Monster House
By Robb Ochoa
To create this face, I took a picture of my home and printed it on regular sized paper. I then drew teeth and eyes on a separate piece of paper fitted them to the picture for sizing and taped them to the photo. Next I had a buddy hold up a 4′ x 8′ x 1” piece of foam inside the porch where the teeth would be located on the house entrance. I then marked the porch arch on the foam using a felt pen. Later that night, using an image projector, I shined the image on the foam, lining up the drawing of the teeth to felt pen marking on the foam. I then copied the teeth drawing to the foam. Not moving the projector I had the right size of image to then copy the eye sockets the same way on a separate piece of foam. Using the Hot Wire Foam Factory tools, I cut the marked teeth and eyes out. All painting was done with latex paints so the foam would be protected. Eyes and pupils were added later and attached to eye sockets with floral pins at an angle.
This is how I attached it to the house: I used food skewers found at the grocery store. They are about ten inches long and have a hoop at the end. I carefully inserted the skewer into the side of the foam at a 45 degree angle having the hoop exposed. I then go to the opposite end of the side and reverse the angle. Being at different angles I can lift the piece straight up and the skewers won’t pull out. The heavier the piece, the more skewers I used. I then used a craft wire to connect the hoops of the skewers to areas of the house. With the eyes I had nails from the roof that were a little lifted already. I secured wire to them and the hoops. With the big piece I used concrete anchor screws in the stucco at the top. I replaced the screws with eyelet screws and used S hooks to connect them both together. The teeth on the floor were held in place by chairs behind them.
As for the paint, I didn’t do what I was supposed to. The is black is acrylic paint, but the yellows are an oil based spray paint, so the foam has been eaten away a bit. I had the pieces for several years and they held ok. Mind you after some wind storms the eyes were found in neighbors yards, LOL!
