# Cauldron Creep



## Devils Chariot

It's been a long time coming, and he isn't quite finished, but I have been getting alot of questions about him, so I'm gonna post him unfinished.

This is my take on the classic cauldron stirring witch. My haunt is themed to jungles and islands, and witches don't really fit, plus I don't really like them. I have always liked the grim reaper and Charon the Boatman, so I guess this was a natural interpretation.






Before I get into how I made it, let me give a shout out to those who inspired me (ahem...whom I copied).

ScareFX
Scary Terry
SpiderRider

Also thanks to everyone in the technological terror forum who helped me get him going.

So this guy is a 1/2 pvc armature made with the Zombietronix calculator for a 5 ft skeleton. I used hardware cloth for his rib cage, and it has ribs are made with greatstuff. Inside of him is a 6rpm motor that cranks his head up an down slowly. It hard to see in the video because I kept moving around. His head is a 2 part urethane cast from a mold of a bucky skull. The rest of the bones are from a "bag of Bones" from Biglots and are attached with hot glue. The motor is the standard Monsterguts wiper motor, and I have hooked it up to an ATX computer power supply on the 3.3v circuit.

What makes him different other than being a skeleton is that his stance over the cauldron and the natural movement of the arms are due to the fact that one arm is fixed, unlike most witch cauldrons. The right arm is rigid all the way to the wrist. There it is joined by a simple linkage to the hand which is glued to the stick. If you visualize the shape the stick makes as it travels in circle, it would look like a cone, whereas the normal setup would draw out a tube shape. Since the upper hand is mostly anchored, and the movement there is minimal, the skeleton can be leaning over the cauldron without being hit by the rotating stick. The bottom of the stick has been shaped to a dull point, and rotates inside a 1 1/2 pvc end cap, filled with hot glue to prevent the stick and the bolt which attached the cap from binding.

I'll be posting some more pics a video when he is finished. If you want to see something up close, let me know and I'll snap some pics.

Check out ScareFX's how-to, it was a huge help to me.
Scary Terry Has all the technical info.


UPDATE: Youtube wasn't working lastnight, but flickr was, so here is a video of the early construction. I'm new to using video, so I didn't know you cant rotate them. But you can still see whats going on.






The mechanism fro the head is sloppy, it I had spent more time, I could have gotten the same movement by moving the motor closer to the head and shortening the linkage, but this prop already took too long, about 3.5 months of working on the weekends. Next year I'll tweak his head, maybe even put a spring on it so it turns as it goes up and down.


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## Dr Morbius

Nice take! Love the theme, the music in the vid really sets the tone for the prop. I can see where you are going ewith this, and I like it alot! Well thought out prop.


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## Scary Godmother

Awesome! I would definetly like to see the movement inside the cauldron, I have been working on a standard cauldron witch myself, and am still not happy with the movement, but have to settle for this year. Maybe I can get some ideas for a re-vamp next year!:devil:


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## eanderso13

Two words...Bad...Ass! I love the unique take! You seriously put some work into that and it shows!!


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## SpookySam

Looks great! I REALLY like the stance...it looks almost protective of the cauldron. Have you considered projecting light up from inside the cauldron?


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## trexmgd

Fantastic! 

Tell me more about the head movement, like the idea of that added touch.


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## RoxyBlue

I think the stance really makes this prop - the positioning of the hands, the bent posture - beautiful and effective. We're doing the classic "witch stirring cauldron" for the first time this year, but after seeing this guy, we may make a few changes next year.


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## Otaku

Take a bow, DC! That is one creepy prop. What an interesting angle for your haunt - jungles and islands. That concept opens up many possibilities!


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## spideranne

I want to see the inside too!!! Please, Please!


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## Spooky1

Best cauldron prop I've seen yet. Great job.


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## Devils Chariot

I updated my original post with a link to the video on my flickr account. Thanks for the compliments. I thought he great, so much so that I keep watching this video over and over. Next weekend he gets kneecaps, the final paint, clothing, and some twigs and coals around his cauldron.

Hey SpookySam, he does have some red led christmas lights inside the cauldron, and then red and orange ones under the cauldron. I thought of making a ring of leds to spot him, but i thought I'd see how he looks in the dark before I go thru the hassle of wiring it up, I'll check out this weekend if I can. He is at mom in laws house, and I haven't seen him in the dark because I always leave around 6 to go eat and then run off to a haunted house/attraction.


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## Severin

Fantastic! The movement is so natural. A great take on the cauldron witch.


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## Lilly

Thats awesome ..it would be great in my snake room ..send it to me NOW!!!!
Great Job


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## Brad Green

When I first saw this at Pumkinrot's site, I could have sworn it was a Bucky! Excellent job, one of the nicest I've seen!


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## Devils Chariot

wow! pumpkinrot! I see he beat me to the punch on my junglerot scarecrow.


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## dave the dead

very, very nice. Kudos on this prop! Not much more to say that hasn't been said...
unique, excellent pose, great movement. I really like this guy!


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## ScreamingScarecrow

Exceeeeelent!!
Now that's an awsome prop!!
Reiterated all of the above and say the eyes are great!
Much better than pippoint leds!!!


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## Revenant

This is, without a doubt, my favoritest cauldron-stirrer prop ever. Kudos to all the awesome witches out there, but this guy is along the lines of my favorite stuff (I'm all about skellies lol). DC -- you is Da Mann.


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## turtle2778

How do you keep the bottom hand in place and still allow the stick to turn?


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## Devils Chariot

turtle2778 said:


> How do you keep the bottom hand in place and still allow the stick to turn?


The hand is hot glued to the stick, and the stick isn't attached to the rotating arm, it just rests inside a pvc cap attached to the end of the motor arm. It has a rounded point, and the cap is filled with hot glue, so it is flat and smooth. Most of the weight of the stick is actually on the top hand, where is is attached to the rigid arm.


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## higginsr

Definately made me want to do one and I never was into the cauldren stirrer props... great creative effort!!!! Taking "thinking outside the box" to a whole new level!


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## Spooky1

Your Caldron Creep belongs in a prop Hall of Fame along with Dr. Morbius's Groundbreaker.


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## Toecutter

This thing is spectacular, and doesn't appear to be terribly difficult to build. I'm absolutely blown away by this. Where did you get the stirring stick, and how did you do the eyes?


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## Devils Chariot

Toecutter said:


> This thing is spectacular, and doesn't appear to be terribly difficult to build. I'm absolutely blown away by this. Where did you get the stirring stick, and how did you do the eyes?


I picked up the stick while hiking outside of yosemite a few years ago. I meant to carve it into something cool. I thought it would look good for this prop so I used it. It's kinda heavy, but I think that might be part of what makes the movement look the way it does.

The eye are ultrabright LEDs with eyeball blanks from monsterguts.com hot glued on top. You can also find these by prying open some roll-on deodorant bottles.


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## Joiseygal

I was doing a search on wiper motors and came up on your prop DevilsChariot. Nice Job, I really like it! My question is if you were going to keep this prop out during the month of October how would you keep the wiper motor dry if it rains? I would love to make a prop like this, but I am worried about the motor getting wet if it rains when I'm at work and I can't cover it.


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## The_Caretaker

Since the wiper motor is already subject to the weather and other extremes rain will not bother it


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## Sickie Ickie

I mostly lurk as of late, but I had to say this is one awesome prop! I've had the same idea of using the cone travel method for some time now, but you beat me to the punch making it.


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## The Bloodshed Brothers

i think its creepier than the witches very cool. his eyes freak me out

very nice job


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## bobzilla

Bad ass and super creepy !!


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## beelce

He is creepier than most all witches.....I really like him too,,,great stirring motion..


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## hpropman

Another prop that has had the bar raised. Fabulous work. This group just keeps getting better before you know it we will be doing better work that the pro's


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## Revenant

I'd venture to say some of them already are.


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## HauntCast

That rocks! The movement is very natural.


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## Spanky

Awesome job I love the skull. Great weathering. I also put LEDs in roll-on balls for eyes- did you drill and put yours in or just put the balls in front? 

I musta missed something, though, what is a Zombietronix calculator?

Also I loved the flicker video with someone in the background dropping F- bombs about the weather!


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## Devils Chariot

Hey Spanky, I put the leds behind the eyeball. I had cut one in half, but the led made too much of a spot in the middle. I think that would be good in some instances, but i like the softer more ghost orb look for this guy.

Zombietronix has a calculator page to make pvc armatures of people to scale and tells you what parts you need and how much pvc pipe. its here:

http://zombietronix.com/calculator_biped.php

The F bombs are from the inlaws complaining about having to ride home in the rain on scooters i believe. In the youtube video I think I put the stock music over that to cover it up for the kiddies. You must have seen the flickr one. I wanted to tell them to shut up cuz I'm filming, but I am using their garage and yard, so I just have a beer and play it cool.


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## hlmn

Well done well done! I do really like the movement you nailed it


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## Spanky

What a great link, thank you! 
I noticed the softer glow about the eyes thats why I asked. I drilled holes and inserted LEDs on some of my eyes and got the middle spot you described. I;m gonna totally steal your Idea and try putting some behind. 

Yeah use of a garage and yard definantly excuses a few f bombs here and there. Especially if they're supplying the beer too.


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## DeathTouch

Bingo! This is what I was looking for. A combo of ScareFX and a skeleton dude. Thank you!


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## nixie

Yeah, what they said... This is amazing! The posture and movement look so fluid and natural! Can't wait to see your entire haunt, it must be brilliant!


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## doggieshop

He looks great! I think I would like to do something like that nest year, This year we are in Clown/ fun house mode. Next year would like to do cave /jungle and I think he would be awesome for that them. Great job. Phyllis


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## fritz42_male

Superb job - be VERY proud.


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## Devils Chariot

I just posted a cauldron creep how-to over on my how-to blog.


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## IMU

Hey, thanks for the how-to ... that guy is awesome. BTW, I saw your video posted on another blog a few weeks back ... it's very popular.


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## Bone Dancer

Thanks for the how-to DC. Your work has been an ispiration.


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## robocop

That is one of the coolist reapers i have ever seen !


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## Day of the Dead

Nice job on the killer prop! So very cool!


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## Lady Nyxie

How cool is that? Very!


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## drazster

Hey DC,

I spent part of this weekend giving this project a go with your new tutorial and it's coming together with very pleasing results. 

I noted that you didn't use the skull from the "bag of bones". I was going to give that a try. I was wondering if there was a specific reason you opted to use the casting?

Also, did you build out the back of the prop to accomodate the armature on the motor driving the neck movement? 

Thanks a so much for the tutorial it has been a giant help and thanks for the inspiration as well.


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## DeathTouch

Me too DC. A great tutorial.


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## Devils Chariot

i used the bucky casting cuz I think it looks better, and is more to scale.

I wanted him to have a hump. It did get more pronounced from the sloppy mechanism, but now everyone in our haunt likes it, and said I should leave it alone.

You can see in my idea sketch, that it was always there, it just got over the top in the execution:


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## Revenant

Your original idea was for an 80's punk rock skeleton? Awesome... Johnny Rotted!


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## Devils Chariot

That's supposed to be a ceremonial head dress made from a palm fan.


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## madmomma

Excellent cauldron prop! Gave me great ideas for one of my own. Just have to get that "motor thing" right... my DH is friends with 2 excellent mechanics...and I need a favor...LOL


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## Daphne

After tripping over the materials for going on 2 years I think... I am FINALLY building my stirring witch and am using the same Monster Guts wiper motor as you but the arm that comes with it is way too short plus it would be impossible to hook to the knob at the end of it. It appears you have replaced the arm but the one that comes with it has teeth that prevents it from slipping where it attaches to the motor. Did you find some tool that allows you to create the teeth in the new arm or how did you handle that?

I've never seen anyone else hook up the arms like yours and it just looks so incredibly cool...
Thanks!


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## Devils Chariot

Daphne said:


> After tripping over the materials for going on 2 years I think... I am FINALLY building my stirring witch and am using the same Monster Guts wiper motor as you but the arm that comes with it is way too short plus it would be impossible to hook to the knob at the end of it. It appears you have replaced the arm but the one that comes with it has teeth that prevents it from slipping where it attaches to the motor. Did you find some tool that allows you to create the teeth in the new arm or how did you handle that?
> 
> I've never seen anyone else hook up the arms like yours and it just looks so incredibly cool...
> Thanks!


This is from memory, but the little arm on it has a little nut on it that you can unscrew. This doesn't remove the tiny arm, but it allows you to cut a piece of aluminum bar stock and drill a hole in it, then use the nut to attach the barstock over the threaded post it came off of. Monster guts now sells and extender to fit that motor, but I haven't even looked at mine since I got them in the mail. I'll look tonight at the motor when I get home if I can get a better answer for you about this. myabe I'll post some pics if needed.

- DC


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## SweeneyFamilyHorror

Just fantastic. And I really like your how-to on your Website. Highly inspirational!


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## hpropman

Daphne said:


> After tripping over the materials for going on 2 years I think... I am FINALLY building my stirring witch and am using the same Monster Guts wiper motor as you but the arm that comes with it is way too short plus it would be impossible to hook to the knob at the end of it. It appears you have replaced the arm but the one that comes with it has teeth that prevents it from slipping where it attaches to the motor. Did you find some tool that allows you to create the teeth in the new arm or how did you handle that?
> 
> I've never seen anyone else hook up the arms like yours and it just looks so incredibly cool...
> Thanks!


The aluminum bar being soft gets pressed into the grooves when you tighten the nut. All you need to do is drill you holes bend the bar so that is misses the mounting bolts and it works great.


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## Daphne

Thanks so much for your help! Goodness knows I would never start these projects if I didn't have y'all to back me up!


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## morbidmike

very detailed great prop!!


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## kevin242

wow wow wow


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