Monster Spider

I built this prop for my youngest daughters Halloween display. I liked the results so much I'm planning to build
one for my haunt.
body and head I started with 2 sheets of bead board foam 2"  thick.
I cut them in half, gluing 3 layers together, on top of that I laid
2"x 4" strips of foam gluing them, then topping it with the last
1/2 sheet. I started out using a knife to cut and give my basic shape,
however it was not going well, so whats a haunter to do? I went in and
 grabbed my electric chainsaw and made short work of getting the
basic shape of the body and head. I do not recomend that way, it's
just the way I did it. After some sanding and a little more shaping
I painted the bottom of head and body black. I also gave the top a
good coat of Drylock, since its going to be outside.
I needed a frame work to go under the body and
attach the legs. I glued all pieces into the frame work you
see to the right. Taking a heat gun I bent them in varing
degrees. To attach this to the unders side of the body, I drilled
2 holes in the pvc and took 2 pieces of dowel and glued
them in.
Total pieces are 3 crosses, 2 "T"s, 4 - 45o, 4 couplings, and
4 short pieces of pvc, 8 pieces of pvc in the lengths
shown in photo. All in 3/4" PVC. 4 short pieces are to connect
crosses and "T"s.
As you can see it's a monster! To help out I built it to
come apart. Where the gray PVC meets the white frame
work I color coded it, spraying the ends with different color paints.
Using a heat gun I bent the legs making the knee joint and
down near the frame I had to make a bend. The front arms/pinchers
I just bent to be forward, wanted to curve them but didn't
get to it.
I didn't want the knee joints to look like a bent
piece of plastic pipe, so I took some Great Stuff foam
and sprayeed it on the bend covering it up. Then taking
some scrap fur I hot glued it over the foam. The head
didn't look right to me so I took what was left of the
foam and sprayed it in lines across the top of the head.
Before it set I took four copper colored Christmas
ornaments and pushed them into the foam for eyes.
Then added a little more foam around them.
I glued the rest of the fur on the joints. Now to glue the fur
on the head. I glued it on just like the body using a brush
on adhesive. I glued the edges of the fabric to the foam using hot glue.
 The eyes I carefully cut the fabric that was
over them with an exact-o knife, then glued the edges
down around the eyes with hot glue.
The legs I cut 2 strips each of fur and hot glued them
on to the pvc. I only glued the fur to the PVC where the
fur met. I did this on the under side of each part of the leg so
any imperfections would not be seen.
Too connect the head to the body I used 2 pieces
of PVC. Drilling holes in both sides and inserting
the PVC, using Gorilla glue to hold it in place.
I did this after the fur was glued on, so holes had to be cut
in the fur as well.
To give this monster it's grin, happened by accident.
When I added the foam to the head it left what looks like a
toothless grin, after I added the fur. You can see it
in one of the earlier pics. I had to make the teeth.
I used a method called sandcasting ( see tips section).
After I filled each of the teeth molds with glue I stuck
a toothpick in each one. Once the glue hardened I
painted them a dingy orange/brown color. Inserted them
in place and secured them with a dab of hot glue.
The pincher tips are pieces of dowel I shaped then
painted.
Well here she is all finished. Before my ex-wife came and got it
I took a few pics. The one to the left here was just after a rain
which weighed it down. To solve that problem I took
a black milk crate and sat it on that. You can't even see it
unless you look underneath.
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