Thread: Grim Reaper body

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I made 2 Grim Reapers out of 1" PVC, they stand about 7' tall. I draped black hooded cloaks over them.
Now my problem is fleshing them out, so they don't look flat. I've tried fine wire mesh, but it is really hard to mold and shape.
I ended up using 2 pillows pinned together draped over the shoulders, for Halloween. But it only helped a little bit.
Anyone have any ideas?

I'd think chicken wire would be the easiest solution to your question.

I'd agree with chicken wire. You can also use some foam pool noodles for the arm/shoulder pieces. Keep in mind a cloak will hang and you maybe want a grim reaper figure to look a bit "skeletal" and bony so you don't want it too fleshed out. I take some small plastic grocery bags and stuff them with newspaper and then simply hang the handles of the bags around the neck piece in the front. It will give the chest area some body and this in turn makes the cloak or robe stand out a bit. These are two pvc skeleton figures I use outside my castle facade. The robes kind of hang loose and it looks neat.

Here is a pic of them before I started trying to flesh them out. I ended up shortening the necks by a lot. Making them more proportional helped out alot, but the body is a single PVC and when the wind blew you could see the cloak wrapped around it. The pillows helped flesh them out, but they are so tall, the bottom still had the wind issue.
Jdubbya is your PVC 2 poles or 1 for the body? Looks like you used 2.

Yup. The torso of mine is a single spine but the bottom half is two legs. I based mine on this figure from Ghostess's Grim prop. It's nice as the base makes them free standing and the two legs give them balance an proportion. Shortening the necks on yours was a good idea.

I made one this year and it was about the same size and like Jdubbya said chicken wire and pool noodles and maybe some bubble wrap.You can also use some rebar tie wire(love that stuff easy to cut easy to bend strong and cheap what more can you ask for?) and make some loops and duct tape them on areas where you feel need a little more volume.Could even do that for a rib cage/body that would be seen.

I just bought a skeleton/mad doctor prop that has a foam hoop around the body....think hula-hoop or clown costume.
It has string tied to it like suspenders and drapes over the prop shoulders to fill out the clothes. This would prevent the robes/clothes from wrapping around the center pole in the wind and fills out the shape.

Thanks, I'll have to experiment more with the fleshing out, mabey make an actual rib cage.
I'll most definitely change the leg base to include a hip and 2 legs, instead of 1 long spine.
Great ideas, thanks walkingcorpse, jdubbya, daddywoofdawg@hotmail.com, & Deadna.

Originally Posted by Deadna

I just bought a skeleton/mad doctor prop that has a foam hoop around the body....think hula-hoop or clown costume.
It has string tied to it like suspenders and drapes over the prop shoulders to fill out the clothes. This would prevent the robes/clothes from wrapping around the center pole in the wind and fills out the shape.

Thats a good idea. Does the body look okay or cheesy?

I would like to try the PVC. I really like the way jdubbya's and Dramb's turned out. Nice work! I didn't even have to fill my reaper out. Because his head was forward, the black cloth drapping fell naturally.
I also made a 7 foot tall reaper; this was how I did it:


[ame=http://s61.photobucket.com/albums/h79/scourge999/?action=view&current=Reapermovieclipthing-001-01.flv]Reapermovieclipthing-001-01.flv - Video - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting[/ame]