I'm looking for info on how to create a realistic looking cocoon victim to hang with my giant spider. I'd really prefer to use stuff that is on-hand or cheap, rather than anything expensive.

I know that a couple (maybe 2?) years ago krough did something similar to what I want, but the link to his instrucitons is gone.

Are you looking for it to move?

Moving would just be an added bonus ) I'd be happy with it just hanging there.

I'm going to use white spider webbing to wrap my spider victim in.

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"Kat, can I keep you?"

How much do you need for a job that big? Are you going to use white sheets underneath first, or did you want all of your victim to show through? What are you using for the victim?

I was thinking that most of the victim could be implied by shape, but not by fact. Basically show part of a head, maybe one eye and a hand and the rest could be completely covered.

Is it easy to make them wiggle? 'cause THAT would be cool. I imagine I'll need a motor for that. I have a spare windshield wiper motor, a Dayton Gear motor and a couple of ceiling fan motors that I can use for this prop (and consider free of cost, since I have them on-hand).

Remember those bumble balls? (Is that what they were even called?) Those balls that bounced around at the toy stores. People have used those and motors out of massagers as well.

I used one good size package of webbing, the cheap crap that doesn't stretch really well. It was wrapped around a blucky and didn't look too bad, but I've definately seen better than what I did.

LOL! I know the bumble balls. I have two that I use for my MiB
The only problem is getting them in and out to change the batteries. Hmmmm...
Thank you for all the hints guys! I think that I'll use some of the leftover foam from my tombstones to create the overall shape of the body, wrapped in black plastic garbage bags. Then I'll cover it with the cheap spiderwebbing.

We had a spider room in our haunt last year, which included the cocooned victim. I used quilt bunting, and if you can stand to read all of this, here's what else I did in the room. I bought one of those Donna Dead heads at the local store, like $10 or $20 bucks. It's a little cheesy, but it is motion/light activated, rising up and down on a string and moaning. I attached the string to the web producing end of a large fake spider.
I made the bulk of the body and "arms" out of some packing paper that I had saved from something or other. It's a bit hard to describe, but basically it was like a twisted rope of paper about 6" in diameter. I imagine you could use newspaper, or any lightweight item. The body was maybe 3'-4' long, and the arms were just to get a general illusion of arms, kind of making a T shape. I had purchased a few yards of cheap off white fabric (maybe 99c yrd) and used some to cover the brown paper. I used a scrap piece of wire a strung it through a spot on the bottom of the head, then wrapped it around the center top of the paper T. Also purchased from the fabric store, you can get rolls of filler/bunting for quilting. It comes in a couple of thicknesses, and is basically a sheet of cotton-like fiber (or you can get actual cotton). I wrapped it in that, and then used a bag of spider webbing to make it looked more like, well... spider web. Of course, with the weight of the "body" the head wouldn't rise up and down, but I supported most of the weight with wires from behind, and when the head was activated it more wiggled. Which I actually liked. The room turned out nicely. We had a chair covered in dark material with a web covered skeleton in it. Under the chair I had a mechanic's light that had a greenish cast (one of those unbreakable, fluorescent, and bright things that I found in the garage ). I cut slits in the material, to let the light shine through. It created a nice effect for the skelly, but I also needed the light to activate the head... the room was too dark with black lights. It made almost a spot light for the head and when a person walked in front of the head, it would start moaning and wiggling. Anyway, we had loads of webs, my crafty kids made some "egg sacks" by covering a wad of the bunting with webs, and put lots and lots of spiders all over. Oh, we also hung black threads from above that tickled faces and felt like webs... time consuming to put up but a really good simple effect.
Whew... sorry to be so verbose. I have only one pic of this thing, and it's just from the very beginning when I had attached the head to the spider.

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So come up to the lab and see what's on the slab.

I did a real cheap one in 2006....a ground breaker and some webbing and plastic spiders. Not the greatest, but my guests liked it.

Looked pretty cool as the victim was lighted.

Attached Images

Victimclosesm.jpg (79.4 KB, 34 views)

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Spectorized

ahwahneeliz, don't worry about being too verbose! I appreciate the info!!! Very detailed (and good) explanation.

Elza, very cool prop!

Man, I'm hoping that my spider victim/cocoon/spider area comes out 1/10th as good as what some of you have done.

thanks for all the help/suggestions! And keep them coming. I haven't had a chance to really work on this yet, so I can still change what I'm going to do at any time! LOL