Vampire Halloween Doll Completed

The post is a little late going up today, but at least it made it up on Thursday.  I was able to complete the Vampire Halloween Doll this week.  I completed his cape.  And I was able to install a spring in the bottom of the casket box so that he partially rises up when the box is opened and looks as if he is trying to sit up and get out of the casket.  It was a fun little craft project, but it took longer than I had anticipated.

The spring took a little experimentation.  I found that a larger looser spring worked better than a smaller tightly wound spring for this application.  It also took some time to get the spring set in the right place so that the doll would rise up facing the right direction.  In my first few attempts, the doll sprang up and flipped face forward into the lid of the casket.  Not exactly the look I was going for.  In other attempts he sprang out of the casket and landed on the table.  That was funny from a surprise standpoint, but it was not exactly what I wanted.  I kept working until I got something that I could live with.  He appears to rise to a sitting position with one hand reaching for the edge of the casket.  I expect I could have refined it further, but at some point I needed to declare the project completed. In any case, it should be fun for a Halloween decoration. 

The cape is black with a red lining.  I suppose I could have just used black.  I just wanted some contrast.  Unfortunately, I had also lined the casket box in red as well.  When he is in the casket box, the cape is somewhat lost in the background.  If I were doing this over again, I would have lined the casket in white.  I suppose I could still do it, but at the moment I am ready to go on to something else. 

So another project is wrapped up.  I will be letting you know about the next project on the Sunday blog post.  Also, I have some exciting news about some earlier projects.  Check back on Sunday.