HUGE Dept 56 Halloween Village Display

My Department 56 Halloween Villiage 2009. Carved and painted the foam and used resin for the swamps and water. I accidentally left a tree in the middle of the dock when making an adjusment so everyone can ignore that. Doh!

[@sheisindeed24]

I really love everything about this. When I was younger, I went to the Department 56 store and saw their Halloween village set-up and was just...struck. It completely captured that feeling of Halloween and excitement from childhood. Thank you so much for sharing with us, and I agree, share your ideas!

[@Trueghostgirl]

Your skills are amazing! I particularly LOVE how you made your own little cave and set it up on the inside so you can peek in and see a scene! It's like a piece you would see in the stores! You should work as a designer for dept. 56! I also love how your display is made up of a lot of the older creepier Dept. 56 pieces.. I wish I could shrink myself and live in your halloween village! lol .. I would pay good rent for that!

[@BlackCatNoni]

Great job on your display! The carving is done so well! Thanks for sharing.

[@mina10567]

wow!!! your display is the best I have ever seen. Like someone else mentioned - i love how you have the similiar items grouped. I have a display, which i keep up all year, in a black armoire. I cannot store or devote the time to taking it down each year. Sometimes I open the cabinet up in July, just to look at it. Love yours!!!! Very, very awesome. I did not see the the Pub. Might have to watch again.

[@Trueghostgirl]

We just started our small little village, but I am in love with it already! We got our hands on a few of the rarer things through ebay. We are going for the more "eerie" little town look but it is soooo much fun! We are adding more shortly, and we keep ours out year round! lol We LOVE Halloween!... sometimes waiting a whole year is too long for us, so we keep it out too have a piece of halloween w/ us .. and we decorate it for christmas too! lol... deff. a conversation piece :) LOVE your town!

[@TheLadyWoreBlack73]

Very very nice. My villiage is much bigger but I haven't had the space to lay it out and start the boards and styrofoam layouts yet. I hope to do something similar to this for mine. All hand done and unique. Thanks for sharing and I hope to share mine when it's done.

[@HamletsCamaro]

@pandaguy07 - The base was built over three separate years, expanding as I went. I'm not sure how many total hours I have in the construction. Annual set up probably takes me about 30 hours for unpacking, assembly, wiring and final dressing. The entire set is dissassembled, put back in their original styrofoam boxes and the major foam structures stored in the attic. But it is a lot of fun!

[@HamletsCamaro]

I find if you layer your colors you get better depth of shading. Start with a dark grey, almost black base coat, and be sure to fill all the crevices. Then dry brush over that with a medium grey but just cover the higher ridges. Finally dry brush over that with a very light grey almost white paint on just the top of the ridges. Don't worry about messing up. My 8 and 6 year old kids helped paint much of this. It is Halloween and doesn't need to be perfect. It made a fun family project.

[@HamletsCamaro]

@sewshasha - The house in the middle of the All Hallow's Eve set is from the Dicken's Village Literary Classics: Great Expectations: Satis Manor. It comes with Ms. Havisham, Estella and Pip, and always reminds me of my high school English teacher who came dressed as Ms. Havisham one year for Halloween. Its another great piece.

[@s.t6058]

Ate some mushrooms and been replaying this for 8 hours. Thank you

[@RSTI191]

LOL...

[@HamletsCamaro]

This takes me about two weekends to set up with some help from my kids. Take down is only about 1 weekend. Once you get into the work it goes pretty quickly. Thanks for the kind words. It is just about that time again. I have a few pieces to swap this year, and some new pieces so I am toying with building another smaller display in the other room. It just depends on time! :)

[@HamletsCamaro]

That is the Dept 56 "Witch Rides" accessory. It was retired a few years ago. My unit I think has seen its last year since a couple of the mounting pins have almost broken off so the little cauldron seats just barely hang on. I'll replace that next year with some new piece.

[@1ozzieosburn]

You are very artistic keep up the great work!!!!

[@LUCANDIS]

and the uniclylist @ 1:50 wow your setup is sooo nice many items ive never seen before

[@HamletsCamaro]

@HamletsCamaro - Correction, that is the Hot Wire Foam Factory freehand router piece. Practice on a piece of scrap foam. The great thing about Halloween is that it should look irregular and unfinished, it makes it look better. My two elementary school kids love to help.

[@HamletsCamaro]

@sewshasha - Thanks for your compliments! The church ruins are actually the only Lemax building that I have in my display. Lemax always has great lighting, but some of the other quality aspects may not be as good as Dept 56. This piece is pretty good. I'll see Dept 56 artist Scott Enter again on Saturday and reiterate the need for Dept 56 to come out with some awesome church ruins. The other piece is teh Croak-N-Haggard Mortuary; a limited 2009 release, but you can still find it on eBay.

[@HamletsCamaro]

The design progressed over a few years. If you look at this it started with the back section and I worked outwards over the course of three years, so there is actually a progression on the detail as it gets better with later sections. I've considered replacing the parts of the original section just to improve the detail. The paint is simply acrylic wall paint purchased at Lowe's for the main work. You can have them blend some color for you or get the returned paint off the sale rack.

[@yankease]

Very cool. Awesome house as well

[@HamletsCamaro]

I build this from foam purchased from a local distributor who can cut custom sheets based on my specs. I have smaller 2in sheets cut as well as larger blocks for carving. However, I also use blocks of packing foam for lamps and such which you can often find at furniture stores for free. Free is better than paying for the foam since foam prices follow comodity fuel prices, so it is more expensive now (foam is a petroleum product).

[@KarisDeichman87]

I love the platforms that you built! I thought my town had awesome platforms until I saw these! Great Job!

[@outatime27]

Man that's awesome. Nice setup.

[@HamletsCamaro]

Not a bad idea. I have another section I am working on for Halloween I didn't finish. I may try to record some quick video as I finish this. Thanks for the feedback.

[@HamletsCamaro]

@Leighmwnurse, I had the large stryfoam blocks and sheets cut for me at a commercial foam provider. If you live in a major metropolitan area do a good for "foam supply" in your city. You can't get this stuff at craft supply or Home Depot stores. Hope that helps.

[@HamletsCamaro]

@gamy2chknfc - I made the stairs by using the Hot Wire Foam Factory sculpting tool. I bent the wire at a 90 degree angle. Starting at the bottom of your stairs, cut a shallow single stair step out; it wont be deep, but the first cut will take out a tall piece. Then simply rise slightly for the next step cutting slightly deeper, and continue until you reach the top. You can also slightly curve the stairs and make the steps irregular for a slightly creepier look.

[@dbkimh]

Fantastic. Very classy.

[@bruce3318]

Have you found the D56 quality a bit lacking in recent years? There seems to be more resin and plastic being used.

[@sewshasha]

Thanks so much for your help!

[@HamletsCamaro]

For additional paint go to Michael's or Hobby Lobby and buy some cheap small bottles of acrylic. Use this for your greens browns etc. Again be sure to get a couple of different shades of a color. Nature is not monotone.

[@bruce3318]

Fantastic job! Your house isn't bad either!

[@avonlady93]

Absolutely fabulous! Did you take a class on carving the styrofoam? Seriously, you could go pro if you're not already.

[@psychokarloff]

Your staircases are phenomenal!

[@HamletsCamaro]

@kinkabala, I would suggest getting a power converter for your main power strip and then running all of your plugs to that. It would be too difficult to rewire all of these pieces.

[@mikeinpgh]

Absolutely amazing village! I am in awe!! What do you make your mountains & hillsides from? Styrofoam? If so, what kind of styrofoam? Insulations sheets?? I love it! Gives me much inspiration for mine!

[@dasvoid1]

wow wow wow !! What a fantastic display. Started my collection last year from Lemax and Dept.56 and am now devoting one empty bedroom to setting up a year round display. Thanks for the tips. Agree with all comments.You are the Halloween King !!!! where can we find your new setups?

[@Impulse282]

man thats amazing! i love halloween im doing this next year! ..you should do a "how to" on how to cut and paint the foam out! some simple tips would be greatly appreciated!

[@avonlady93]

So awesome! What paint did you use on the foam? I also love your use of the fall colored "bushes", etc.

[@sewshasha]

Thanks you so much! I agree - they definitely need to come out with a Church for the Halloween Village. I did have one more question after watching your video for the 100th time . . . What is the building in the middle of your All Hallows' Eve Display? It looks like a neat old house. Thank you!!!

[@sewshasha]

Your village is amazing! It has really inspired me to put mine up this year. I do have a question about two of your buildings. Would you mind telling me what the church is on the hill to the left of Dr. Lunatics Laboratory? It has a purple light inside and the Grimsly Crypt in front of it. - it fits in absolutely perfect! Also i was wondering what the building is to the right of Grisly's House Of Oddities - it fits in very well and has a couple of smoke stacks. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@DawaiOser]

Oh my gosh - that's amazing! I have been collecting for a few years and this makes me *SQUEE* with joy. What a setup and I can't imagine how long it took you to build the platforms and inner caves. Seriously, it's impressive. Tell me that you leave this masterpiece up all year long?

[@AtHomeWithCrystalRenee]

This is absolutely AMAZING!!! What an incredible job! I would give 2 thumbs up if I could. :)

[@prestonfish5086]

How did you come up with the design? and what type of paint did you use? I am new to this and need pointers!

[@TheBloodhoundmommy]

Love it! How long does it take you to put up each year? Do you change it up? Or do you do the same thing? Do you add pieces each year?

[@HamletsCamaro]

+Tara F, it takes about 3 weekends to put it up. I like to change it around a bit and integrate new pieces. This year I have expanded quite a bit to replace some of my original work that I was no longer pleased with, so I need to post a new video.

[@vlongo100]

I love it!

[@trevorrodrigues6709]

What kind of paint did you use for your platforms. Looks like a base light grey and a darker one for shading. Did you use spray paint? Love the lay out...so awesome!

[@HamletsCamaro]

I paint these with standard household interior latex paint. The Base coat is very dark grey, almost black, then brush a medium grey across the ridges, leaving the very dark paint in all of the crevices. Then I apply a very light coating of a light grey, almost white, to the outer ridges. I find the three coats give a lot of contrast and the most depth. You can follow up with a light green to look like moss or lichen. I brush paint everything and let my kids help, even the youngest. Since it is Halloween, and mostly highlighting, you can mess it up and it really doesn't matter. It is a lot of fun. The best hint I can give is that most of the success on how this looks is how you carve the foam. The deeper you can make the ridges and crevices the better. The pieces closest to the wall are my first attempts and are the flatest, whereas the mountain with the lighthouse is the newest piece. The differences are pretty evident.

[@trevorrodrigues6709]

Wow..thanks so much. I ordered my hot-wire foam kit so I am going to start practicing.

[@trevorrodrigues6709]

Craig Ligon

[@HamletsCamaro]

+Trevor Rodrigues, this is simply standard acrylic paint from Lowe's. I normally buy 1 gallon cans; you can sometimes find discount cans in the right color from customer returns. Start by brushing on a very dark grey (almost black) paint, then drybrush on a much lighter grey. If you can finish off with highlights in white and green, it will look even better.

[@christielammers6937]

Where did you get your styrofoam? How many pieces does this break in to? How do you store it?

[@HamletsCamaro]

+Christie Lammers, I buy my Styrofoam at a Styrofoam distributor that will sell to individuals (I use Cascade Foam in Dallas, TX). My set up has 6 pieces that make up the base: five 2'x4' pieces, and one 3'x4' piece (4" thick, 2lb. Styrofoam). I store this all in the attic since I have a pull down ladder and it deals with the heat fine in TX.

[@MRDelligatti]

I have been dying to start one of these. Definitely need advice on how to get started. Also what are the pieces near the dock at 3:20? Thanks so much.

[@dita22]

You did a fantastic job at cutting the foam. Wow...do you do any tutorials? :D

[@HamletsCamaro]

No, unfortunately I don't have any tutorial videos. This is always the type of thing I get so wrapped up in building, that I only think of photos and videos after I have it done! However, I use Hot Wire Foam Factory Tools (they do have some videos, and their tools have improved), and I usually use regular latex house paint from Home Depot or Lowe's. Don't use enamel or spray paints as it will melt the foam. The foam can be purchased commercially in large sheets or thicker pieces, but you can also use large packing pieces from things like lamp boxes. Get a couple of tools, and next time you get something in a foam shipping box, just experiment, its fun!

[@dita22]

@@HamletsCamaro Thanks for the tips :-)

[@Pacethemace9]

awesome collection but I don't see the witches brew pub anywhere

[@jeremycarr9410]

amazing display....what is the building next to Barleycorn Manor?

[@HamletsCamaro]

That is the Dept 56 Great Expectations Satis Manor from their Literary Classics line. I thought it fit in with Halloween. I just reminded me of my Sophomore English teacher who dressed up as Ms. Havisham one year for Halloween. Classic! :)

[@LUCANDIS]

what is the name of the @ 1:44 luv your video

[@hockeyiscoolkarmozyn7450]

WHAT IS THE PIECE AT 3:58

[@HamletsCamaro]

That is "Dr. Lunatics Laboratory" #56.54602

[@applesocks89]

@hollygirl1975 eBay