Thread: Need help with static figures!

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Hello All!
Last year at Spirit I bought 4 costumes at 50% off in order to make some static life size figures. A skelly pirate, scarecrow man, zombie and one other I can remember off the top of my head. I have a mask, full outfit and gloves for hands. Looking for ideas what to make the body out of...pvc pipe and foam head? Wood? Any ideas would be helpful.. These will be most likely placed in our graveyard, so need them to be able to be set on the lawn...so needing some kind of base? Any help would be greatly appreciated

http://spookmaster.tripod.com/pvc.html
also chicken wire for body fullness.I have also used great stuff.styrofoam head or I use greatstuff with a pvc piece to fill my heads.
I use rebar in ground and just run the legs over the rebar.pool noodles also for arms and legs fullness.

Here is one filled with great stuff 2 cans.

I am a "ghetto" builder. Our family moves every 2-3 years and I have to maintain a decent shipping weight for my household goods or we pay hundreds to thousands of dollars for overages.

For a Grim Reaper or witch, I use a ladder base. Folding ladder, pushed out. A stick duct taped= spine. I build a frame work of an upper body off a man's shirt, duct tape the sleeves shut, and fill with anything! (Newapaper, styrofoam, etc.) Duct tape, sticks, etc, can really be used in great ways.

Last year, i built the best witch prop I ever made out of a old barstool I found on the side of the road. With a large stick jammed down thru the woven top, a few metal hangers, and Goodwill clothes- I worked it!

I know it sounds bad, but I cannot keep chickenwire or PVC anything. We never know what tyoe of home or storage we will have. (My spouse is in the Military.) I play "Let's find some props" almost every year!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3162017...in/photostream witch with barstool body

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3162017...in/photostream Grim Reaper is a ladder
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3162017...in/photostream

I know alot of people have more refined methods.

Make your dummy. I can't remember exactly what kind of clothes he was wearing in that scene, but try this for building the dummy: measure sections of 1/2" PVC pipe for the different sections of the body. use a square shaped base that has "T" shaped connections on two opposing sides to fit the legs of the dummy into. (BTW spend the $7 for PVC glue. I tried this without and he fell apart quickly). Then buy cheap pool noodles, preferably the ones with holes already in them. If you can't find those, get the regular ones, split them up the middle and cut some space out so they fit around the PVC easier. Duct Tape the noodles in place around the arms and legs to give it some body. For the chest, you can either tape some sections of the noodles together and tape that to the PVC torso section. Or just stuff some balled up newspaper into his shirt. Get a styrofoam head from a second hand shop or a beauty supply store. The hands are tricky. Fill the PVC arms (only where the hands are going to be, maybe 5 inches deep) with spray foam insulation and as it is drying, jam a stick in it so that about 3 inches is sticking out. Fill your gloves with the same spray and before it's dry completely, stick them onto the wrist sticks. You might want to use some glue as well just to be sure. Dress it and scare the be-jezus out of your local children!

I made a jack and sally here is a picture of jack he is made of pvc.I can take a picture with costume off if you would like me too.

I have a tutorial for a quick and easy mannequin frame. Although it is not full mannequin frame (ie, only have a central support frame) there may be other parts of the tut you can use (making the torso and the posable hands)

It can be found under the tutorials section of my website

I really like the PVC frame. Then use Poly Fill (found at any craft store) to fill out the body. I did Darth Maul from Star Wars and Sub Zero from Mortal kombat my first year.