Alien head, first of 2010 prop

**BATFLY** · 10-02-2010,05:58 PM

decided to scale back this year so i'm doing... a... crashed ufo scene? HAHA. somehow that equaled cutting back in my mind.

the plan is to have a ufo crashed in the yard. sounds, lights, fog, turned up dirt, police line tape, the whole deal. will have my father again as crowd control in a military uniform. i'll be at the door most likely dressed as an fbi agent. sometime either before, during, or after getting candy i'm going to have an alien head come out from the side of the door frame between me and the TOT's. hehe very simple yet should be scary! in your face omg-ness!

so on to the making of this prop.

i took a balloon...

and covered it with 2 coats of paper mache. i sprayed great stuff insulation foam inside over 4 days (to spray in layers and let the last layer cure over night). it made some dents somehow in parts of the forehead when curing. i'll "bondo" them with cellu clay or paperclay as i sculp. then i searched Michael's craft store for something to use as eyes. i found a clear iridescent sphere that was in attachable halves like an easter egg. it was in the very corner of the store by unrelated items. was only $1.50. pays to scour that place! painted the inside with gloss black spray paint. then hot glued them to the mache'd balloon. In these pics i'm temporarily taping newspaper strips to see how i want to do eyelids...

then i traced the eyelids with silver sharpie so i know where i want them in the sculpting process. after that i removed the strips. not as menacing now is he?...

i went on to make the structural base with cellu clay. first time using this stuff. it's a PAIN to use and takes major finessing. i only used a quarter pound so far. i had to keep reminding myself, "this is just a base, don't worry about details!" as i tend to be a perfectionist! here are some pics. it's still very not dry...

That's where i'm at with it now. I need to buy some paperclay. i hope this is available locally lol. will update as i do more

**Screaming Demons** · 10-02-2010,06:36 PM

That looks totally awesome, almost like the parts you've come up with were meant to be used for an alien.

Did you give any thought to just popping the balloon and using the foam as the head? I really hate using paper mache and clay.

**BATFLY** · 10-02-2010,06:46 PM

if the balloon was popped before the foam, and the paper mache was applied before the balloon was popped, then how long would it take for a train to get from chicago to orlando?

haha i hated those math problems as much as i dislike paper mache. i really should, would like to sculpt in real clay and make latex molds out of the sculpture. just costs a lot more money!

**BATFLY** · 10-02-2010,06:49 PM

OH you made me think of a good question... what would happen if you sprayed a bunch of greatstuff in a new, un-inflated balloon? the mind boggles!

**Screaming Demons** · 10-03-2010,03:33 PM

Originally Posted by BATFLY

OH you made me think of a good question... what would happen if you sprayed a bunch of greatstuff in a new, un-inflated balloon? the mind boggles!

Try that and let us know how it works. Be sure and have the video camera running - from a safe distance, of course.

**DoctorGrim** · 10-03-2010,05:20 PM

I really like it. There's not enough aliens out there (I mean Halloween, not 'out there')

**BATFLY** · 10-06-2010,07:33 PM

i'm finally finished with the celluclay step for the head. now it just has to dry! then paperclay time yay. very excited about that next step. i know i'll have to do the neck and maybe some shoulders, but i'm trying to get the detail of the face out of the way. i read up on some lauriebeast tutorials; and she says she dips her fingers in water nearly constantly so it doesn't stick to you while working with celluclay. i tried that this time and what a difference!

here's the progress so far...

he still looks rather cute and innocent without eyelids lol. that'll all change soon muahahahaha