A Large Evil Creature Build

[MarxNutz]

Well, I've decided to go yet another route to making body parts... This week I am covering the chicken wire over the arm with papier mache, then a layer of claycrete to fine-tune the details, then brush on several layers of fiberglass resin in an attempt to make a translucent shell. If I am successful, I will remove the lower layers, leaving just the resin as the 'skin' of the arm, which I will paint appropriately to get the effect I want. Wish me luck, and there will be pictures by this weekend!

[MarxNutz]

Ok, I've got a few more pics of the progress with the arm-building, having gotten as far as being almost ready to apply the resin. To form the arm's musculature, I started with the chicken wire armature, then paper-mache'd it until everything was covered. Then, I went to Home Depot and bought the following items: 1-18 lb. bag of GreenFiber brand blow-in Natural Fiber Insulation &
1-18 lb. bag of Sheetrock Lightweight Setting-Type Joint Compound. The insulation is simply recycled, shredded paper pulp which is, along with plaster, the basic ingredient of claycrete.
You will see in the pics that I started with a couple of scoops (the kind that come with a box of laundry detergent) of joint compound, mixed it with some warm water and stirred it until it was smooth. I intentionally made the mixture thin because I would be adding insulation, which would thicken it. I just grabbed a good handful of insulation and kneaded it into the plaster mix until it was well blended. I experimented with the consistency and found that I liked it when it was about like squeezing ground beef between my fingers.
So, I applied the claycrete by hand, slathering it generously along all available surfaces. I made a point of filling in anywhere the hexagonal pattern showed, and adjusting the shapes of the muscles as I went along. The joint compound was fast-setting, so I had to work fairly quickly. I would keep making small batches, applying the claycrete and making a new batch immediately until I covered the whole of the paper mache. At first, it didn't look much like an arm, but with subsequent layers of claycrete, I built it up to where it started looking more realistic. I have fans blowing air across the arm so the claycrete will set faster. Later tonight I plan on applying a 'finish' layer of joint compound to smooth out details and when that is dry I will give it a light sanding and prep it for the resin. More to come...

[Stari3oy2@aol]

Good luck with the prop. I'm a LOTR fan, so it will be great to see it completed. It does look heavy. I hope you can mechanize it as planned.

[MarxNutz]

Well, my plan is to make a shell of resin, and then remove the rest of the form and use only the resin shell over the PVC pipe 'skeleton'. So, all that paper mache and claycrete and chicken wire will be gone, along with all that weight. I hope it works, because time is going to start running short and I need to really get moving on getting the body finished.

[MarxNutz]

This is the nature of such ventures, that sometimes things just don't seem to go we planned... I took the arm outside, waxed it down with carnauba wax, then promptly broke it near the wrist. Didn't even panic, I just figured I can make two parts that will be joined later. So, I mixed a batch of resin, eight ounces with 80 drops of hardener as the instructions indicated. I brushed it all over the upper part of the arm down to near the break, making sure I gave the entire arm a good coating top to bottom, with just a small area underneath undone. I quickly realized that this coat of resin was probably not going to be enough to stand on its own, so I broke down and on the next batch, I went ahead and added strips of fiberglass cloth that I had in stock, thereby making this a fiberglass arm. Shoulda figured on doing that in the first place Ah well, I can deal with it...

[Jaybo]

Hmm...no pictures. Your photobucket link in the beginning of this thread no longer works. You now have the minimum 10 post count required by Hauntforum, so you should be able to post the IMG links from photobucket directly in your posts here.

[zombastic]

If you click on it, it works.

[Stari3oy2@aol]

I've never worked with fiberglass, so I'm interested in the process and your progress. Remember to take photos of the various stages. I hope it continues to come together!

[MarxNutz]

Here are some pics:

Close-Up of Arm Detail picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Close-Up of Arm Detail picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Another View of Forearm picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Another View of Forearm picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Placing the Tub picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Placing the Tub picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Pizza Cardboard for the Back of Hand picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Pizza Cardboard for the Back of Hand picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Covered with Papier Mache and Claycrete picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Covered with Papier Mache and Claycrete picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

[MarxNutz]

More pics, showing the hand, the unfortunate break in the wrist and the fiberglassing... I sure hope this method works!

Adding Fingers picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Adding Fingers picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Right On! picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Right On! picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Arm with Broken Wrist picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Arm with Broken Wrist picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Fiberglassing picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket

Fiberglassing picture by MarxNutz - Photobucket