18
Oct
Life Sized Headless Horseman Statue
A custom created life sized Headless Horseman Statue created for an eerie Halloween display at a theme park.
It’s probably not hard to believe… but here at Tom Spina Designs, we love Halloween! We love dressing up, haunted houses and all of the spooky decor. So we nearly lost our heads when we were asked to create this fun headless horseman statue display prop for one of our favorite clients.
Lead artist for this project, Richard Riley, is no stranger to creating Sleepy Hollow style Headless Horseman props. And, since every one of our projects are customized to suit each individual client’s needs and goals, every one ends up being a bit unique. Each project will also have its own challenges. This full scale statue needed to be outdoors for several weeks during the Halloween season, required a large and heavy themed base, and required access for the theme park to install incredible light and smoke effects! We also made a pair of creepy, angular foam carved tombstones for the park at the same time.
The life-sized horse statue is crafted in heavy duty, durable fiberglass. It’s dynamically rearing on its hind legs, adding a wonderful sense of action to the final prop. The horseman’s body is a mix of metal armature, foam and rigid hard coating for durability. The right arm is made to menacingly hold a sword. Within the body are tubing allowing access to the left arm, where a custom-carved fiberglass pumpkin grins at onlookers! The horseman’s costume is a mix of fabricated and off the rack pieces that create a rich layered look.
Once our work was done, the theme park team did an absolutely amazing job adding light and smoke effects to the horse and pumpkin. The rearing horse statue’s eyes glow eerie red and at intervals, smoke oozes from the pumpkin and spurts from the horse’s nose! They also did a wonderful paint pass on the horse sculpture, highlighting and enhancing the sculpted musculature and giving it a ghostly feel. The final display prop makes for a very imposing presence, just in time for Halloween!
Need a one of a kind themed statue, display or creation for your home, office, store, trade show or theme park? Email or call today and let’s discuss your project!
We loved the Tim Burton take on Sleepy Hollow!
