# Corn stalks!



## Allen H (Feb 13, 2010)

A how to video for making corn stalks on the cheap.


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Ah ha! And folks thought I was joking when I suggested a tutorial on making corn stalks

Good to see you back in action, Allen. We've missed you here.


----------



## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

loved it Allen, informative and corny all the way!


----------



## ladysherry (Jan 25, 2012)

Thank you Allen. One more thing to add to my haunt atmosphere. Saving water bottles starting now.


----------



## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Great tutorial as always. Good to have you back.


----------



## Allen H (Feb 13, 2010)

Yeah, I fell of the band wagon getting ready for the big show. Super buried in work but making fun stuff. I should be back on the regular.


----------



## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Glad to see you feeling better.

Nice job on the corn. I can see that method being use to make small dead trees for a graveyard.


----------



## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

So good to have Allen H. back! Yay!


----------



## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

For corn stalk stems, you can use that weedy stuff that looks like corn stalks, or you can very tightly roll and fan out a stack of newspapers to make a tall, very firm stem (a trick of the felons: how to turn a newspaper into a beat em up stick...). If used indoors- instead of raffia, you can use crunched up paper bag strips, with strips still connected together at the ends. Cut/fringe paper then scrunch. I used green file folders for indoor cornstalk leaves, too. You can also use small-bubble bubble wrap around the bottle for corn ears. The ears come out of the leaf grouping near the stalk. Also, floral wire comes in a roll (WalMart, etc.) and is cheaper, plus it comes in gauges- you would want a heavier gauge so it's stiff. I LOVE this idea! I never knew how to make weather proof stalks! Thanks!!


----------



## Morbiddious (Mar 3, 2012)

Pure awesomeness as always


----------



## Bascombe (May 18, 2010)

Good to have you back, Allen.

I made a cornfield for a production of Oklahoma once but I used the bamboo from forty tiki torches that I acquired from Big Lots. It was an after season sale so each torch cost about a buck. I used cattail leaves and iris leaves and applied them with floral tape. Worked out pretty good.

I've still got a box of tiki torch cannisters that I use from time to time. for other things like lighting a path or warming my garden on fall nights, stuff like that.


----------



## Rich_K (Mar 7, 2009)

Wow! that's so neat. Looks like corn stalks are just the beginning. Plants of all kinds could be made to hide things like mini LED spot lites and such. Getting them to shake, looks real easy too, with a small vibrating motor. The price is right too.


----------



## dionicia (Aug 4, 2007)

After I watched this, I realized I had most of the stuff to make these. I can't wait. These will look good in my little pumpkin patch.


----------



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Love it!!!!!


----------



## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

that looks great!


----------



## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: Very cool idea Allen, thanks for sharing. Halloween and cornstalks just go hand in hand for me. I wouldn't think of decorating my house without at least 60 or 70 stalks, and now maybe I can do some fake cornstalks to use indoors so I don't have all the bugs associated with real cornstalks. Genuis! 
P.S. I have been absent for awhile and just learned about your wreck from the forum posts. I am so glad you are on the mend.


----------



## GhoulishCop (Sep 25, 2009)

Following Allen's directions, I made my own corn stalks. They came out great, though I still have tons to make. Pretty much riffing off Allen's tutorial, I posted my own to YouTube:






Thanks for a great tutorial. Storage shouldn't be a problem for them and they can be used year after year. Great money saving prop!

Rich


----------



## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

I've been trying to find this thread to ask some questions regarding material (and interject some of my two cents also ) I noticed is GC's tutorial that trash bags were used, folded over and fused together with a heat gun.

Approximately how many leave does a 1 sqft of plastic yield?

I'm asking because I wonder if it more cost and time efficient to use something like a 6mil visqueen. Home Depot sells it for $94 for 2,000 sqft of 6mil visqueen. The other option, IF cost isn't a problem, would be stego wrap (vapor barrier). It's 10mil, 2,940 sqft but $434 a roll through White Cap. Just curious and throwing ideas from a construction standpoint out there.

EDIT: Stego Wrap below


----------



## GhoulishCop (Sep 25, 2009)

Lord Homicide,

Not sure about other materials since I haven't tried them. The garbage bags that were used were Hefty 3 mil contractor bags. I would imagine 6 mil plastic would obviate the need for doubling up, but I should note that Allen used those bags and got 3 or 4 layers thick (i.e., 9 or 12 mil). I just found it a pain in the neck heating up the layers all at once then trying to pull them apart and then reheating, etc. 

Once you add the wire to the leaf it's fairly rigid, certainly enough to provide the leaf look you'd want. I just wonder whether a thicker plastic sheet might not distort properly. You're going for curvature and texture with the heatgun so I don't know whether that would work with a 6 mil thickness.

I'm not sure the size of the panels I ended up using, but I'd say they were around 12"x16" or so, maybe a little wider and longer. You could get approximately 3 or 4 leaves out of each one, which, as I mentioned in the video, made for about a half dozen stalks from each bag.

Hope that helps.

Rich


----------



## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

Thanks for the extra info Rich! Just curious from a manufacturing standpoint really. It looks like a lot of time could be shaved off by not having to create your own Xmil plastic.


----------



## circe257 (Sep 29, 2013)

Another great idea for not a lot of money. Incorporating this one!


----------

