Alfred the Stalk around how to

[Silent Requiem]

Alrighty, here it is, i sucked it up and posted it, for all to view, Alfred:the making of.
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/100_6215.jpg

[Silent Requiem]

ok. what you need

2 or so 8ft lengths of 2" PVC
2 lengths of 1/2" PVC
4 2" PVC elbows
2 of those connectors that are like an elbow but have another piece sticking up(look at photo)
about 6 links of a 1" per link chain
heavy duty zip ties
a hand ful (around 14, or 4 if you don't bolt your connectors)of nuts washers and bolts at least long enough to go through PVC and connectors)
about 5 pool noodles
a hunk of egg carton foam to pad out the back
hands
two soda bottles(same type)
a wig head
a mask or equivelent to go on head
a tomato cage (the lightest you can find)
strong cord
an aluminum framed hiking back pack
a drill
a PVC cutter(MUST HAVE)
a helmet with a chin guard
one of those connector thingies(to attatch PVC to the helmet, i found it in the fixture isle at home depot, look at the pic, figure it out, buy the skrews that go with it)
duct tape and safty pins
lastly, about 8 yards of light, cheap material,
some sheer material to cover the hole in front,
a package of thin elastic
a sewing machine
decorations(nets, webbing, cheesecloth,etc)

[Silent Requiem]

THE FRAME:

okay, take a look at this pic
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/100_5905.jpg
i can't give you exact measurements because they will be based on my measurements, so a lot of eyeballing is envolved.the lower arms are the 1/2", the rest of it is 2".basically you want to line up a piece of PVC with the bar behind your head and measure so that it comes up about 5" above the top of your head. cut 2 of these. put an elbow facing outward on each of these.then cut two that will extend out just past your shoulders.connect these to the elbows and place the other elbows on them facing up.then two more pieces to raise up and be the shoulder line. then cut one long piece to connect these. connect these with the last connectors, making sure the extra point faces FRONT.this will be your shoulder line and what the arms hang from. DO NOT CONNECT ARMS YET! the next thing to do is have someone wear the pack and hold the frame against the two upward bars of the pack with the ends resting on the cross bar. then zip tie, cord, knot, bolt, and duct tape the fool out of it to make it secure. i also suggest bolting all the connections b/c i've had a few blowouts.

[Silent Requiem]

okay, i have no pics for this portion, but turn over the tomato cage and bend/cut off the tines, you don't need them unless your lazy and want a stationary dragon head, in which case bend them over into a snout and make your head and ignore everything to do with the head or helmet portion of the how to.

now, line up the largest ring of the tomato cage with the cross bar of the pack. if your very lucky like i was, this lines up the next ring with the elbows and the next ring snug just below the shoulder bar. some tweeking might be involved. once again zip tie, knot, and tape the thing secure.

one thing i had to modify was i had to cut out the front arc of the bottom ring so i could have better motion with my helmet


NOTE FOR CONSIDERATION
I have to say that the tomato cage has given me a lot of trouble with weight and sagging issues. however i have been unable to think of a substitute for his long, tapering neck. if you would be willing to have a short necked dragon, or if you want to make a regular stalk around with humanoid proportions, you can go without it with a few modifications:

shorten the neck pipe accordingly
also, you must find another way to fleshout the torso, using a wire mesh torso or foam padding
you can attatch the head pipe either by cutting the shoulder pipe in two and incerting a cross piece for the 1/2" neck pipe to go in( less motion, more secure) or tying it to the whole shoulder pipe (more motion, prone to slippage)

[Silent Requiem]

ARMS


you want to cut two lengthas of 2" that run from the top of the shoulders to about YOUR elbows maybe a litle below. then cut two pairs of two links of the chain. pre drill holes through the front pointing connector bits HORIZONTALLY. then skrew in a bolt through one side, through one link, and out the other side. do the same for the top of the arms. they should hangs easily and naturally and sway without strain. make sure they have good range of movement in all directions.


as for the lower arms, i can only give you general guide lines .
1 make sure that your final length will leave the hands FINGERS just barly grazing the ground. If you don't plan for it then they will drag, ruining the hands, and maybe even tripping you. IF YOU FALL, ITS CURTAINS FOR THE DRAGON and maybe for you too, so keep that in mind also when you make the robe .

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/8.jpg
the length of the handle will take a lot of experimenting. you will have to wearit and test it to find maximum mobility. it is impossible to put his arms all the way to his head, but you can move his arms across, behind, in front, and out quite a lot. his arms will be at the highest and widest when your hands are at the end of your handles, most moble and most inward when they are at the base. play with it. by the end of the day, i was dancing disco to "i'm your boogie man" .connect it with zip ties or chord through horizontal drilled holes at the joint area, and make sure there is less handle than arm so that when let go, the hand area naturally moves to the ground and the handle becomes a natural elbow.
i was also able to cross my arms into a pray possition, shrugs, and actually hug people( which i did a lot of at AWA and Dragon con) http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/100_6213.jpgwhether or not you can grip things will have to do with how hard you can squeeze the hands together
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/3.jpg
:D:D

[Silent Requiem]

THE HEAD

attatch the connector thingy to the top of the helmet
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/000_0085.jpg
then measure from the top of your head to about 2 feet or so above the top of the tomato cage and cut a 1/2" piece to length( about a foot over the shoulders if not using the tomato cage) secure the PVC to the fixture.
stick the wig head on the top with the mask on it and test it out. Now you can swivel the head, and even look a tiny bit down and up. with practice you can get an incredible amount to expression with it.I tied a webbing of cord over the top of the cage so that when i took the helmet off or relaxed, the head stayed up and didn't fall down or out this became INVALUABLE when resting, or when i set it up to be static. Also, it takes pressure off of your neck, which can be dangerous.when making the out fit, it is important to have sometype of headress or collar that covers the transition area.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOOD RANGE OF MOTION. if you don't or if you have too much weight on your neck you can seriously hurt yourself and standard disclaimers apply.also, it is relatively lightweight set up, but it is still heavy with a serious strain on your back and shoulders. it is vitally important that your shoulder straps are tight, and your waist strap is putting most of the monster's weight on your hips, and you DO NOT have your head tilted forward or back. good posture is a must.

[Silent Requiem]

THE HANDS

if you have solid hands already made, just stick them on the PVC, but i baught some gloves in an after halloween sale.
cut off the bottoms of the bottles so that they fit into the hand portion of your gloves.i stuck straws in the fingers to flesh them out a bit. stick the bottle necks over the PVC and tape them in place

[Silent Requiem]

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/000_0087.jpg
here is a friend of mine wearing the rig and turning his head to the side.
FLESHING OUT

cut the pool noodles to go with each arm length of pipe and the shoulders. make sure you leave enough space near the joints to not hurt mobility
slit the noodles hot dog style and just push em on , then duct tape.
also slide a portion under the shoulder straps behind your neck. this adds tightness to the strapps, helps you stay erect and gives much needed padding to shoulderds and neck. this is also where you stick on the foam on back to give him a nice smooth hump instead of lumpy deflated bulges.attach it to the shoulder pads and sides with the silver stuff( just like the Force, Duct tape holds the universe together).

[Silent Requiem]

THE ROBE

well the robe was very much winged
i started with the pancho method of doubling it over and draping it beside the rig on the floor until i had the length from the top of the cage to the bottom of my feet. then i cut it so i had two panels that length( not doubled over).
i sewed the panels longways together for the length of the tomato cage and about 3 or 4 inches extra on both sides and stopped, leaving the top open.then i folded the top over on the inside to make a place for the elastic to be strung, so that it could be drawstringed closed around the neck.
then i used the same method down the arms, and then sewed one end up except for a hand hole. the idea is flowy sleaves to hide yuor hand, with elastic tightened wrists so it can't slide down the arm when you move. sew these to your robe with the sides still open at this point.

it was here that i learned a few things. first, the panels were just a bit too tight to just sew up, which would have made it simple.some wine and a seem ripper later, we came up with the solution of adding another panel of fabric under each arm. so we opened up a two foot hole in each side starting under the sleave(so the bottom of the pit was now attached to the new panels)thus giving the nessisary extra space. it was re sewed down to where we stopped the hole, and then allowed to drape naturally to the floor. this became a serious advantage when i needed to be handed things.

the world will never see or hear to hilarity and cussing that went into putting that robe on the dragon. it was ALMOST worth it to remove the arms and stick them through the sleeves and attatch them from the inside cause DAMN was it hard, but we did it, and i think that would have ultimatly been more difficult.
I cut some jagged slits at eye level, and pinned some sheer camo patterned material to the inside over it to cover me.
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/10.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/9.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg203/Silent_Requiem666/alfred/5.jpg
after that its all trimming and trappings. we drapped raggedly cut material around and on the head and stuck it on with safty pins and sewing pins jabbed into the wig head. i made sure it obscured the neck transition and was long enough that it blended in the eye hole rips.Alfred went through a couple incarnations of decoration, the last being the addition of the black horns and red ears, and the red added to the front (it was a childs cape i got at the thrift store that i cut up) i also sprayed the whole thing randomly with lines of green and grey to give it a mottled look( it made a huge difference, don't ask me why) and believe it or not, few people found where my head was, despite the slits so i guess i hid them well enough. additions could be fur, webbing, or cheesecloth, which i used a bit in my haunt.

[Silent Requiem]

USING HIM

a few things that you should know and have when operating

1 HYDRATE! even with the flimsy material, you are working hard, and the space keeps heat. it was never less than 70 degrees inside.i suggest a camel pack inside the back pack with the hose near your mouth wear cloths that are tight and light weight , which hopefully match your color scheme
2 keep one of those cheap little dollar store fans beenied to you for an occasional but needed breeze.
3 REST sit in a chair and scare, take breaks, let your back and neck rest, or i garontee you will be down for the count by the end of the night. i gave myself the flu runnign myself into the ground in freezing weather in this thing for hours every night, and i was layed out for two days. no matter what its an extreme work out and you WILL be sore.
4 i suggest you build a stand so it can be a static prop when you want it to be. I just propped it in my chair and that was ok, but if people touched it it would fall over, and didn't look fabulous. a cross stand would be better
5 you NEED an assistant. visability is low, and your voice is muffled. they need to direct you, hold your trailing cloth ,help you in and out, get things for you, keep you hydrated, fix things when they inevidably break, and be your spokes person for pictures, space, and confused security guards.without one it is possible but extremely unadvisable (and far from graceful).
6 practice, have fun, and develope a personality. as mascots everywere can tell you, its hard to make emotion from a thing whose face doesn't move. but its easier than youd think to embue your dragon with life that will have people screaming, or laughing, or loving your big monster as if he were alive. stay active and moving, and do your best to move in natural, but exadurated poses that will get your silent attitude across.
get ready to make them laugh, cry, and piss their pants, and if at a sci fi con, ALWAYS grab the red shirts first!

[Sickie Ickie]

Awesome how-to! Very detailed! Thank you thank you thank you!

[perdidoman]

I like it. Nice job : )
I got every thing I need but the head and I'll have to make one of them soon. I'm thinking a large skull.

[Northern Touch]

great job it looks sweet!!!!

[Bloodhound]

Wow you did suck it up. Excellent How~To. Thank You!

[GraveStalker]

Yes, thanks for posting and the excellent write up! Wow!!!

[AzKittie74]

very COOL!
good job!

[DSTRONG61]

Great job! Man loks really cool and I bet you have so much fun showing it off!
Denise

[ubzest]

oh darn... now i HAVE to make one! thank~you for the how to with lots of pictures

[lowdwnrob]

That thing is really cool. I bet its really hot though.

[Silent Requiem]

yeah, it is. having one of those little hand held dollar store fans helps a lot, and a water gofer, of course!

[PerfessorEvil]

Just an FYI, the pictures seem to be dead now. Did you move them on Photobucket?

[debbie5]

I think the pictures flew South?

[Silent Requiem]

i got no clue as to why they failed. i'm looking into it.

[Silent Requiem]

ok, pictures are back up, thank you for your patience and enjoy



NEWS BULLETON: TRAGEDY HAS STRUCK ALFRED THE DRAGON

whilst in storage, he was attacked by the giant mutant rats in my garage (i'm only slightly exadurating too, these guys ate half a plaster pumpkin, made bottle cap paths across my rat paper, ate ONLY the faces off my corn dolls, and made flutes of my plumming one year, i have the friggin rats of Nim!)

when i came to retrieve him from slumber i beheld the wide, terrified eyes of the wig head through the cobwebbed, skeletal remains of Alfred's mache head staring out at me from the shadows.
after recovering from my heart attack (having forgotten that the wig head i used had eyes in it) i was sorrowed and dismayed. i tried replacing it with one of those cool dragon masks, only to discover that it was much too heavy. so as it stands, Alfred is headless until i
1. have time, gumption and materials all in one place to make him a new one
2. buy a good one that is not to heavy
3. come across someone who would make me one for little or nothing but graditude and alcoholic truffles.

we shall have to see.

[ScreamReaper]

Not bad!!! I'm going to try to make one of these.

[tot13]

I don't know how I missed your original post but it seems to be happening a lot to me lately, lol. I really love this. I've wanted to make one of these for about 3 years but struggled with some of the details. Thanks for taking the time to post your how-to, with your help I may be able to get this accomplished this year.

[niblique71]

That's really inventive and super cool.... Gives me LOTS of Ideas.. Thanks for the post :)

[corner haunt]

I love it when an old post comes to life again! I hope you get him back up and in use again.

[nixie]

That is really, really cool!!!!

[The Evil Queen]

uh... WOW!

[DeathTouch]

This is too cool! Reminds me of Iron man for some reason though. LOL Minus the guns and stuff. Or seriouly it remind me of the dark crystal.

[apetoes]

Love it, nice work and thanks for the tips/tricks!

[The Kibosh]

This is pretty cool. I think if there was a way to improve it, I'd beef up the arms a bit to make them look a little more realistic. Other than that, it looks pretty awesome! Great job.

[HauntDaddy]

That is absolutely great