# Pumpkinrot tutorial - Soulcatcher



## FirstSpartan

I would like to send a special thanks to the pumpkinrot (of course!), spookyblue and stolloween sites for their awesome creations and information on the beloved pumpkinrot scarecrows and paper mache creations. Keep giving us inspiration guys! Hopefully the table of contents will help sort through the mass of info here and if there are areas you think have too much or needs more information I'll make some changes. There are a few great pumpkinrot tutorials out there already but I hope this one brings a couple of new ideas to the pumpkinrot style. Enjoy and have fun building!

1. Frame and ribs 
2. Head, hands and skulls
3. Paper towel mache layer
4. Torso build
5. Face and veins
6. Paper mache
7. Painting and sealing

Total cost of about $25 and 15-20 hours of time and many of the items can already be found around the typical home haunters workshop. The biggest costs were the skulls and pvc, almost everything else I had laying around the garage from past projects. No special tools were needed, just the basics like paint brushes, wire cutters and a high quality spray bottle.


1. Frame and ribs (about 1 hour)

Here I started with 1-1/2" pvc pipe and fittings to create the backbone of the pumpkinrot. The only part that is glued right now is the 4-way fitting at the neck. The arms and neck will go through some adjusting to get the sizing right, especially the neck pipe as it will have an eye bolt to hang it for storage and also become a strong point for supporting the head itself. Drilling large holes in the neck pipe now will allow for a smoke machine hookup later that will send smoke out through the eyes and mouth. I also have the back pvc pipe in two pieces connected by a pvc coupler that will never be glued which can be seen in later pictures. This is for easy storage, ability to swivel the pumpkinrot, quick removal from outside if it starts raining, etc.

The ribs are made out of garden hose, the cheaper the better as the cheap ones are nice and stiff. Size out a piece of hose and after making a pilot hole use a screw and washer to secure the ends to the pvc. Repeat for the rest of the ribs. I used green wire to secure the ribs going up and down with some hot glue to hold it in place. Silver wire was used to adjust the depth of the ribs. Duct tape will give the first layer of mache a place to hold onto and keep in mind that the ribs will need to be pronounced so wrap the tape around the contours of the front of the hose to keep the form of the rib.



















2. Head, hands and skulls (about 2 hours)


Head - The head armature is made from chicken wire that's about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide. The tape on the chicken wire in the pic is how I cut out the shape for the head. The triangle cutouts on the top and bottom will help when forming the sphere for the head with each triangle connecting at one point to form the top and bottom of the sphere. Cutting along the middle of each wire turns them into their own little connected twist ties that can be used when closing the sphere. Once it's cut out roll it into a tube shape with the triangles at the top and bottom then use the bits of wire sticking out to connect them all together. Do the same with the top and bottom connecting the triangles and cutting off the overlapped wire. Don't forget to wear thick gloves as the metal ends are sharp.

Now this will look nothing like a sphere unless your very lucky. Mine always look more like an amoeba with attitude at the beginning so don't despair. Slowly shape the sphere with your hands by squeezing the wire together to shrink bulges and loosening or pulling the wire to remove divots. This is one of the harder parts of the build so take a break if it gets frustrating.

It's important to secure the head from movement and once you have the sphere to your liking, place it on the frame and adjust the length of the neck pipe so that when you place a pvc cap (with an eye hook bolted through it) the eye hook will just peek out of the head and the head is resting on the cap itself. Now that the neck assembly is to the right length, glue the pvc parts and use wire to attach the top of the head to the eye hook tightly and use a generous amount of hot glue good measure. I also braced the bottom of the head to the shoulders using black ridged tubing. Keeping the head secure from movement is important.

Hands - Fairly straight forward. Pvc forearms with a slot sawed out by hand to insert a board in the general shape of a palm. The fingers are semi ridged tubing used for ice making machines for refrigerators and I ran some wire through the middle to help hold it's shape. Lots of hot glue and ties hold the fingers in place. Shape out the palms and fingers with great stuff and after it dries trim off the excess with some scissors. I Used some construction adhesive to coat the hands and give it a spiky texture. What I did was wear some disposable gloves and pump a bunch of adhesive into my hands then rub the adhesive on the hands and pull my hands away sharply to create the small spikes. Go easy on the adhesive as it heavy stuff. 

The skulls have a hole drilled in the back of the head to allow a pvc pipe to fit inside. I applied lots of hot glue inside the skull and glued the pipe then secured it again with more hot glue around the hole. I then used some extra pvc fittings and pipe to help get the shape for the skull assembly to be able to attach it to the torso and used screws to hold it all in place. Use whatever is handy to bulk up the pipe. Paper mache will have a hard time sticking to the skull plastic so I rubbed a thin layer of liquid nails around the area I wanted the paper mache to go.


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## FirstSpartan

3. Paper towel mache layer (about 1 hour) 

A very fast step. I used this to get two quick layers on that will give the paper mache something solid to grab onto. Use whole sheets of paper towels at a time and make sure to get good depth, especially around the ribs and neck area. I use a high quality plastic bottle sprayer for my paper mache glue instead of using a bucket. I find it much easier to control the amount of glue that goes on and not nearly as messy compared to when I used a bucket. I just fill up the bottle and give the paper a quick spray and I'm ready to go. After drying apply a generous coat of latex paint for a moisture barrier. 



















4. Torso build (about 2 hours) 

The stem on the head is made up of 3 different sized foam pipe insulation tubes cut about 2 feet each. The smaller foam is pushed into the next larger one and taped together. Use some wire pushed through the middle to help form it into shape. Attach it to the head by first hot gluing a piece of pvc to the top of the head then wedging the foam into it and securing it with tape. Depending on the length you may need to secure it somehow from bending or breaking. I used a small wooden hobby stirrer and used that to secure it to the torso. Tape is used at the top to make chords going from the top of the head into the stem. Wraping paper mache around the tape and forming deep depressions toward the stem much like forming the paper mache around the garden hose to keep the contours will fill out the base of the stem. This process is used again for making chords around the neck. You can see the difference as the blue paper towel step above does not have the neck chords formed out yet while the brown paper mache below has them formed up and paper mached.

Face - Draw a line from top to bottom dead center on the head then a cross at where a nose would normally go. Use this to keep the eyes and mouth symmetrical. This is another hard part for me so it took me a while to get a face I liked. Once you have it the way you want cut it out with a utility knife and remove the wire mesh behind it. Push back the wire about an inch or two to allow the paper mache a place to grab onto. Once you have it the way you like, use painters latex caulk to seal all the new edges. With latex caulk you can use your fingers to smear it all over the place, just keep your fingers wet and the caulk won't turn sticky on your fingers. Use a liberal amount of spray paint through the mouth and eyes to paint the inside of the head. Now is a good time to size the arms to the length you want and glue them into position. The hands will heavy but should be no problem after gluing.

Veins - Hot glue and nylon ropes of three different sizes with the biggest size the standard climbing rope found just about everywhere. I also used scraps of foam here and there to make bumps and such on the arms.


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## FirstSpartan

6. Paper mache (about 9 hours)

The bulk of the time will be on the paper mache layers. I used about 7 layers of mache, 2 of the paper towel and 5 of paper. I like the painters paper myself as it's a nice solid color and you can get a good feel of how the pumpkin rot is turning out as you go. It seems a bit stronger than newspaper but still goes around curves nicely. I went through 1 roll of the paper at a costs of about $2 per roll and it comes in two colors which I alternate (brown and green). Use as many layers as you think is good. There really is no right number of layers, I like this part so I tend to put on a couple extra layers. It can be found at HD, Menards, paint stores and even though they may have different labels on them all the one's I've seen are made by the same factory.



















7. Painting, sealing and standing up (about 2 hours)

Pretty straight forward but very important to do a quality job. All paints were exterior flat latex paints with two layers painted on. Get the paint brushed into every nook and cranny. Leave no area untouched as this will be the main barrier between your pumpkinrot and the elements. The two layers of latex paint do a good job of weather sealing it but a layer of spar urethane from a spray can (or something similar to help protect it) is necessary to prevent damage from extended periods of time in the rain and sun.

I get 'mistint' paint from the local paint store for $2 a gallon and make my own colors with universal tints. The tints are a bit expensive but they last a looong time and it pays for itself in a couple of projects. The arms and stem were blended into the orange body and a dry brush coat of lighter green over the stem and arms but is very hard to see in the pic. The skulls are coated with liquid nails and stained to look nice and old. Decorate with creepy cloth and vines and.....done!

To keep it upright in my yard I attach a bottom pvc pipe to the coupler right below the paper mache then slide the whole thing over a green metal stake. I also screw 3 eye bolts in the pvc just below the coupler and use string to tie the pumpkinrot to stakes in the ground like guy wires on cell tower.

A pvc 'wye' or 'tee' can be installed near the bottom of the pvc backbone so a hose can be attached. A fog machine can send the fog through the hose, up the backbone and out the holes that were drilled in the neck pipe in part 2.


















_*day and night time pictures of him setup in our yard are up on page 3!*_


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## FirstSpartan

well, that was it. We'll be setting it up in the backyard this weekend and hope to get some nighttime pics up soon.


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## MLuther

That's got some pretty cool building ideas. As far as the prop it's slelf goes, it looks great, I especialy like the color and texture of the skulls.


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## Terra

Wow, easy to follow tut and it looks super scary!


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## Nepboard

Very, Very Nice!!!! Thanks for the great tut!!!


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## halloween71

Great tut!!


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## Lynn

Very great tut!
We are doing a pumpkin room this year.... Full of pumkinrot style pumpkins.. I'll put this tut to good use ! Thanks


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## BadTableManor

Looks great already, can't wait to see part 2!


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## streakn

Thank you for this tut


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## Devil

NICE can't wait to see the night pics..!


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## backyardbutcherprops

wow that is the coolest thing....... just love it!


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## TK421

*You're my hero!!*

This is a great tutorial with nice pics. So easy to follow, you make it look like anyone can do it!

Gonna get my supplies together!


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## TK421

FirstSpartan said:


> 7. Painting, sealing and standing up (about 2 hours)
> 
> Pretty straight forward. All paints were exterior flat latex paints with two layers painted on. I get 'mistint' paint from the local paint store for $2 a gallon and make my own colors with universal tints. The tints are a bit expensive but they last a looong time and it pays for itself in a couple of projects. The arms and stem were blended into the orange body and a dry brush coat of lighter green over the stem and arms but is very hard to see in the pic. The skulls are coated with liquid nails and stained to look nice and old. The two layers of latex paint do a good job of weather sealing it but I'll also add a layer of spar urethane (from a spray can) in a couple of days. Decorate and.....done!


You say you seal the whole thing with a spray of spar urethane. Is that enough to protect it from the elements? How about protecting it from the sun? I built a killer scarecrow last year, but the pumpkin head faded in the sun. I'm going to have to repaint it for this year, and I'd love to find a sealing spray that helps protect against sun damage as well as rain.


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## FirstSpartan

TK421 said:


> You say you seal the whole thing with a spray of spar urethane. Is that enough to protect it from the elements? How about protecting it from the sun?



Great point Dark and thanks. I've made some changes to chapter 7 about what you brought up and about the importance of sealing. I'v had good success with just spar urethane and latex paint so far. My last pumpkinrot took a beating last Halloween. It rained about 10 days out of the 3 weeks it was out. I was taking it inside when I could (the pvc coupler between the body and the base pipe was very helpfull! Just pull the body off and bring it into the garage.) but it was still taking light to heavy rains for hours at a time. The 2 layers of paint and the spray spar urethane did a great job of keeping it protected as once the rains let up the body became rock hard again. I think the first layer of latex paint on the paper towel layer will help even more this year.

AFA the sun damage goes, the spar urethane is protective against sunlight, rain and moisture and temperature changes according to the can I got. I don't think polyurethane is as it's more for indoor use so it's worth the extra couple of bucks to get the spar. 

I don't think there is a 'right' way of sealing a project, just a bunch of good ways. I'd suggest picking a plan that gives the builder peace of mind. That may be one coat of paint or 3 coats of paint and 3 coats of spar urethane brushed on. Last year I was getting worried about all the rain and when we had a couple days of sunshine and it dried out I sprayed it down with Thompsons water sealer, the clear stuff used on decks. You could really see the water beading off the next time it rained but I'm not sure how good it would be over a long time but it was a good quick piece of mind


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## TK421

Great! Sounds like we have some similar ideas. I've used the Thompsons Water Seal on props before and it does a pretty good job of water protection -- just put on at least one new coat each year.

I've had good results with Spray Shellac. I use it on my signs and it seems to seal and protect very well. I tried Minwax fast-drying polyeurethane spray once, but it seemed to get cloudy when wet. The good news is it dried clear in the sun, but with October being a very wet month in Washington, I can't afford to have props look cloudy or moldy 80% of the time.

I've read that if you really want something protected, and are willing to spend the money, there are several types of clear yacht varnish that definetly seal and protect from the elements. Problem is, they're about $75-$100 a gallon.


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## FirstSpartan

my understanding of the urethane's is:

Spar urethane and marine varnish are the same, just different names. Spar coming from the wooden boat part that need protection in the era of wooden boats. Different brands used different formulas and even some different ingredients but all are based on outdoor protection.

International 'Yacht Varnish' is a popular European marine varnish.

HTH


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## savagehaunter

what will the bottem look like?


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## FirstSpartan

savagehaunter said:


> what will the bottem look like?


This is the only pic I could find that shows how we build up the bottom from last year's pumpkinrot and shows about half the build up of the bottom. Basically it's wrapping wild grape vine to build up the base and give it an organic look as if it's growing up out of the ground. We'll also add hay bales, cornstalks and creepy cloth to finish out the look.












Wild grape vine grows all over, here's a link from a previous discussion:



FirstSpartan said:


> rpick89, you may be in a good area for wild grape vines like me. I think concord grapes are from Mass.
> 
> I see wild grape vines on a daily basis because I spend a lot of time in the woods for work but I see them most at the edges of old growth tree lines especially along the sides of the roads. You can spot the easily enough from the way they grow in the trees and bushes. They tend to creep up existing bushes and trees then cascade their leaves down toward the ground and their leaf shape is very distinct (the shape reminds me of that evil mogwai from the movie Gremlins...lol) and usually a different color than the surrounding tree. What you rarely see are the grapes. The animals eat them pretty quick I guess. A good rule of thumb is the higher the leaves start, the thicker the vines at the bottom. I usually grab the vine and pull them down from the tree and hack them up to stick in my car. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you
> 
> And a special thanks to you guys who pointed me back to pumpkinrot for my question! Sometimes the easy solutions are the hardest to see!


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## FirstSpartan

we got some night time pics last night. We tried our smoke machine but it's toast so no smoke pouring out the eyes, oh well. We're real happy with how it turned out tho and I may have to do another pumpkin rot before halloween gets here!


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## The Archivist

I like it but I do have one recommendation for next year. Try making the skulls look like they're blended into the body, kind of like the souls are trying to escape.


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## FirstSpartan

that's a good idea. I was going to do that with this one but ended up with them flying around the pumpkin rot. I think the next project will have them pushing their way out of the body so you see their impression pushing out rather than the entire skull itself. Kinda like the hand or face pushing through the soft wall in the haunted houses.


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## werginpritt

Thanks for the tutorial this is really great. One question, I am thinking of doing this but I need the arms to be movable because he is going to be turning a spit that had a body slowly roasting over a fire. I have never done paper mache before do you recommend making the arms jointed so I can attach them to the crank?


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## FirstSpartan

That sounds like a great prop werginpritt.

I think it would work as long as you can keep any moving parts from damaging the paper mache. Keeping the rain/weather out of the prop is the name of the game. I don't think you'd want any parts of the paper mache rubbing together over and over again.

Both my big pumpkin rot style props started with the hope of having detachable arms for easy storage but I get bogged down with the actual build part of it. I'd love to hear any success stories people have had with detachable/moving parts.


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## werginpritt

Thanks for the reply. weather is not an issue here in Arizona, it is usually dry and still around upper 80's on Halloween. I will let you know how it works out and take pictures also for anyone else who might be thinking of animating their PumpkinRot


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## Hearts1003

Flippin sweet! One of my faves i've ever seen!


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## FirstSpartan

thanks! We'll be putting both our pumpkin rots up next weekend and I'll take some pics of the vine body build and some good night time pics with lighting 

can you believe October is NEXT weekend!! So so close . . . .


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## FirstSpartan

We had a fun time putting him up in the yard last weekend, we got some vines from the woods in the area and he's now out scaring the kids! Anyone else have pics of their paper mache projects?


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## backyardbutcherprops

that is the coolest prop!!!! I just love it


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## moosecat

*pumpkinrot*

One of the neatest props that I,ve seen. How did you make the stem thats coming out of the top of his head?


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## FirstSpartan

hi moosecat and thanks!

The stem pics are in part 4 (the torso) and is attached with only clear tape here and there to keep it in place until the paper mache is applied. Once the paper mache is applied and dried it's nice and solid. It also touched the arm and is paper mache'd there for extra support so the stem doesn't move back and forth.


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## Vafik

I would add a green light to the head and pump some fog in there. But thats just me


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## moosecat

Whats the best reciepe for paper mache and glue? I.ve never used it. Thx


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## FirstSpartan

Hi moosecat,

I use 1 part elmers white glue and 2 parts water but I'll be trying stolloween's recipe next year. I got to see Resurrected's paper mache ground breaker a couple weeks ago (which is awesome btw) and he used stoloween's recipe. It dried much harder than my recipe and needed less layers.

his recipe is:
"My paste recipe is six cups of flour + one cup of liquid starch + one cup of white glue. Using a mixer blend these ingredient with enough warm tap water until you have the consistency of a very thin pancake batter."

and here's stoloween's recipe web page:
stolloween paper mache recipe

have fun!


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## moosecat

*glue*

Thanks for the tip I appreciate it.


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## tamster

nice prop, may I suggest putting red or green spot lighting?


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## FirstSpartan

Good advice on the lights tamster, lighting is always a challenge for me. We've been mostly using those landscaping ground lights for the last few years along side a couple of bigger flood lights. I think the picture on the right was taken with a blue flood light.

Halloween is right around the corner (YAY!) and I wanted to share a couple of other paper mache projects that used almost the same technique as this one. The groundbreaker is the same concept except instead of a chicken wire head it was a plastic skull from Target and a heat gun is used to warm up the pvp arms and get them to bend into a more natural shape. A quick spray of water after getting the hot pvc into shape will quickly set the bone in place. Super cheap on all of them, under $20 if I remember correctly.

Also, I saw a show on the Discovery channel about how they make paper mache statues and saw that they were using a thick brown paper for their statues and only used two layers. Anyone ever use a heavier guage craft paper instead of newspaper and can you get good details out of it? I'd love to hear any ideas about making the paper mache step go faster too!


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## tamster

FirstSpartan said:


> Good advice on the lights tamster, lighting is always a challenge for me. We've been mostly using those landscaping ground lights for the last few years along side a couple of bigger flood lights. I think the picture on the right was taken with a blue flood light.
> 
> Halloween is right around the corner (YAY!) and I wanted to share a couple of other paper mache projects that used almost the same technique as this one. The groundbreaker is the same concept except instead of a chicken wire head it was a plastic skull from Target and a heat gun is used to warm up the pvp arms and get them to bend into a more natural shape. A quick spray of water after getting the hot pvc into shape will quickly set the bone in place. Super cheap on all of them, under $20 if I remember correctly.
> 
> Also, I saw a show on the Discovery channel about how they make paper mache statues and saw that they were using a thick brown paper for their statues and only used two layers. Anyone ever use a heavier guage craft paper instead of newspaper and can you get good details out of it? I'd love to hear any ideas about making the paper mache step go faster too!



love what you did, it's excellent it really sets the mood, as far as using craft paper, I never used but have with magazine paper. I don't think there is any way to go faster. LOL I actually do many layers, paper, then paper towel to get really veiny look. I graduated to monster mud, oh joy that is !!! but I am halfway finishing my 10ft er shall I say now 11 1/2 ft reaper. I will be posting it when I am at the time of sealing the sucker!!! My advice is take your time, the results are worth it.


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