This met my goal of having no cash outlay at all. It was made entirely out of stuff I had hanging around (wire mesh from a defunct animal cage, a skull salvaged from an old broken prop). But for those without such a stash, here would be the price list:
1 roll of half-inch hardware cloth $7.00
1 styrofoam skull $5.00
I package of cheesecloth $1.15
A bunch of random stuff, worth maybe 10 to 50 cents each, say total of $2.00
Handful of zip ties
Few feet of fencing wire
Some masking tape
A couple of sheets of aluminum foil (for padding)
6 inches of pool noodle
Some drinking straws
Several buckets of clay from a roadside ditch Free
Total: $15.15
The armature was made from pieces of hardware cloth, formed and then put together with zip ties. The styrofoam skull was glued to a pool noodle and wired into place. The hands were made by wrapping wire around a jig, putting it together with masking tape. The shape of the hands was enhanced by using aluminum foil for padding and knuckles and drinking straws for tendons, covered with more masking tape.
Then came the fun part. We drove to a place where there's a cut in the dirt road that exposes some natural clay. We scraped it out of a ditch and then had to remove all the leaves, twigs, and other detritus by plopping it into a colander and hitting it with a blast from the hose. The resulting clay/water mix was then set aside to settle, the water poured off, and the clay scooped out to dry.
Finally, it was spread over the armature in several layers, with a day or two in between to let it dry. This was pretty low-quality clay, so the covering is pretty rough. I did spend quite some time on the face to get a smooth surface. The tunic and dreadlocks were made by soaking cheesecloth in a clay slurry and draping into place.
(pictures of the actual prop will be in a following message)
1 roll of half-inch hardware cloth $7.00
1 styrofoam skull $5.00
I package of cheesecloth $1.15
A bunch of random stuff, worth maybe 10 to 50 cents each, say total of $2.00
Handful of zip ties
Few feet of fencing wire
Some masking tape
A couple of sheets of aluminum foil (for padding)
6 inches of pool noodle
Some drinking straws
Several buckets of clay from a roadside ditch Free
Total: $15.15
The armature was made from pieces of hardware cloth, formed and then put together with zip ties. The styrofoam skull was glued to a pool noodle and wired into place. The hands were made by wrapping wire around a jig, putting it together with masking tape. The shape of the hands was enhanced by using aluminum foil for padding and knuckles and drinking straws for tendons, covered with more masking tape.
Then came the fun part. We drove to a place where there's a cut in the dirt road that exposes some natural clay. We scraped it out of a ditch and then had to remove all the leaves, twigs, and other detritus by plopping it into a colander and hitting it with a blast from the hose. The resulting clay/water mix was then set aside to settle, the water poured off, and the clay scooped out to dry.
Finally, it was spread over the armature in several layers, with a day or two in between to let it dry. This was pretty low-quality clay, so the covering is pretty rough. I did spend quite some time on the face to get a smooth surface. The tunic and dreadlocks were made by soaking cheesecloth in a clay slurry and draping into place.
(pictures of the actual prop will be in a following message)