Hanging Pirate Skeleton Yard DecorationPirates Ye Be Warned!! A scary-but-fun Halloween decorationIn the slide show above, you're viewing pictures of the Hanging Pirate Skeletons yard decoration made by Karen Christensen of Utah. On this page, you can discover how Karen made this very cool...and very eerie...Halloween yard decoration for your own home! How to make this fun Pirate Halloween decorationby Karen ChristensenI absolutely love Halloween.What started out as a few bats and a scarecrow on my porch has, over the last 20 years or so, grown into a full scale haunted yard complete with Pirates, Tombstones, graveyards, skeletons holding Gothic lanterns, a grim reaper, a headless man, synchronized thunder & lightning, fog etc. Because most of what is offered at the stores is either very gory and bloody, or quite cheaply made & cheesy, I have to come up with ways to make my own costumes and decorations. My family and friends think I am a little crazy, but they love the scary effects! On this page, you'll discover how I made my "Pirates, Ye Be Warned!" decoration, so you can make your own scary trio of pirate skeletons for Halloween, too! Pirate Skeleton Yard Decoration--List of MaterialsAssemble the following items, and making your Halloween decorations will be much easierMaterials list for the Pirate decoration:Three 2-3 ft. tall jointed skeletons Tools needed:
How to make the Pirate Skeleton Yard DecorationMaking the "Pirates" signThis is my version of Disney's "Pirates Ye Be Warned" from The Pirates of the Caribbean movie, where Jack Sparrow salutes the pirates hanging near the entrance to a cave.To make the board, (Photo #2) I first placed the alphabet templates on the 3/4 in. board and cut the words with a router. Then I drew the jagged inside window on the 1/4 in. board large enough that when it was cut, the words would show through the opening. I drilled a whole through the board so that I would have a starting hole. Then I cut the inside, (Photo #3) with a jigsaw and then beveled the jagged edges with a Dremmel. I then glued the 1/4 in. board on top of the 3/4 in. board so the words show through. I then drew the jagged outside edge and cut through both layers with a jigsaw. I beveled the outside edges with a Dremmel. I then used the Dremmel to make distress lines across the surface of the board. I then used translucent stains in black and blue to make it look old and painted the words with black acrylic paint. After it was dry, I sprayed the whole board with flat spray sealer to protect it from the weather. Then I drilled two holes near the ends of the top and bottom of the board and screwed in the 4 threaded eye hooks. I pulled the 3/4 in. rope through the top eye hooks then the bottom eye hooks and tied knots in the end. The rope is used to hang it from my porch. How to make the Pirate SkeletonsI first cut pieces of the black wig and glued them to the skeletons heads. I then cut pieces of the bandanas and wrapped them over the hair, across the forehead and tied them behind the heads. Then I took a small strand of the hair near the temples and threaded various beads on the hair then tied a knot in the hair and dabbed it with glue. (Photo #4)I made 3 doll pants, shirts & vests of various colors and patterns. I put them on the skeletons and shredded them so they would look old and tattered. I then cut a long strip from either the remainder of the bandanas or some other fabric and tied them around the waists. I strung beads and medallions for the waist ties (Photo #5) and necklaces.(Photo #6) I glued toy earrings near the ears and made eye patches from the fabric (Photo #4). I placed a small pirates hat on one pirate.(Photo #8) I then made 3 small hangman's nooses with the 1/4 in. rope, and placed them around the necks and hooked them to the back of the board. I tied the 3/4 in. rope to hooks on my front porch to hand the whole thing up. As you can tell by the nighttime photo, adding some colored lights can make a nice...and somewhat eerie...effect!
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