Stefan Lasiewski

I’m working on a couple projects for Halloween. I like the spooky, ambient effects best, and I’m really not into anything gory — gore is totally overrated and overused during Halloween.

Here are some of my ideas:

Fireflies:

I really like the effect of the Fireflies in Pirates of the Caribbean. They may not seem Halloweeny, but they can add a nice ambient atmosphere. The Fireflies are probably best when viewed at a distance.

I haven’t actually tried this, but I’ve read of similar setups elsewhere. It will require some experimentation.

Partlist:
- 12v worth of batteries & battery holder
- 12v transformer
- Low voltage LEDs (White or Ultraviolet!!!)
- Plastic or paper for the blinders/wings, matte-black
- Thin gauge magnet wire (lightly insulated and painted matte-black)
- Springs
- A board to attach it too
- A fan

Solder the transformer, wire & LEDs together. Arrange the wires in a spring-like shape or attach them to the board with springs.

Put a blinder on the LEDs so the light is blocked from some angles and visible from other angles. This will make the fireflies appear to blink.

Put the setup in front of a fan. The blinders will act as wings and catch the draft provided by the fan. The spring on the wire will make the fireflies appear bob up and down.

Now you have wiggling, bobbing, blinking fireflies!

There are some other instructions here:
www.hiddenmickeys.org/Imagine…g/Imagineering.html
www.geocities.com/oooketchup/POTC_ff.htm

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Ghosts:

This project is pretty simple & low-cost, but it’s not well known. You can do a bunch of different stuff with ths idea.

Partlist:
- Thin fabric like gauze or muslin
- Blacklight
- some spray-on laundry detergent that contains “whiteners” (Phosphorous, etc).

Cut the fabric; spray the laundry detergent onto the fabric. Hold the fabric under the blacklight. The whiteners in the laundry detergent are actually chemicals like phosphorous or zinc sulfide that glow brilliantly under blacklight.

Use springs, string to hang them. A fan can make them bounce. Helium balloons can make them float around very well.

I dressed up as a ’stick figure’ for Halloween 2004. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but I’m a little annoyed by the amount of violence and gore in many of the costumes today. I’ve always considered Halloween to be a fantasy holiday– dress up as something fun.

The inspiration for this costume hit me at Burning Man a few years ago. Many of the participants at BM like to appear real bad-ass– wearing spikes, acting it up, designing machines to tear things up, etc. That’s all well and good, but some of it can get tiring real quick. there’s also a small, but growing movement which isn’t all about attitude. Fun things. Rainbows, kid’s camp, solar camp– much more my style. I like fun.

I purchased some Electroluminescent Wire, a dozen connectors, one battery pack and a ‘Fish Driver’ from Cool Neon in Oakland, California (Friendly people, hard working, I was an early customer back in 1999).

This was Version 1– quick and dirty. I spent 8 frantic hours designing and making the whole thing in time for the trick or treators, and had to decorate the house at the same time. Next year, it’ll be better!

Right now I am working on attaching the wire to my clothing sewing some see-through plastic to the clothing (from the costume store), and will separate the wire into body segments so that I can attach the legs separately from the torso and head. I’m also designing a big happy face for the head, but stringing the eyes, a nose and a mouth is actually quite complex, and I’m not quite sure how to attach the thing to my head.