# Groundbreakers



## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Before I forget, I wanted to pass on something to you before the thought escaped my feeble mind. _If you use white glue for anything, now is a good time to stock up on it. _

My new gb's have a pvc skeleton, coated with mache paste (huge, time-consuming mistake), and are being corpsed-out with cottonballs and a white glue/water mixture. I know others have used this method before, but a special thanks from me to Denhaunt for getting me into this with his Pumpkin Thief. I love the look I get using this and how easy it is. One drawback, I've discovered I apparently have an allergy to something in the glue and my hands break out in small blisters shortly after working with it. And it itches.

Here's a couple of pics before I started the corpsing:


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

re: stocking up on white glue...I assume you are referring to Back-to-school sales? I usually watch for the clearance at the end of these sales and pick up a dozen or so bottles when they are dirt cheap.

never heard of anyone with an allergy to glue...that stinks.


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

dave the dead said:


> re: stocking up on white glue...I assume you are referring to Back-to-school sales? I usually watch for the clearance at the end of these sales and pick up a dozen or so bottles when they are dirt cheap.
> 
> never heard of anyone with an allergy to glue...that stinks.


I usually get the 4 oz. bottles of RoseArt glue for 44 cents at WM and the Elmer's goes for about 74 cents. I got the 4 oz Elmer's for 20 cents each last week. They seem to get wiped out pretty quick during the clearance and I always miss the sale.

Yeah, never had any idea about the glue so it took a couple of break-outs before we figured out what was causing it. Anyway, I'm allergic to just about everything else anyway. Try living on the Gulf Coast and being _deathly_ allergic to iodine, lol.


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## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

Flipping awesome! That second one is a keeper.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

tot13 said:


> Before I forget, I wanted to pass on something to you before the thought escaped my feeble mind. _If you use white glue for anything, now is a good time to stock up on it. _
> 
> My new gb's have a pvc skeleton, coated with mache paste (huge, time-consuming mistake), and are being corpsed-out with cottonballs and a white glue/water mixture. I know others have used this method before, but a special thanks from me to Denhaunt for getting me into this with his Pumpkin Thief. I love the look I get using this and how easy it is. One drawback, I've discovered I apparently have an allergy to something in the glue and my hands break out in small blisters shortly after working with it. And it itches.


You can get a box of latex gloves from Home Depot in the paint department for a reasonable price. I use these when I have a lot of glue/water mache to do.


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## Denhaunt (Aug 18, 2006)

Those look great. Very expressive and I love the hands. That really sucks about the allergy - you'd figure that a product marketed to school kids would be pretty safe (unless you're talking about toys from China )

PS - thanks for the shout out!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

heresjohnny said:


> You can get a box of latex gloves from Home Depot in the paint department for a reasonable price. I use these when I have a lot of glue/water mache to do.


Latex might not be the best choice for someone who is allergic to everything

Tot, I get some blistering on my hands when I do a lot of papier mache work as well, but it's just a version of contact dermatitis that results from having my hands in and out of water. I use a flour and water mix 'cause it's cheap.

Aside from that, I love that "why me?" pose. It's so expressive,


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Here's some pics after my second pass of "skinning".



















DT, would you believe that the other one is actually my favorite? I intend for him to be holding leaves and dirt in his hands.

Johnny, thanks for the suggestion about the gloves, but to be honest I'm too cheap and lazy. And like Roxy said, I'm not too sure I wouldn't have a reaction to the gloves. I don't do this all the time, so I'll probably just live with it.

Den, "Well, I bin usin' white glue al-l-ll my life", but then it wasn't until recently that I started bathing my hands in it, lol. Thanks about the hands and expressions. I do try to put a lot of thought into the poses and expressions, but I never know if that'll be conveyed in the finished prop. Those hands are becoming my staple, I just need ot figure out a quicker, easier way to get the same look.

Roxy, hmm, at first I thought that may be what's happening to me too, but I'm a chronic hand-washer, so maybe not.

Thanks again, everyone. I hope to do the final pass of skinning tomorrow, but that'll depend on drying time and the weather.


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Dang double post. I know I hit it only once . . .


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## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

I really like these. Really really.


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## morbidmike (Sep 11, 2009)

them are some really nice ground breakers


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Both have a great pose, they look awesome so far!


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Through with the glue!



















And the scariest (waahaahaa) part of the project, the price I paid, lol:


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Those are some really nice corpses, love the over all positions and the hands.
Do you have any earlier photots of the build, of the hands and skull.
Thanks for sharing.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Oh yeah, you have a glue problem there:googly:

These guys are wonderful.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

The poses are great, I'm looking forward to seeing the final products.


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## Ripper (Jul 24, 2010)

Some really NICE work there (some really NASTY blisters too! OUCH!)


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Bone Dancer said:


> Those are some really nice corpses, love the over all positions and the hands.
> Do you have any earlier photots of the build, of the hands and skull.
> Thanks for sharing.


BD, the skulls are just paper mache over some older mache skulls I have. I got lazy with the strip mache and as soon as I could get it off the form, I put a coat of paste mache on it which gave it a little different look. The hands are like all my others: pvc wrist, clothes hanger fingers, water tubing, cotten and glue mixture to flesh out. The hands get added to the forearms later. I don't have any pics of these hands in progress, but here is a thread of some earlier ones:
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20072
The only difference is I didn't do a "hard bend" at the knuckles on these, plus I think I've gotten a little better at this through repetition.

Here some early pics:




























Thanks for the comments and if you have any questions, I'd be more than pleased to answer them.


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Roxy, Spooky, and Ripper - thank you for the compliments. And yeah, the blisters have actually gotten worse, but my brother is highly allergic (I'm sensing a pattern here) to poison ivy and has some steroid cream I'm going to start using tonight. I hope to water-proof tomorrow, but I think painting them is going to be difficult.


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## Ripper (Jul 24, 2010)

The blisters have gotten WORSE? YIKES!!!!!!!!

Hope you get better soon, those things look painful!


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

Ripper said:


> The blisters have gotten WORSE? YIKES!!!!!!!!
> 
> Hope you get better soon, those things look painful!


Thanks, and yes, they itch like hell and that's why I was so anxious to finish my glue-work today, but this steroid cream had an immediate effect. I tend to heal quickly so I'm expecting it to be a lot better by tomorrow night with this cream.


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## Ripper (Jul 24, 2010)

You might want to try either latex, or nitrile gloves. White glue is a poly-vinyl-acrylic, so I would steer clear of the vinyl gloves for now.

Hope that helps (GOD that looks painful!)


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## ScreamingScarecrow (Oct 1, 2008)

Too bad about the blisters because the GB's rock!


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

Sorry to hear about blisters. Talk to a doctor, I would think the gloves they use in surgery would work if anything. The GB's look really nice. The draping effect is going to be pretty cool with a paint job.


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