Thread: Make your own butler?

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I've always loved those snooty butlers holding a tray with a skull on it - but they're so darn expensive! Any ideas on how to make your own, or has anyone seen ideas/directions on how to do it?

Thanks for your help!

My two cents. I would get some inexpensive PVC and you might consider getting a PVC cutter (about $17.00). When I say inexpensive PVC, Lowes has a 1/2 pvc which has very thin walls perfect for this sort of thing. You will also need some sort of hands which you can probably get a bag of bones from Big lots for about 10 bucks which includes a skull. Since you’re dressing up your butler you can always use the other bones, more to come on that. You will also need several connections for your pvc.

1) One X connector for the neck and arms
2) Four elbow connections for the elbows and knees
3) Four right angle connectors for the shoulders and hips
4) One T connector for the hips
5) You may also need to get one of those pool foam noodles, with a hole is best.
You will need to cut out the following pieces in approx size;
1) Neck about 4 or 5 inches this will connect to the X connector on the shoulder
2) Shoulder 10 to 12 inches cut in half so you can connect the X connector
3) Upper arm about 8 to 10 inches connected to a right angle connector then the lower arm about 6 to 7 inches, connected to either a right angle connector or an elbow connector (two sides)
4) Hip about 10 to 12 inches cut in half so you can connect the T connector
5) You will need to cut about 18 to 24 inches for a spine and connect it to the T connector on the hip and the X connector on the shoulder.
6) Upper legs, now here you can either create a knee or just have him standing without knees so you will either have 12 to 14 inches for the upper leg and about 10 to 12 inches for the lower part or 24 inches total one length, this connects to the right angle connections on the hips.

Before you start to connect them take the foam noodle you bought and thread it through the PVC for the shoulder, arms, legs and hip. You won’t need anything for the spine. To give the spine some shape you might want to use a bottle in the shape of one of the antifreeze containers and glue some of the bones on there if you want them to stick out. You can also use wire. (hint you can drill holes in the pvc and put clothes hanger wire through there, you can also pick up some foam insulation that is round at walmart and thread it through the wire. Use hot glue to secure the wire in place through the holes this will provide you with some form of a rib cage.

Use the hands from the bag of bones you got at big lots, but cut a small incision on each of the butlers wrists about ½ inch or so it will be a U shape so you can fit the boney hand there and hot glue it in place.

Now for the head, you might have to drill a hole in the bottom of the skull to get the neck pvc through. You can also hot glue that into place. If you really want him to look really nasty you can use the spray adhesive (about 3 bucks from HD) and some of your webbing about 1.00 at walmart. What I do is unravel the web stuff you should find you get about 4 or 5 feet of the stuff. Then before you get your butler all dressed and ready to party corpse him up a bit. Take about 6 inches of the roll of webbing and cut it with sissors, pull it apart carefully so that you have a nice thin piece of the webbing, then spray your adhesive on any part of the butler, tap down the webbing on the adhesive and lightly pull. It gives you an amazing effect on the butler and really anything else you might want to do this to.

To insure he stand up right you can do several things, he needs shoes or boots you can either take another T connector for each foot and make a stand for him or you can use boots or some form a boot and just insert him there, fill the boot with sand surrounding the pvc. This should provide you with a pretty inexpensive buttler about 15 to 20 bucks at most and about three hours of fun. You will need to dress him as you wish.

Hope this helped.

Oh my gosh, Papa K - thanks for the great info! Sounds great, and I'll be sure to post a pic after I get it done!

Any idea where to get cheapo foam noodles this time of year?

Walmart might have them on sale. Dollar Tree has ones that look like a flower in cross-section, at least in my area.

Harbor Freight has a PVC cutter for up to 1 1/4" thick for about $7, $4 when it's on sale. Unless you're also planning on being a plumber after Halloween it should work just fine for you.

Here's how I built one of my butlers. It's a sturdier method and you of course don't need to add the complexity of the 3 axis head and eyes but you can get a good idea of how it's put together.

You can get pipe insulation if you can't find noodles.same thing.

Originally Posted by Halstaff

Here's how I built one of my butlers. It's a sturdier method and you of course don't need to add the complexity of the 3 axis head and eyes but you can get a good idea of how it's put together.

That's awesome!

You can also use poly fill, found at any craft store.

The "Dollar Tree" stores in my area has the pool noodles. Also "Kmart", "Target" and "Walmart" carry them in my area. I would also try your local pool supply store. "Pinch a Penny" is a big pool supplier in Florida.