# My next project



## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

Subtitled "the ramblings of an halloween haunter"

Actually I have two projects in mind, one being a revamp of my Scarecrow and a new coffin dweller. At present my dweller is made up of a Dollar Tree Mask and packing peanut hands, which don't cut it anymore.

So, I will be working on some skeleton parts.

I have plenty of foam skulls so don't need to worry about any skull casting.

The hands of the scarecrow will come from last year's scarecrow. It was about the only part of last year's prop that I was happy with.

I knew the rest of the prop was not how I wanted and at first couldn't get what it was, but it came to me that the proportions were all wrong. I had made the frame from chicken wire, I didnt really need much detail as it would be covered in burlap.

But the shape was all wrong. I see that now. I couldn't see the point in spending out a whole lot of money for a skeleton when it would be covered, so the project is to build a skeleton frame for this years scarecrow, and so I began...

First for the chest, I took one of those bleeding chest props (not sure if they can still be bought), mine came from a thrift store - 99c but not working. I didnt need it to work, I only wanted the ribcage.

Now I did use one last year, but it was in the wrong place. This year the proportions would be right.

Studying pics of skeletons I sketched where chest, hips, etc would go. Next I made a chicken wire frame for the chest, then rolled some chicken wire to make the spine. Next I placed the rib cage over the frame, and built up the collar bones, then made up the spine with duct tape. The pelvis were a problem at first... ever tried making a pelvis ? 

Well I studied a couple of pics to get a general idea of the shape etc, then took some chicken wire and after an hour or so of bending and shaping had something that looked like a pelvis. Next covered that in duct tape and finally a couple of coats of paper mache. I was about to secure the pelvis to the spine ... the spine didn't look right. OK, I know that its gonna be covered in burlap but I decided that some of the skeleton should be shown

So to pad out the spine I used a length of pipe insulation. Then I got the brainwave to use cable ties to;
1. hold it in place and 
2. make it look like vertebrae.










this is where I am at the moment with the project, A skull, hands and a torso. The arms and legs will be fashioned from PVC pipe I think. 

My coffin dweller may have to take a back seat while I work on the scarecrow. My immediate thoughts for the dweller would be a skeleton, non animated for the time being, as the coffin has a real old look so would befit a skeleton more than a zombie or such

My ramblings will end here for now, but will add updates as they occur


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