Duck Tape Double. Anyone here try it yet?

[Darth Mule]

Also, I think that if you want to go this route with the foam, you may be better off picking up a gallon of two part urethane foam from Smooth-on or something. You're probably wayyyyyy overspending buying the stuff in the can. You'll save yourself some cash.

The two part is also way easier to use, albeit messier. Get some stir sticks and disposable paper buckets from the hardware store. Put a couple cups in a bucket, mix, pour, let it rise and start to set before you pour more in. This will also happen faster than with the can crap.

 

[Laffo]

Newspaper and PVC fill one up fine, and newspaper is free. You can pack it as loose or as tight as you want.
Laffo.

 

[Neon Sentry]

I had heard that spraying the inside of the form with water before using the canned foam helps with the curing process. Don't spray it in all at once, but you can still be generous with with how much you put in each time. I can't remember if it was here or BOTB, but I had seen this somewhere, and the results were great.

 

[decaturvader]

the brown syrup crap is the foam that didnt expand. the reason your stuff isnt curing, is because you used too much at one time. no matter how much air you let get to the stuff, its still trapped in a small space, with the weight of 6 cans of foam on top of it.
all you have to do, is use the foam in moderation. fill a little bit of the form, maybe an inch or two.... let that expand and cure, fill another inch or two, let it cure... lather, rinse, repete. it might take forever, but your deisred effect will be there.

That is exactly what my wife said...said I should have worked it in smaller sections instead of all at once.
Whelp, learned something I guess. :lol
Still undecided how I am gonna proceed...got the upper body unfilled...got these legs that I could still re-use perhaps....

 

[mdb]

My DTD has lasted 8 years and counting though it has changed shape over time. It now is too large in the shoulders and neck due to the weight of it stretching those areas. It's a great tool though for getting your shape. I am very different from the standards used to make most dress forms so it helps me get a better fit.
If you do stuff your form (as there may be other people reading this yet to make one) you need to stuff it carefully to keep the right cross-section. The hips on mine are too round rather than oval for instance.

 

[decaturvader]

My DTD has lasted 8 years and counting though it has changed shape over time. It now is too large in the shoulders and neck due to the weight of it stretching those areas. It's a great tool though for getting your shape. I am very different from the standards used to make most dress forms so it helps me get a better fit.
If you do stuff your form (as there may be other people reading this yet to make one) you need to stuff it carefully to keep the right cross-section. The hips on mine are too round rather than oval for instance.

yeah, crossed that bridge this week with the chest piece. Filled it with a bunch of old towels, sheets and stuff just to see how it would do...how much it would take.
Kinda hard filling it evenly so the original shape of the duck tape actually does its job.

 

[Chicagovader]

with the foam if you try it again if you do use the can stuff also spritz it lightly with water, it helps speed the curing time. Though as mentioned earlier I would just go for a 2 part foam mix from smooth-on or a similar company.

 

[AndrewRP]

A thought about a body double, and please forgive me, I don't know all the names of the stuff I'm thinking of. So my terminology may be off... hope you get the idea.

Ok, what I was thinking is, do the duck tape double. Full body, torso, whatever... Then cover the outside with some sealant to make it hard. Then get some metal stakes or wire and make a "skeleton" to fit inside the body. Coat the inside with a release agent. Then pour in some sort of liquid silicone (or rubber) that will cure and harden. Then cut off the duck tape. Now, you should have a silicone body double that you can stick pins into, and because of the skeleton, won't flop over. You might want to coat the insides first, before closing up the cut you made.

Basically, treat this as if you were making a prop. Does this make sense? Is this doable?

I've seen tutorials that used fiberglass instead of duck tape, but I don't think that's healthy nor as clean as duck tape. The silicone/rubber might get pricey, but if it holds up for years it might be worth it.

 

[t_bone9600]

I made a duct tape torso of myself and filled it with expanding foam. It worked great for what I've used it for but if I were to do it again I would definitely use some other kind of filler. The expanding foam ended up being more trouble that it was worth and it was quite costly.

 

[Laffo]

Great thing about newspaper is you can shape it. You can make it as firm or as soft as you want.
Oh, by the way, it's free.
Laffo.

 

[Chiok]

Sorry if this is a bit too late to be helpful, but here's a tutorial of how someone else made a double of themself out of packing tape:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-Dressform-from-Paper-Packing-Tape/

Very useful for costume making.

 

[BigGunns]

Been through the process twice. If the duct tape dummy ends up being too big you can always cut and re-tape to your exact size.

 

[sector711]

I used the duct tape method several years ago after cutting the t-shirt off of my friend I taped it back up and the neck hole and filled it with expanding foam. It worked out great and was pretty cheap.

 

[zman]

Like others, this may be too late for your project but I made a duck tape dummy for my Batman costume a few years ago:
-Used long sleeve T-shirt and old Dockers
-Do top and bottom separately
-Have some wrap you in layers of duck tape
-Draw "cut" lines with unique marks so they can be matched up for re-assembly
-Re-assemble and place on PVC skeleton
-Stuff with old pillows, fiber fill and plastic shopping bags that had been saved up for recycling. The shopping bags actually worked really well like the previous suggestion for newspaper
-Made hand out of Crayola Model Magic and wrapped dowels
-Cut up Batman Trick or Treat bucket for face
-Dress him up!

Sorry, I didn't take more work-in-progress pictures back then