[Samhain]

Hey y'all
I've finally taken the plunge and purchased materials for my very first prop!
Yesterday, the plastic skull I ordered arrived, so I'm playing with that, will probably make a few paper mache copies of it before anything permanent happens.
I've just been to B&Q which is our Home Depot I guess, and bought 2 7' long pieces of 40mm PVC as well as some fittings. Not too bad of a price, it came to about £10 which I guess is about $18 or something.
My next purchase will be a buttload of black fabric. I'm knocking up a 6' tall grim reaper for halloween, nothing special, but I'm excited none the less!
I'll keep you updated as I go along.
If anyone has any tips, tricks or just general ideas then let me know.
Thanks!!!!

 

[Front Yard Fright]

Sounds like you're off to a good start!
What are you going to make your reaper out of?
Just a chicken wire frame and cloth?
Or are you going to use monster mud?
Anyways...
Keep us posted as you construct your prop!
Oh, and be sure to post pics for us!
.

 

[dave the dead]

Great Samhein! Dive right in.....Yep, what FYF said...give a few more details on what you have in mind and we'd all be glad to throw out tips....

The first thing that came to my mind is just a general tip that gets missed way too many times.....try to keep the shoulders narrow. I've seen alot of props where the shoulders ended up WAY too wide for the intended look of the prop.....go skinnier than your normal measurements and it will look very "reaper-ish"

 

[Samhain]

That's a good tip Dave, I want to make sure this thing looks real!
Front Yard, I'll just be using cloth, no monster mud for me. I'm also going to nix the chickenwire and just use plastic bags and newspaper to shape him I think.
I want this guy to look like someone stood in the corner, my guests should wonder if he's real or not. I want him to look like he could move at any minute.
The picture I have in mind is of a dark shadowy creature, not something that's too detail heavy, if that makes sense.
Thanks again guys

 

[dave the dead]

When you mentioned padding it out with plastic bags or newspaper, i thought of this post.....if you haven't seen it, check it out..

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=6206&highlight=bodies+budget

..you could very easily wrap up your pvc armature to look like a body, add in your skull (or mache cast) drape the whole thing in your black fabric, and there you have it.....This is a small reaper guy I made last year from this same method, although the body is a block of styrofoam that I carved to shape...the rest is pvc and a greatstuff skull I cast.

 

[Zombie-F]

Chicken wire can be used as a means to fill out a PVC dummy. I used it on my Emperor of Evil prop from last year to great effect. I used it to fill out the chest cavity, and used pool noodles for the arms. Have a look:

Emperor of Evil Static Figure

 

[Samhain]

thanks for the link Dave, I'll keep that one in mind, looks pretty good!
Zombie, I kinda want to steal your Emperor. I just think he would be happier with me... And you want him to be happy don't you? I bet you wouldn't like him when he's unhappy....
Ok, I thought that might work, but I'll keep your method in mind too. I just need to find my damn saw and start on that pvc! The better half is moaning because it's now taking up a corner of the bedroom..

 

[skeletonowl]

I like the newspaper plastic bag method. It's classic old school family decorating.

 

[Samhain]

I'm a bit annoyed at the moment, I thought we had brought all the tools with us when we moved out, but apparently the other half, in one of his genius moments, didn't bring the hacksaw. So now I have marked out PVC, a plastic skull grinning smugly, about 4 thousand useless screw drivers and no bloody cutting tools!
I'm giving serious thought to taking one of the very expensive bread knives to it. That'd show him... hehehehe....

 

[Samhain]

I need help!
I've got my pvc, cut it to size. And I can't make the bloody stuff go together! The fittings have like a black rubber band inside that probably would stop the pipe from sliding back out, but at the moment its stopping anything from going in! I can't get anything to fit together and it's really frustrating!
Please help me!!

 

[Samhain]

Right, Grim is finished in a sense. He needs tweaking and these are really poor pictures but it's an idea. Here you go guys, I owe this to this site really!

Waaaaaaay! First prop is done!

 

[Front Yard Fright]

That is FREAKY!!!
The face on that thing is just wrong!
Great job!!!
.

 

[Samhain]

Thanks FYF!
The head is just a bunch of plastic bags taped together with a few layers of paper mache stuck over it and details built with cotton balls. Then I just went over it with some gray face paint to bring out the detail and filled the eyes with more cotton soaked in black nail polish for that "wet" look.
Glad you like!!!