The follies are starting to take over

the yard. 

When we taught our latest Davis Graveyard Overview class I wanted to make a sample of monster mud with fabric.  I have a small monk that is finished on one side chicken wire on the other to show how we make the larger ones.

But I get a lot of questions about Beloved and the angel props.  Well, making a small angel just did not sound like something I could do easily, I thought, what about just a ghost.

You know the kids costume of a kid with a sheet and eye holes.

So I made a cute little ghost, which for some reason I have never managed to post on the blog, sorry about that.  But I do plan on making them for our upcoming Etsy store.

He was very popular at the convention (I think Leonard even said they would make good centerpices for Hauntcon) and got me thinking about  something similar in full size.

Husband loved the idea so we worked on it together.  We talked to Mike a Ghost Ride (who came to the convention.) to see if he had a child's body form....and he did.  Now I know that a lot of you are thinking that that is a waste of a body form cause you can just make something out stuffed garbage bags or chicken wire. Yes, but in our experience, it looks like that and I really wanted to make this prop look like a kid. 

So Husband made a base for the body and we found by testing the theory with wet sheets that the body was not sturdy enough to stand on its own and the head was a bit wobbly, so he but a piece of rebar up the back and then we taped it at the waist and the neck to the rebar.

Since I wanted one of his feet to stick out from the costume I got some trainers (getting ready for my UK trip) from the thrift shop and then covered them in plastic to avoid covering them with mud.

I had to use two sheets to get the coverage and sturdiness that I wanted.  I draped them over the body, one long way to cover the arms, and then cross way from the front to the back.  I adjusted the fabric at the base to make sure it bunched up in the right places.

The hands were just pieces of chicken wire attached to the wrists.  Since he will be holding a bear in one hand and a plastic pumpkin trick or treat bag in the other, I took a piece of fabric and wrapped it in plastic and a small piece of metal wrapped also and fit them in the hands.  I will remove them when he is dry.  When he is painted I will put the props in their place.

It tried to rain all weekend so he is still drying.

I hope to get a few coats of paint on him this weekend and finish him up.   

We are going to move him around the yard, especially in front of the house looking at the display....want to see how many people think it is a real kid.

As husband said on our Davis House blog.  This is the first in a series of kid props we want to make...kinda like the peanuts kids.  We are thinking something like Lucy in the witch mask next year.