Thread: Meat prop - need help!

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Hey all - I'm new here, so hopefully I'm posting this in the right place.

I need help creating a 'hanging meat' prop for my slaughterhouse kitchen I'm doing at this year's Halloween party. You know, like the big slabs of meat you see hanging in butcher's freezers, or a dead pig hanging from it's back hooves. (Or like what Rocky used to practice throwing punches on in that movie of the same name...)

Has anyone seen where you can perhaps buy a replica of these 'butcher shop items'? I'm quite crafty and my husband and I are artists, so I could perhaps make one out of paper mache? Has anyone attempted this before?

I know it's a long shot, but I thought I'd throw that out there. The only alternative coming to mind is a dog's squeak toy shaped like a steak, but I'm going for REALISM here...

They have a whole section here. I can see you making some kind of slab out of the upholstery foam that is used to pad couches and chairs at a fabric store.

That's pretty much what I was going to say.
Get some foam, carve it into whatever shape you want, (an electric turkey carving knife works well) and paint it with latex.
You can glue up layers of foam with spray adhesive.

Hey Jennyvier,

I've made a few hanging meaty props for our haunt this year. They kinda turned out looking like pig legs, parts, and pieces. But they really came out looking good. I used chicken wire to mold out the general shape & size of the body part. Then wrapped that with newspaper & ducktape. Before covering, I even put a few rocks down inside the chicken wire mold to add some weight to it. They seem to hang a little better if there's some weight in the bottom. After that I ripped up some paper towels into some smaller pieces and strips. Bought a can of floor adhesive glue (found at Wal-Mart). And layered the paper towel pieces (with the tacky floor adhesive glue) over all the newspaper & ducktape. You don't need to cover it completely, but just enough to give it a leathery skin-like appearance in areas when it all dries. Be sure to wrinkle the paper towels in spots, create grooves, and textures. Its easy to create with the glue as you layer it on. This procedure may take a little time and can get a little messy with the tacky glue but the glue is water-based so it cleans up well with warm water & soap. When done, let it all hang and dry. Then brush paint it up to look your hanging slab of meat! I used some off white, light brown, & yellow colors for the flesh tones and then painted with high gloss deep reds, dark browns for some of the blood running off of em. Again, they turned out looking pretty good. And they didn't cost much to make. Good luck and hope this helps or gives you some ideas! ^^

Thanks for the ideas guys! I didn't even think of foam... Man, that link you sent me was AWESOME, but so expensive, of course.

Originally Posted by 76haunter

Hey Jennyvier, I've made a few hanging meaty props for our haunt this year.

Thank you for the tips - Do you have any pictures by any chance?

Jennyvier, I got a local slaughterhouse to donate parts for my haunt, I had pig parts, tongue, head, big slabs of bone and gristle. Yep, used the real deal and it went over great. But you HAVE to get rid of it right after the haunt or party. I told them what it was for and they just gave it to me, they throw it all out anyway. Just a thought.