Halloween Yard Decorations: Plexiglass Ghosts

 An experiment in discovering how to make them.

If you've searched the web for Halloween decorations; it possible that you've encountered the David Lowe Design blog. If you haven't check it out; David Lowe Design. He has posted a variety of projects and has the most imaginatively diverse Halloween display in the country.

In 2016 he showed three ghosts that were constructed from Plexiglass; I call them plexighosts. He thought he would be able to post a how-to on his blog. For some reason, I hope it is a happy reason, he has not been able to. So I decided to start experimenting with the concept myself; this is my first try.

I have found the instructions on the Hallmark Channel website.

I discovered that Plexiglass is expensive and I'm not good at expensive. I decided to start with a small plexighost. I have a jack-o-lantern that sits on top of a tombstone popper and knew I could replace it with a ghost head. got a 11”x14” sheet of Lexan that has a thickness of .093 which I'd say is a bit thicker than an eighth of an inch. It cost a little less than $8.

I sketched out a ghost head in pencil then I used a black marker to make the lines very easy to see.

 

By placing the Lexan over the sketch it was easily etch the lines for the eyes and mouth.  

I had three bits, for my Dremel tool, that I believed would work good; I chose the middle round bit that had been purchased in a set at Harbor Fright Tools. 

Now I just traced the lines with the Dremel.  

Then I used a cutting blade to cut the outline. There are many ways to cut Plexiglass and Lexan. Straight cuts are very easy with a utility knife. Since these were curved I felt I should use the Dremel. With thicker Plexiglass, I would use a jigsaw. I discovered that this stuff scuffs and scratches very easily. Next time I'll take special precautions to prevent this. 

The cut were pretty ragged, because the Lexan melted a bit while it was being cut. I filed and sanded them. 

Now I needed something to mount it to. I figured a sandwich situation would work best and think that no matter where a Plexighosts is to be installed this is the best solution.

I drilled two holes through both pieces of wood with the Lexan in between.

Then I put bolts through the holes and tightened washers and a nut on it to hold it all together. 

I removed the Jack-o-lantern from the popper pole and marked where I would need to drill the holes to mount the plexighosts on the pole. I drilled them and bolted it to the pole.

I thought that the light that shines through David's ghosts was shining straight up through the Plexiglass; similar to fiber optic cable. 

I discovered that this wasn't working as I thought it would, so I fashioned a light mount out of wire. I have a small section of chain link fence that I have used for different projects like this. I made a narrow loop that screws fit through and a ½ inch loop for the light to fit in. The wire is about 12 inches long and allows a bunch of flexibility. Now I mounted the light holder to the ghost's mount; in a position so it is not seen from the front but shineds up on the Plexighosts.

I mounted it to the popper apparatus. 

Now the light tests start. This first one is with a small LED .5 watt c7 night light; it puts out probably 10 lumens. 

Pretty good, but is a little dim. 

Next, I tried the light from inside the tombstone, It is a LED 5 watt bulb, and delivers 350 lumens. 

It lit the ghost perfectly, the photo doesn't do the actual project justice. However, this light put out a bunch of unwanted ambient light. 



So it seems what I'm looking for is a bright small white spotlight.


So, I'm happy with the experiment so, far and will use this Plexighost this year with the correct light.  Next year I hope to make one of the ground mounted Plexighosts similar to Dave's.

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