# Making a neck for your skeleton Skull



## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

As promised to a few of you guys, here's my how to on making a neck for a skull. 

(Note : This how to was put together especially for those making the tombstone pop up in the prop building group)

You will need 

Foam Pipe insulation
Cable ties
Acrylic paint (I used DecoArt Americana in Sand & Burnt Umber)
Sandpaper
Dowel or pipe 

First cut a length of the pipe insulation (I used a 6 inch length)










Cut down the length of the insulation - then cut to size so that the insulation will loosely wrap around the dowel/pipe being used. (This will be dependant on whether you have the larger size lagging and the size of dowel/pipe being used) In this example I used 2" lagging and 5/8" dowel, so cut a 1" length off.











Next, fix the cable ties in place at equal intervals - I used a 1" space between each cable tie. Do not pull the cable ties too tight, just enough to secure the insulation to the dowel/pipe.











Once they are all in place, cut the excess from the cable tie. Then use a small piece of sandpaper (I wrapped a piece around a space length of dowel), and sand between the centre of each section.





















Next paint the entire piece in the base color.










Once this is dry, use the brown paint to paint the lines between each section.










Allow this to dry then dry brush over the lines and between each section











This is how it hopefully will look with the skull











Let me know if you have any questions


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

What a great idea! Thanks for the tutorial.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

well....that's pretty cool!
I'll have to keep this technique in mind.
Thanks Herman.


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## draik41895 (Mar 8, 2009)

thats really neat,thanks


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## Evil Bob (Sep 10, 2004)

This looks like a perfect way to camouflage the pvc pipe I use as a base for my pirate skulls.


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## mr frost (Nov 28, 2008)

very nice, thanks!


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## Handy_Haunter (Oct 14, 2007)

That an ingenious idea. Thanks for sharing. That one is getting filed away for use later!


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## [email protected] (Oct 9, 2008)

I was thinking it was all tiewraps I didn't know you could sand that kinda foam.Kewl will be doing that.Just thought of using this in another prop too.


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## BallstonManor (Jul 31, 2008)

And one more brilliant link gets added to the bookmarks! Thanks!


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## Baron Samedi (Jan 15, 2009)

Great tip Herman. Simple, cheap and effective and definitley being added to the repertoire!
Thanks!


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## Calloween (Mar 8, 2009)

Wow great and cheap. I will use that for a pico-boo head popper.


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## Deathtouch (Nov 19, 2004)

Wow that is a good idea.


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## Curlgoddess (Sep 23, 2008)

Herman, that looks wonderful! Great tutorial. I'm getting ready to begin a project that will require a neck, so I will most certainly use this method. =)


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## Dr Morbius (Jan 12, 2006)

evilbob said:


> This looks like a perfect way to camouflage the pvc pipe I use as a base for my pirate skulls.


I agree, I use PVC pipe too. I wonder how it will look with a thicker pipe insulation though needed for the thicker-than-dowel PVC pipe?


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

Dr Morbius said:


> I agree, I use PVC pipe too. I wonder how it will look with a thicker pipe insulation though needed for the thicker-than-dowel PVC pipe?


It should look fine, this is a pic of the spine I made for my scarecrow which is thicker than the dowel in diameter










As you can see I had to use 2 cable ties in the neck, being the thrifty person I am and not wanting to go buy larger ones


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## Deathtouch (Nov 19, 2004)

You did a really good job on the chest and hips too. How did you do that?


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## Creepycanmore (May 28, 2007)

Great idea. Thanks for sharing it.


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

Deathtouch said:


> You did a really good job on the chest and hips too. How did you do that?


The chest is part of a bleeding chest prop that I got from a thrift store a while back. The liquid inside had all dried out so I got it for 99c !

I separated the two parts giving me two rib cages, then cut out the excess between the ribs.

As for the pelvis. This was made with Chicken wire with paper mache covering. It took a while to make the shape, but the outcome was worth the hassle.

The final result of the scarecrow build can be seen in my album of props


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

Herman ....I'm sure glad you have time to come up with all these great ideas!

Muffy


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## kprimm (Apr 3, 2009)

Awesome idea you have there and so easy and simple. I can't believe how great that looks.


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