This is one of the "trippiest" Halloween Decorations that I've ever seen. It's really more of a Halloween Effect. This is an outrageously simple and easy Halloween project that, once made, you can roll out every Halloween season. If you are using black-light for vibrant illuminescent decorations, this is a MUST! We added it to our entryway a few years back, and now we can't live without this glowing Halloween Illusion.
We're not used to walking on glowing (seemingly illuminated) surfaces, so this really "plays with your mind." It's a great, eerie, disorienting feeling to give your Halloween guests and trick-or-treaters. We put up all sorts of glowing neon Halloween decorations at our house. Although some know this, many do not: You must be using ultra-violet (black) lights to make this thing glow. If you are new to this, listen up because it's a terrific Halloween Effect to always have. Go to the home center and get two shop lights. Also buy two black light tubes (40 watt fluorescent tubes.) Put one bulb in each shop-light (each fixture will have one socket left open.) Mount these outside with bungee cords or whatever temporary solution will accommodate your location.
And now, back to our walkway: Go to your local home center and in the drop cloth aisle of the paint department, you should be able to find large rolls of paper. You can either choose brown (that's what we used) or white. The brown paper will not glow under black light so only the bricks will glow. If you use white paper, the whole walkway will be ablaze (white typically "glows" purple in color.) As our walkway is rather long (we actually needed 4 shop lights with black lights) we got a 30 foot long roll of brown paper.
Next stop, the local office supply store. You need a stack of neon (fluorescent) paper. You can choose either one vibrant color, or get a pack of many colors (our choice.) Unless you have kids doing the gluing, we highly suggest the ease and efficiency of using spray-mount spray glue. Pick up a can of this at the office store (although you may also find it for much less at the home center--we did!)
Take the neon sheets of paper and cut them in two. You can stack a good five together to make the cutting process quicker. These will be the bricks for the walkway. Outside, take your roll of paper and roll it out so you can work. Use a few handy rocks to hold it dow and keep it from rolling back up! Using your spray glue (or other kid-friendly glue if the tots are helping) spray the backs of the bricks. We suggest laying several face-down on newspaper, then transferring the bricks to the roll of paper.) The design is up to you, but we staggered our bricks just like mot brick walls are laid out.
Make sure you glue this thing together outside. That spray glue "sticks to everything." I also highly suggest either putting a little petroleum jelly on your hands or wearing protective (latex) glove. The glue will not harm your fingers, put it will inevitably get on them and annoy you. It really makes them sticky!
Give this creation a bit of time for the "tacky" to dry up. Then, roll it out! Secure the finished walkway to your sidewalk using duct tape along the sides.
An alternate way to make this walkway is to get the brown paper and get some fluorescent spray paint. Get a few pieces of poster board and cut out stencils for bricks or stones. You can make any shape you like. Then, use the stencil repeatedly to spray the paint onto the rolled out roll of brown paper. I suggest just "dusting" around the edges of the stencil. Once it's dry, roll out the glowing carpet!
This Halloween craft project delivers big time in the Halloween decoration department! The neighborhood was aglow after visiting our house!
My thrill with Halloween Effects started long before I became a Hollywood Visual Effects artist. I have enjoyed amusing and exciting thousands of trick-or-treaters and partiers over the years, and I am thrilled to share my Halloween illusions with you.
