Thank you!!
@, that's exactly where I got the tutorial I wanted to use, from Oden builds! Once I finish, I'll shoot him a thank you and a picture.
LunaticNic, I was excited because the hook of a kid learning to speak the predator language was so unique! But I saw the trailer the other day and I don't like the idea of such a young child learning the language...I would have preferred a teenager instead, because then some shenanigans can ensue. (An interesting inversion of the predators mimicking human speech to mess with humans!)
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Ack, I kept getting called in to work so this one was delayed. Hopefully not foreshadowing for the rest of the build!
1. Made a wire frame out of coathangers. I kept making it smaller until I got to this size. The coathanger I was using was ridiculously strong and DID NOT WANT TO BEND. My wirecutters couldn't even cut it properly. Pain in the butt!! I don't remember coathangers being that difficult before! I looped the tips to make sure there were no pointy parts.
2. I used a roll of quilt batting and cut strips out of it, then wrapped the strips around the wire frame. I went very tightly initially, then used a dab of hot glue to keep the end of each strip in place.
3. Continued wrapping!
4. The middle part is pretty fluffy. I added extra batting pieces to the knees, secured with tiny elastics, to make the joints.
-I actually added another layer of batting to the tail to make it fluffier, so that when I added the elastics to make the tail segments, the fluff would indent. Unfortunately, the elastics I used weren't tight enough, so the segments aren't as noticable as I would have liked.
5. I used some craft foam (from the dollar store, not EVS foam) for the back segments. I actually burned my fingers because of how I was going to glue them on, and I ended up glueing them on flatter then I would have liked. They still have a curve to them though, so that's good! I used a marker to outline where I was going to glue each one.
6. I finished the segments on the body, then decided to add one more segment onto the tail. Looking good so far!
7. I mixed up a gross skin tone with acrylic paint and mixed it with my rubber latex (white, but it dries clear). I would dab some of the mixture on the body, then stick a ripped tissue to it, then coat it with my mixture. Very slow going because I'm an awful klutz and kept bumping, and the mixture would stick to me and rip off of the facehugger. Augh. I kept going though. The tail was so long and it hadn't dried by the time I was reaching the end, so I placed it on the fan so the tail wouldn't touch anything. He hangs on pretty well! I did his legs while he was up there, and that was tricky and klutzy as well.
8.So I actually ran out of latex here. I didn't want to wait for more and order it, so instead, I tried something different. I mixed up a gross skin tone again, and this time, I mixed it with white elmer's glue (the kind of glue you might use at school). Using the same technique, I tried making adding on more, but the mixture was too sticky!! I added a tiny bit of water and then things started to go perfectly. I was nervous that the "skin" didn't seem to be sticking to the quilt batting that well, though. I had to leave it go go to work, and the next day, the skin had dried perfectly!
9. I started to add skin to the underside of the facehugger. I tried to add some wrinkles before I added skin. When I got up to get a shower, my roommate came home. OMG embarrassing. His footsteps went over to the table, he was there for several long moments, then he walked away. He never asked me about it. The stupid wrinkles never showed up through the skin, either - they're completely obscured.
10 and 11. Looking good! Still needs a few touch-ups. I want to add more wrinkles and another layer of thin skin over top; I want to add fake nails to the feet (I added them before the skin, but unfortunately, the latex completely covered them and you can't see them any more). I'm also going to add a little bit of different coloured paint to the underside. Other than that, this prop is done!
Excited to soon start on my helmet!!
