The Gravedigger – update #1
The Gravedigger, nearing completion of the paper mache processes.
About 3 weeks after photo in the previous post, and with all of his accessories removed; I am now nearing the completion of the first layer of Paper Towel Mache. For some strange reason, this guy is starting to remind me of a really hungry dude in Long Johns. Ive made good progress on this prop, so I dont see why I wouldn’t have time for plenty additional projects before this coming Halloween.
For anyone curious, The Skull used on the Gravedigger is the Lindburg Pirate Skull model. I had purchased several of these this winter from www.myatomic.com for about $15 each.
The Spine was made from two thin strips of 1/8″ plywood separated by small 1/2″ thick blocks of wood. This allowed me to form the spine into a more natural shape without adding too much weight.
The ribcage, arms and pelvis were made from tightly rolled newspaper bound with duct tape. Each arm also features 2 sections of 1/2″ CPVC with heavy gauge wire coat hangers to help support the position of the arms.
The fingers are “hand-me-downs” (no pun intended) from a prop that I had built back in the late 1980′s. Each finger bone was hand-carved from scrap pine with a hole drilled down the center, and joined by a section of wire coat hanger. Each completed finger is then mounted to a 3/4″ PVC “T”.
The Gravedigger in his "Silver Surfer" Halloween costume.
There were a few minor additions made to the skeletal structure since the last photo, mostly just detailing of the elbows and knees. Once that was finished, it was time to move on to adding some skin to the bones. For those wondering, the photo to the left was taken a few weeks before the photo above.
First, A base layer of duct tape was added to the entire structure. The duct tape allows me to dictate how sunken in the flesh will be around the ribcage, and also provides a solid base for the paper mache. This project has used a total of one and a half rolls of duct tape (geesh, that’s a lot!).
Once the duct tape was in place, Several layers of newspaper (mache) were added until the skin felt fairly solid. If I had to guess, I would say I completed about 3 layers of newspaper, but I didn’t really keep track as well as I had planned. This was followed by the current layer of paper towels as seen in the top photo.
