# Pine Devil (wip)



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Paper skull, foam antlers, bucket ribcage, pine cones and trimmings from the yard. Still lots more to do.










This joker has about a 10' arm span...don't know what I was thinking...he has nothing at all below the waist...it looked great on paper but he's gonna need a lot of pine cones and pine straw to be fleshed out well. The paint has a ways to go yet too...not quite piney enough yet, though better live than in this pic...


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## Johnmonster (Sep 4, 2009)

Awesome start. It makes me think of some kind of scarecrow or totem that would be placed as a warning not to trespass on a sacred (or cursed) area. The foam antlers look very good, I just hope they don't prove to be too fragile once it's outdoors.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

Very nice. You are making some cool props. Make sure you seal your antlers. As long as they don't get water is them they should be fine.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

another very imaginative prop Rahnefan.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Yeah, I know what this guy is saying as he stands there with arms outstretched - "Come, give me a hug. I won't hurt you. Really, I won't." (evil laugh)


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Very nice start .... gonna be a great addition to this years display.


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Thanks guys. I had no idea foam needed sealing -- I will indeed. Waitasec, will my urethane dissolve the antlers?

Man unless a pine limb falls on my lawn pretty soon I'll run out of time; usually by this time of year they are everywhere but this year, despite the nigh-Biblical deluges, nothing at all! I want to start with fresh needles, even if they'll need replacing eventually.

I had in mind to give him an hourglass to hold but can't find cheap material for a good-looking large hourglass. Maybe a couple of 2-liter bottles but...mehhhhhhhh, ya know?


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Oh in case anyone was wondering, no you can't make stuff out of pine tree branches...they are far too brittle. He is bamboo and prunings from my Japanese magnolias, taped and mudded and clayed and painted...and the thorny fingers are dead grapefruit tree branches. I considered gluing nails and tacks all over him at first to make him a thorn devil but liked pine better, as it will hopefully make him a localized type of Samhain spirit or something and thought it might be a tad safer around my kids.


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## Silent Requiem (Feb 17, 2008)

what a fantastic idea! can't wait to see this finished


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Rahn, if Mother Nature doesn't send you enough pine needles, you might try fleshing him out a bit with shredded hardwood mulch. It will give him an appropriately woodsy look and make whatever needles you get go further.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Is he in your basement? Are you going to be able to get him out to your yard? LOL

He looks great. He'll definitely creep out the kiddies.


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Yeah, he's in the basement but the head is not attached yet, it's just sitting there for the photo. Otherwise nope, there'd be no way to get him out.

But if the rain doesn't let up and schedule doesn't allow me more than the very end of the day to work on it...it won't come out before 2011.  Already I wish I'd waited another year to start making props (or started a year earlier).


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Look at it this way (and I'm sure you have) - even if this year doesn't work out well for the props, you're already that much further ahead for next year. A lot of people here work on props over months of time, and build their displays up over years of time, depending on how elaborate they want them to become.


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

Very clever!!!


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Nice work! Please show us more as he comes along - I think that he will look great - If there is an y pine forest near you a walk into the forest should get you what you need


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Funny thing, I have a half acre of pines, and there is old straw a-plenty, but none freshly fallen yet, which is weird weird weird. Typically there are strewn limbs and cones and such year-round. Not this year. Maybe the storms are washing away more than I can tell.

Thanks RoxyBlue, indeed I am already thinking 2010 (or even 2011 if it rains like this next year). Time is too short and now I'm sick, oh joy.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

I love it Rahn! He reminds me of this book cover from when I was a kid. I was always wanted to sneak into my brothers room to look at it. This prop will look great I'm sure!

Here is the Horned King that I was talking about:


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

DC, that's awesome! Thanks!


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Also reminds me of this, my favorite illustration maybe of all time:










something about human skulls with antlers gets me amped!


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

*Update*

The Pine Devil was tweaked, sealed, and posted on my trail through the woods.










I added height to him by putting him into a discarded pool wand, which was stuck into a section of pvc in the ground. He was twelve or fifteen feet from the ground to his antlers. That's an old goat house he's next to.










Family emergencies caused me to put off the display again. But I am this much closer to a cool thing for next time.










Also learned that whatever I leave out in the rain had better be very, very well put-together.


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## Eeeekim (Aug 14, 2009)

I like it!!
The pine tufts on his head look like a Viking beard and thats always cool.
and the ribs look great, very real. you said bucket ribs? how is that made?


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Thanks, glad you asked. It really surprised me that I made a ribcage from a bucket and didn't hate it so bad that I cussed out the kids and threw the cat at my wife. It was more easy than not; did it in a day.

Take a 5-gallon bucket. Draw a sternum on one side. Draw horizontal lines to delineate ribs from front to back. Don't try to draw realistic rib curvature because these will be shortened and adjusted after cutting. Don't draw a spine opposite the sternum; the ribs should circumnavigate the bucket.

Put goggles on. It is not enough to own goggles or have them near you. Protect your eyes. If you have a really kick-butt cutting attachment for your Dremel tool, you can try that, but I used a small handheld saw something like a drywall saw and just hacked and hacked. You can cut this out in less time than you think. I wasted a bunch of cheap Dremel heads going really slow before I actually tried doing it the "hard" way. Turned out the hard way was the quick and easy way. Cut out all the negative spaces between the ribs. Then cut the ribs away from the sternum. What you will have left is really rough. I mean a very rough cut. That's good! Because you don't want the final product to look like a bucket, and this will help.

I eyeballed it but you smarter pros will likely want to look at a real diagram of the human ribcage to get a feel for the shape and length of each one. You might have to cut some away from the back also, to get the shape right. Shorten the ones that need shortening. Get out your drill and put a tiny hole through the end of each rib and through the place in the sternum where you think the rib should attach. Wire each rib to the sternum. Use the cutouts of negative space for collar bones if you need to. Attach them the same way.

Wire the whole thing to your broomstick or bamboo or whatever is the main pole for your scarecrow or whatever you are making. A thick ring of duct tape below the ribcage doesn't hurt either, and can get you started for making the pole resemble vertebrae.

Corpse the cage in whatever way you usually do. Done.


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

He turned out wonderful! Great work, never would have guessed the rib cage was made from a 5 gallon bucket!


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

I love this look Rahnefan...Please post as you go....


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Thanks. I would beelce but he's done. Broken too, actually. The rain made his antlers go kinda limp, that's all. He'll be good to go next year and I hope to have some lighted night pix then.


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