help, products and experts.  I will give you every piece of information I come across that may help, or at least may help you not screw up the same I will.  Comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.  If you are an engineer, we welcome your help, but only if its constructive.  I already know I am an idiot. 

I have found that most people are very willing to help, but usually cant get down on the level I need them to be for me to know what the heck they’re talking about.  For this blog, I will more than likely have pictures labeled “doohickey” and “wire thing”.  Feel free to insert names when you can.  This is a learning blog and we are starting from scratch.  So with that said, let me share my plans…which have already been shot down by a “more experienced haunter” as being too challenging for my level of ability…CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I will preface this with I HATE GORE.  There will be no blood or fleshy parts etc… in my haunt.

I want to create a creepy atmosphere like the gardens at Tower of Terror

I want to include a pet cemetery, Madame Leota, Grim Grinning Ghosts, animatronic dog, and a peppers ghost.   I plan to chronicle these adventures –success or fail.