PropsGallore
Member
So,
i have always been a big fan of the movie "in the line of fire" staring Clint Eastwood.
i do own an SD Studios assassin pistol, but I was always missing a key prop from the movie which was the rabbits foot that had two 38 special bullets hidden inside of it..
I must say for years I thought about making one, just never got around to it... I always thought about how i could make it and make it right.. I'm the kind of person, If i'm going to do a DIY prop, I won't settle for anything that looks to be home made or had corners cut..
I ordered a rabbits foot a long time ago from the net, only to use the top brass keychain part.. the rabbits foot it self i tossed in the trash.
I went to my local fabric store, and found some white fur, it wasn't exactly like rabbits fur because this fabric, the fur was too long...
I then went to the hardware store to think about what kind of internal pipe should I stick on the inside, i thought about brass and copper pipe, even steel, but I knew the fabric would glue more strong to plastic then metal. So I went with 1/2" plastic pipe, did all my measurements and cut it down to size. Next, i had to think of a way to get the brass cap to fit and fit snug so it won't fall off when using it as a keychain.. it needed to fit snug enough to hold the weight of the bullets.. i went with a black rubber cork that i trimmed down to size and fit into the brass cap. the cork is held into the brass cap via a pressure fit and no glue.. i don't like to use much glue on my projects if i can help it.. The first layer of fur fabric i glued to the plastic pipe. I then stitched the two ends together by hand. Next, i used a second layer of fur over the first layer, It was hard and I had to take my time because the second layer of fur was not glued, It was instead stitched in such a way the all the thread is hidden under the fur as well as the two ends that i stitched together, so it all looks like one piece and you cannot tell. The stitching goes through the first level of fabric to the second so everything is very secure. I shaped the bottom properly to resemble a rabbit’s foot and stitched that together. i then took all the fur and shaved it down shorter to look more neat and uniform.
here is the finished product, I perfectly functioning rabbits foot bullet holder that works great and even in my hands I cannot tell that it isn’t a real rabbits foot..
I know the movie version was done using a brass pipe, but the way they did it just wasn't very practical IMO.
I have always given this prop much thought over the years. I feel I did it right. It just took a while to finish because I wanted to make sure it looked very neat and very strong, Like I said, if I'm going to do a DIY project, i don’t want the finished product to be something that looks home made or isn't strong enough to be able to play with everyday and will fall apart on me.
Hope you all like the finished product.
i have always been a big fan of the movie "in the line of fire" staring Clint Eastwood.
i do own an SD Studios assassin pistol, but I was always missing a key prop from the movie which was the rabbits foot that had two 38 special bullets hidden inside of it..
I must say for years I thought about making one, just never got around to it... I always thought about how i could make it and make it right.. I'm the kind of person, If i'm going to do a DIY prop, I won't settle for anything that looks to be home made or had corners cut..
I ordered a rabbits foot a long time ago from the net, only to use the top brass keychain part.. the rabbits foot it self i tossed in the trash.
I went to my local fabric store, and found some white fur, it wasn't exactly like rabbits fur because this fabric, the fur was too long...
I then went to the hardware store to think about what kind of internal pipe should I stick on the inside, i thought about brass and copper pipe, even steel, but I knew the fabric would glue more strong to plastic then metal. So I went with 1/2" plastic pipe, did all my measurements and cut it down to size. Next, i had to think of a way to get the brass cap to fit and fit snug so it won't fall off when using it as a keychain.. it needed to fit snug enough to hold the weight of the bullets.. i went with a black rubber cork that i trimmed down to size and fit into the brass cap. the cork is held into the brass cap via a pressure fit and no glue.. i don't like to use much glue on my projects if i can help it.. The first layer of fur fabric i glued to the plastic pipe. I then stitched the two ends together by hand. Next, i used a second layer of fur over the first layer, It was hard and I had to take my time because the second layer of fur was not glued, It was instead stitched in such a way the all the thread is hidden under the fur as well as the two ends that i stitched together, so it all looks like one piece and you cannot tell. The stitching goes through the first level of fabric to the second so everything is very secure. I shaped the bottom properly to resemble a rabbit’s foot and stitched that together. i then took all the fur and shaved it down shorter to look more neat and uniform.
here is the finished product, I perfectly functioning rabbits foot bullet holder that works great and even in my hands I cannot tell that it isn’t a real rabbits foot..
I know the movie version was done using a brass pipe, but the way they did it just wasn't very practical IMO.
I have always given this prop much thought over the years. I feel I did it right. It just took a while to finish because I wanted to make sure it looked very neat and very strong, Like I said, if I'm going to do a DIY project, i don’t want the finished product to be something that looks home made or isn't strong enough to be able to play with everyday and will fall apart on me.
Hope you all like the finished product.
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