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 Using the same neck bone that you cut off earlier, attach to the top of your
spine PVC pipe with a single screw. Notice the screw in the bottom of the back
of his skull. This is going through the head plastic and into the spine that is
inside the head. You need to fasten this solid forward, as your guy wants to be
looking down at a pretty good angle. If you look closely at the bottom center of
this picture you will see the top of the mirror hanger that we use to hang him
with to the wall. We use the same screw here that connects the spine to the
shoulder bone.
 Here is what your skeleton should look like when complete. You will need to
put a bend in each 18" arm section. Directly in the middle is fine and at
about 45 degrees for one and about 60 for the other. Attach to the 45 degree
fitting at the shoulders so the arms are almost flat against the wall. Cut out a
hole in the wrist of the hand the same diameter as the pipe and attach the hands
the same way as the head. Finish up the legs now by adding the 45 degree
fittings at the bottom of each shin and then attach the 5" feet. If your
skeleton doesn't fit tight against the wall, keep heating and bending the shin
pipes until they are. Also, you want to make sure that the shoes you will be
putting on him will sit flat to the wall as we. Not a lot of forgiveness here.
Either the hands and feet are flat on the wall or he will look fake.
 Now that the skeleton is hugging the wall correctly, we will need bulk. If
you keep the bag that your blow mold skellie came in, you can use it for his
chest. You will need about 5 sq feet of packing p nuts for this. Just fill the
bag with the p nuts till you have enough to fill him out to look right. Too much
and he will look silly. Not enough and he will look like every lawn grim reaper
on earth. Don't worry if it doesn't have the shape of a stomach and chest
just yet. We will mold him next.
I do not use duct tape on my props because it goes bad really quickly and
the glue backing seems to get gummy and slimy. Use a good quality clear packing
tape to bring in his waist and mold his chest. Keep adding more tape till his
shape is convincing. Be sure to wrap the tape around the plastic bag as well as
the skell's frame to keep it on and in the right place.
 You won't need a lot of p nuts for the head, but you will need more bulking
here if you want him to wear a standard sized halloween mask and not look funny.
I use a small garbage bag here and lay it on the face and move the packing nuts
until I get a shape close to realistic and the size I need. Tape it on well.
You will be doing the same thing on each section of arm as well as leg. I didn't
bother to bulk out the shins on my crawler and should have.
 A quick trip to the local thrift store will set you up with a wardrobe. You
may even find a suitable mask there like I was lucky enough to. I always use two
shirts on all of my puppets, as this softens the lines of the "body"
and makes it look a little less sharp at the bends. Here you see a black long
sleeve shirt underneath the wool shirt that has more thickness and body than
other material. Thick pants like Levis works well and be sure to get these all
in small men's sizes to fit the frame we just made. If you use a mask with a
hood you can staple the hood to the shirt to keep it always in the right
position. The shoes should be lightweight and high topped, so you don't have to
deal with socks for the ankles. Attach the shoes with a single 1 1/4" screw
from the bottom of the shoe into the foot pipe. The above shot shows how he
looks after fitting him with a set of
Stage
Hands which I also painted the finger nails black to add some more realism.
You can get Stage Hands from Halloween item stores like the Halloween Club.
There you have it! I plan to re-dress him for next year in something a
little more vampire-like and I will likely just put those clothes on over the
top of these if the legs will support the weight without loosing their shape
that keeps the feet tight against the wall, so the lines soften even more. I
hope your project turned out as nice as you hoped!
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