Thread: Butler makeover

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I wanted to post my how-to for updating the wonderful butler prop. I got him at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. Thought his clothing just wasn't worthy of the amazing face he had. He came with cheap fabric pants and an awful velvet coat.

Before Butler


Supplies:
Butler
children's tuxedo size 7 (think a 6 would work better) found at resale kids store for $9 with shirt
paints
ashes
hot glue
great stuff

Step 1
Undress and dismantle:
Start by removing the plate and mini skull. Then separate the torso from the body. Remove the clothing, carefully peeling the hot glue from the wrists and the neckline.



Step 2
Dress him up in the shirt and tuxedo. Left the pants long - just tucked them up inside - liked the bulk and weight if created. Then re-attach the torso to the legs. I cut off the neck edge fabric from the old clothing, and just hot glued back in place around the neck so the inner works were not visible. Hot glued the cuffs to the arm and the back of the jacket to the shirt - his hunchback was causing the jacket to have a big gap at the back.




Step 3
Get him dirty:
Took him out in the yard and sprinkled ashes on all the upper areas, across the back, arms, down the front, then sprayed with a water mist to soak the ashes. Let him sit and re sprayed the mist again in the morning. Let it dry all day, then brushed all the ashes off.

Step 4
Painting:
Spritzed the suit down in small areas. Then proceeded to paint with fabric paints and an airbrush. Used a dark brown to give him a dirty earthy look. After laying down an area of paint, misted once again, this diluted the paint and speckled it on the polyester fabric. Kept going in areas that would likely wear more, collar, cuffs, knees, down the front of shirt, seams, etc.



Step 5
Painting face and hands:
The skin tones were very gray, added a drybrush technique with some grayed out flesh color (brush the surface with very dry brush, then even wiped some off with a papertowel), white highlights, and pink details. This made his skin tone still grayed, but very lifelike. Gave him fingernails, but very grimy at the cuticles. Painted in a tongue, pink inside the ears.


Step 6
Add slimy stuff to the platter:
Removed the mini skull from the platter. Loaded up the platter with Great Stuff, just make sure the mini skull still fits in the center without interfering with the placement of the screw holes. I left the mini skull in place overnight while the foam expanded, then removed for painting. Painted with an acrylic Red spraypaint, then when dry, airbrushed black low-lights in the shadow areas. Re-attach the platter to the hand, make sure you get the connecters reattached. If I had to do it again, would make sure to secure the platter, maybe screw it into a piece of wood to keep it secure, it is a flimsy plastic and the Great Stuff pulled it out of round. It actually started to curl up on the sides. Gave the mini skull a bit of a makeover with paint, just to make it more bone colored with creamy white and brown.


Step 7
Shoes
I added paint to the front of the shoes, dry brushed some gray and white to make them look old and dirty, then added some left over Great Stuff drops, painted those, added some hot glue slime, painted them.


Finished Butler


Thank you for viewing my first tutorial. I think he came out fantastic, and so much more dapper. He is a wonderful prop with such great detail in his face. Love him.

Pretty cool!