Well, this year, I finally did it!
I started the project by corpsing a "Blucky" (cheap plastic skeleton found at most retailers).
There are numerous tutorials on how to make a corpse with a Blucky, so I browsed a couple of sites and decided to just wing it.
I started by cutting some of the plastic away from the ribs and limbs to make the skeleton look a little more realistic. I also swapped out his head with a Styrofoam skull. I thought the scale was better and it looked more realistic.
I wanted to make my Blucky look a little mummified, with just the skin left attached to his body, so for this corpse, I decided to use the following supplies:
latex floor adhesive
paper towels torn into small irregular pieces
Mod Podge
Minwax wood stain-Walnut
Working in a well ventilated area (the basement since it was raining outside) I applied a thin layer of latex followed by a few pieces of paper towel and another layer of latex. Here's a tip: when working with tacky substances such as latex floor adhesive, have a small pile of baby powder near by. I dipped my sticky fingers into the powder to keep them from sticking to everything else and each other.
After the latex was dry and no longer tacky to the touch, I aplied a generous layer of Mod Podge (matte finish). This gave the skin a much needed stiffness.
Once the Mod Podge was dry, I brushed on the wood stain and then wiped off any excess.
Once he was dry, I wrapped him in some torn pieces of coffee-dyed cheese cloth. He's now ready to find a home in his coffin!
The coffin is a basic toe-pincher shaped coffin. I found plans to make the coffin with a single 4X8 sheet of plywood here. Instead of using a sheet of plywood, I decided to use a sheet of Styrofoam bead board insulation. I wanted to be able to move and carry the coffin with ease!
Using a marker and straight edge, I drew my coffin pieces according to the plans. I used my jig saw to cut the pieces out. It's a little messy, but very quick! Once all the pieces were cut out, I used Duct tape to affix the sides to the base.
A quick coat of latex paint later, I secured the mummy into the coffin with zip ties. My porch just got a little spookier!
© 2008 Haunted Yard
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2 comments:
Nice! Blucky corpse looks really good! I have wanted a life-size coffin for years, but have not allowed myself to make one until I either use it for Halloween storage or find a way to make it easily collapsible for storage. That's also the reason I don't do a lot of large things...lack of storage space the rest of the year! I already have so much Halloween stuff just from small props & gravestones!
I'm not sure if you've used that insulation foam before, but after storage you will most likely need to touch up the paint since the foam is fragile enough you will bump it no matter how careful you are. I know from all my gravestones & stone walls! ;) I'm not sure the duct tape will hold until next year, but maybe your summers aren't as hot as mine here in California. Things have been known to melt in my garage!
Thanks, Britta! Storage is a problem, but we are fortunate to have a 3-stall garage. The garage also doubles as inventory storage for my husband's online retail business, so it is climate controlled year-round. Hopefully the duct tape will hold. If not, it was a pretty easy and inexpensive prop to make. And I always buy extra latex paint...touch-ups are indeed required every year for all my styrofoam items!
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