(1)The Bubbling Cauldron

Want a real witches’ brew? Mix soap-bubble solution with dry ice, or use liquid nitrogen for bubbles that release fog when they pop. In the video below use the help of a few young assistants to create cauldrons of toil and trouble.

Here’s how it’s done:

There are many ways to make a bubbling cauldron of witch’s brew. As with all magic, some preparation is required for the spell to work properly. The three most practical methods for creating a bubbling cauldron are:

1. Liquid nitrogen

2. Dry ice

3. Mechanical injection of compressed air or, preferably, helium

* All magic potions begin with hot water. If you don’t have a fire under your cauldron, it’s OK to just fill it with hot water from the tap—the hotter the better. To this, add magic-potion ingredients such as chili powder (for its blood-red color), cayenne pepper (for its strong magical smell) and any other spices, herbs, dried leaves, sticks, bones, wolfsbane or eyes of newt you may have lying around. Bulk chili powder, etc., can be purchased at warehouse clubs quite inexpensively.

* If you want overflowing bubbles, add several good squirts of dishwashing liquid. For some reason, regular (non-Ultra) Dawn is renowned in the bubble industry as the best for producing suds.

* A note on cauldrons: Cast iron is the proper material for cauldrons, but for the potions discussed here, pretty much anything will do. Plastic buckets, cooking pots—anything that will hold at least a few gallons of water is fine. Your cauldron should be about half full (or half empty, depending on how you look at it).

* After mixing up the stock (cragged sticks and 6- to 10-year-olds are best for mixing), you’re ready to add the magic.

* Liquid nitrogen, available from any welding-supply shop (provided you have a certified transportation Dewar to carry it in), is by far the most dramatic bubble maker. A few quarts of it dumped rapidly into a cauldron of hot, soapy water can create a billowing tower of bubbles several feet high in an instant (stand back). Much fun is had by all, but it doesn’t last very long.

* Dry ice is much easier to get. Some larger grocery stores and supermarkets actually sell dry ice from chests just like the ones selling regular ice. Call around to find a place that sells it. I don’t know if it’s unique to my town, but where I live, you can also buy dry ice at the blood bank, which is particularly appropriate for Halloween. Ten or 15 pounds should be plenty, and it costs about $1 per pound. Bring it home in a cooler, and use within a day. (Do not try to store dry ice in a freezer. Your freezer is boiling hot compared to the dry ice, which will last longer left alone in a Styrofoam cooler.) Do not lick the dry ice, and handle it with gloves at all times.

* Use a hammer to break up the block of dry ice, and add about five pounds at a time to the cauldron. It will bubble gently for quite a while, the bubbles full of spooky smoke. If you have soap in the brew, it will slowly bubble over and spill out in a most satisfying way. If the water gets cold, add hot water.

* The last, and most complicated, method of bubbling a cauldron involves injecting compressed air or other gas using a coil of copper pipe with small holes drilled in it. Air from a compressor works great if you want a basically unending stream of bubbles overflowing the cauldron and making a gigantic mess (which is, I should remind you, a good thing if you’re six).

* But the ne plus ultra of bubbling cauldrons is, without a doubt, the helium-bubble cauldron. The same copper-pipe bubbler can be connected to a regulator attached to a commercial helium cylinder (available at the same welding-supply shops you get liquid nitrogen from, and from party-supply stores, though they will not have the right regulator). Turn the helium on just fast enough for the bubbles to rise about one or two inches per second.

* Any child who has not seen this before will be absolutely floored by it, as will many adults. Do note: It does not work very well in high winds, and the more you stir or otherwise mess with the bubbles, the less well they float. It’s best to leave them alone or just slice them off when you think they are ready to go free. (Just try to enforce that rule once the kids get involved.)

* Also note that this is an expensive hobby: A full 240-cubic-foot tank (the largest commonly available size) will last about 15 minutes and cost about $80 to fill.

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(2)The Wailing Corpse

Morph a flimsy fake skeleton into a mass of hideous rotting flesh with the Corpsification Kit ($35; http://www.goregalore.com) from Gore Galore. Then soup up your dead guy with Chips International’s Halloween Howler/ Superseller ($50; http://www.chips-international.com), a wallet-size gadget that lets you record up to 20 seconds of creaks and moans and then plays them back when triggered by a motion sensor. End result: perfectly timed sounds and petrified visitors.

The battery- or AC-adapter-operated Superseller comes with a line-in jack and onboard mike for recording, a line-out for amplification, and a reset timer to keep the shrieks from getting repetitive during high-traffic times. Sound effects can be retained indefinitely without power, and a swivel-type mounting bracket makes temporary installation easy. Ready for fright night?

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(3)The Bottomless Pit

http://www.llund.com/halloween.htm

You look into the pit, and it appears to have no bottom. As you look deep into the pit you hear the faint voice of a child asking for help. The child has fallen into the pit and cannot get out. While this is a very old illusion, I have never seen detailed construction information on the subject. As I constructed mine, I took pictures and notes and I will attempt to give this information along with pictures of the effect and its construction. I estimate it took about 20 hours to build this effect and cost less than $100 depending on your glass prices.

Before you attempt to start building it I recommend you read through these instructions and look at all the pictures so you will understand the concept.

Effect:

This effect is accomplished with 2 mirrored surfaces reflecting each other. You have probably experienced this in a barbershop or some other place that has mirrors facing each other. I used 2 pieces of glass, 1 was a regular mirror and the other a see through or 2-way mirror as you see in the police station shows on TV. You can see through 1 side but if you’re on the reverse side the glass becomes a mirror. The method of construction allows you to take it apart easily for storage.

Preparing the 2×4′s to receive the mirrors:

Cut a groove midway along the entire length of the 2×4. This groove will hold the mirrors in place, make the width of the groove 1 1/2 times the thickness of the mirrors. Make the depth of the groove about 3/4 of an inch. A table saw makes quick work of this job. Use a magic marker to mark the top surface of the 2×4 so you will know which side matches which when the board is cut. Now cut 8 pieces of the 2×4 into these dimensions.
· 4 pieces 23″
· 4 pieces 25 5/8″

Now to assemble the mirror housing:

Square 2 23″ pieces to the inside edge of one of the 25 5/8″ pieces with the groove to the inside and all pieces facing up. Use screws to attach the 25 5/8″ pieces. Slide the mirror into the slots with the mirrored side up. Now screw the last end piece to the two 25 5/8″ pieces. Make sure everything is square. Repeat the process for the 2-way mirror making sure the mirrored side is facing down. This is important, mark each corner with a number 1-4T for top and 1-4B for bottom. You will be taking the assembly apart for painting and it is best to put it back together the same way it was taken apart. Of course when you do get to painting, make sure you remark them as before. I also added a 3/8″ piece of plywood to the very bottom of the unit for protection of the bottom glass. 4 screws hold it in place.

Now for the walls:

When you pick up your 4×8 3/8 CDX piece of plywood, you might as well get it cut to size. My home Depot makes cuts for 50 cents a cut but usually never charges for it at the register. Even if they do, it is cheap enough. You just have to insure that your dimensions are perfectly correct. I made my walls 3′ high and am quite satisfied with that dimension. Then have them cut the 4×8′ sheet lengthwise to the width of the inside of one dimension of the 2×4″ frame. T hen on the remaining piece cut lengthwise to the other dimension subtracting 2 times the width (3/8) of the wall thickness. That is 2 cuts ($1.00). Now have them cut the 2 long pieces into the height of the walls. If you make your walls 3′ high, that is 4 cuts ($2.00). I painted the walls a flat black before attaching the faux stones.

Attaching Brackets:

To hold the sides together I used short lengths of 1×2 pine. Cut 16 pieces about six inches long. This will make up the 8 brackets for each corner of the top and bottom. Put a dab of waterproof glue on the end of one piece and form an “L” shaped bracket with another piece. Do this for all 8 brackets. After the glue dries, pre-drill and put a couple of screws in for strength. Now lay the assembled mirrored bottom on the floor and place one of the exact fit sides of the wall to the inside of the 2×4 frame. Have someone hold it in place and glue and screw one of the brackets on the wall so that the bracket rests on the top surface of the 2×4. Repeat for the other side. Mark the wall so it can be placed back into the same position on the 2×4 base. Now repeat the procedure for the opposite side wall. Now put both bracketed walls back in the base and slide in one of the remaining side walls. This wall should fit between the other 2 walls. Now put 2 screws (no glue) through the bracket into the side wall. Repeat this procedure for the remaining side. Then do the same for the remaining wall. Repeat this whole procedure for the top, making sure that the bracket is flush with the bottom of the top 2×4.

Installing the light:

On one side wall, measure to the exact center and drill a hole large enough to install the pigtail wires from a light bulb socket.

Aligning the illusion:

Assemble the unit and plug in the light. Look down into the pit and check the alignment of the lights. Hopefully they will appear to go straight down. If they are off, you will have to install shims on the top of the upper brackets to align everything. Use some thin wood stock like a paint stirrer or whatever. Once it is aligned, glue the shims in place.

Making the stone walls:

Measure one side wall, the walls should all be almost the same size. Transfer the measurements to the 2×8 sheet of pink foam and with a magic marker draw about 15-20 random stones on the foam. Number each stone starting with the lower left and going to the top. Cut all 4 pieces of foam to the same size. I attached all 4 pieces of foam together and cut out the stones on my band saw. After cutting, I marked front and back of each piece with their numbers. I have a bench sander and I sanded the edge of each piece to simulate a stone. Paint the stones to your liking, I used gray paint with splashes of white and black. I’m sure it can be done better, but it looks good in the final effect. Remember to use latex paint, otherwise solvents may melt the foam. I used liquid nails construction adhesive to attach the stones to the inside walls. If you want, you can repeat the procedure for the outside walls, but if I had to do over again I wouldn’t do the outside, too much work.

Adding sound:

I picked up a small radio with a tape deck for $5 at a garage sale. Get a 30-second loop tape from radio shack or some other source. Have a child record a help message on the loop tape. This is just one way to do it. Conceal the recorder at the base of the pit.

Some tips:

· People have a tendency to lean on the 2×4 top when they look into the pit. You might want to build a second “leaning” structure around the pit. If any of you have any suggestions e-mail me.

· I was thinking of mounting the effect at about a 45-degree angle on the grass and using bales of hay to conceal the bottom of the pit. This way, you can construct a fence to keep people from getting to close to the glass.

· Since the top and bottom are easily removed from the side walls, I was thinking of running some temporary 2×2 straps from the top 2×4 to the bottom 2×4 to tie the unit together. I also did this.

Material list:

- 2, 10′ 2×4 (these must be very straight and will be used for the mirror supports)
- 1, 4×8 sheet of 3/8 CDX plywood ( for the walls )
- 2×2′ mirror
- 2×2′ 2-way mirror. If you run into a problem getting the glass, try Alert Glass, 631-666-7000 and ask for Gino.
- 2, 2x8x3/4 foam insulating panels ( to make fake stones, I used the pink kind from Home Depot )
- 1X2 pine for brackets
- Screws, I like wallboard screws.
- 1, 100W light bulb and socket.
- 2 tubes of Liquid Nails construction adhesive.
- Latex paint. Caution!! paint with solvents will melt the foam.

Tools needed to build it:

Router or table saw to cut the grooves for the mirrors.
Screwdriver.
Drill and bits.
Paint brushes.
Band saw or skill saw.

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Tons more Halloween projects here:

http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/