My Frankenberry Costume Halloween 2009

[chewbaccadoll]

Hey all!

Thought I would chronicle my progress ofthe making of my Halloween costume this year, "Frankenberry".

I've always wanted to do this and recently have seen some very impressive versions out there which have inspired me to say the least.

I decided to construct a cardboard/paper/duct tape structure for the head and built it up in areas like the top of the head with newspaper and more duct tape.

Here are some pics:

I have covered 1/4 of his face with Bondo and will continue until he is fully covered. I want him to be permanant and decided to go the Bondo route instead of paper mache.

After sanding, touch up and a nice paint job I think he will look nice.

I also found these great plastic injection molded garland chains (6' each!) that will be great for the suspenders! $3.99 at Christmas Tree Shops!

They're the right scale and hollow, so if I lean back on them they may dent up, but won't fall apart like Styrofoam chain.

Anyways, always looking for tips, advice or whatever! I'll continue to post progress as the countdown continues!

-Kurt

 

[duck]

Love the Frank! I've been down this road:

In fact, I switched over from Frank to the Count (with Boo-Berry on harness) a year after that (You can see a noticeable weight gain in Frank because my buddy King GEO is a fat bastid!):

Might I suggest returning those chains (if you can) and buying white plastic chain from the Home Depot garden department? That's what I used... it was perfect and quite tough, while durable and cartoony looking. They sell it on a roll at about 99¢ a foot I believe. Just a thought.

 

[chewbaccadoll]

Ah Duck, your pics are amoung the ones of which I speak. The other was on Instructibles.

Very nice job.

As far as the chain goes, I have a problem with the scale of the chain you are referencing... the ones I picked up are bigger and once repainted I think will look perfect!

Thanks for the tip. Who made the Boo Berry pillow doll? It's fantastic!!!!

 

[RAD]

Great job so far Cewb. with the cardboard and duct tape - I may try this for a project I need to do in a hurry for Halloween. I have seen the other Frank by Duck and bought foam to do like I think he did (Is Franks head made out of foam?) I could get 3" foam to layer up - only 1" so I got that but also found a bow/arrow target from Walmart made out of foam that i ripped the plastic target off to uncover a block of foam that should work - thick tight white foam on the very cheap already in block large enough for my head and adding detail with other sheet foam.

I can't wait to see more pics of this build with the bondo! Would there be any way to do same process and add fur to outside?

Goodluck (As I am sitting here eating my Booberry from Walmart since Halloween is near they are selling again)...

Ah Duck, your pics are amoung the ones of which I speak. The other was on Instructibles.

Very nice job.

As far as the chain goes, I have a problem with the scale of the chain you are referencing... the ones I picked up are bigger and once repainted I think will look perfect!

Thanks for the tip. Who made the Boo Berry pillow doll? It's fantastic!!!!

 

[chewbaccadoll]

I can't see why you couldn't add fur at the end after sanding.

I will say that so far Bondo has come with it's challenges and I hope that when it's time to sand and perform detail work that it all pans out.

I need to see if there is a Bondo type product with a longer working time. 3-4 minutes is not long enough. You spend almost a minute mixing and the last minute is shot as it starts to harden and cake up... more like 2 minutes in small batches.

Any recommendations?


Foam is fun to work with. I'm lucky enough to live near a store called Building 19 which actually has a Foam Room with all kinds of thicknesses, densitys, dimensions... it would be fun to make a Frank head out of foam and then coat with Latex.

Maybe another time!

Anyways, good luck and post some pics!

 

[MooCriket]

SWEET! Love Frankenberry
Somebody should also do a "Fruity Yummy Mummy".

Great costume(s) duck:thumbsup

 

[duck]

As far as the chain goes, I have a problem with the scale of the chain you are referencing... the ones I picked up are bigger and once repainted I think will look perfect!

Fair enough, I see your point!

Thanks for the tip. Who made the Boo Berry pillow doll? It's fantastic!!!!

I made all the costumes, and Boo-Berry, too. It was a disturbing orgy of monster cereals. Yummy Mummy joined us the next year, too.

 

[chewbaccadoll]

Nice! Any pics of Yummy? Would love to see 'em.

It looks like you guys hit a club(s). Where in Mass did you guys go? Didn't I see pics of you guys with best costume awards?

Either way, great job all around.

 

[duck]

That was actually at Chiller Theatre in New Jersey. It's a huge twice a year horror con for the NYC area. We used to do it every year for years.

By the way, I like the shape of your mask. You've really captured the look quite well... must be hard to do with duct tape and cardboard!

 

[chewbaccadoll]

First steps with the Bondo...

more to come...

 

[Monteburns]

You are off to a great start & the shape looks very close.

Once it is all sanded down & painted it should look great.

 

[Westies14]

Fantastic, Kurt!

 

[duck]

How heavy will that be with all the Bondo? I've actually never really worked with Bondo except for a tiny little fill in on my car.

Looks cool as Hell already! I'm so psyched by this project that I'm gonna go pour a bowl of Frank right now (no lie... I have 2 boxes of Frank, 2 of Count and 1 of Boo in my cabinet as we speak!)

 

[punisher]

Looking good! I wish they made bondo retarder, the working time is just not enough and working in small batches is time consuming!! OH I almost forgot to mention, an electric sander works wonders with large areas of bondo! I used it for my kroenen mask and it turned out smooth as ice!

 

[chewbaccadoll]

Thanks for the tip! I had planned on borrowing a small palm sander for the top, back and some of the sides and obviously hand sand the face.

Nice, Duck. Every once in a while at Price Rite they'll get in a pallet or two of Frankenberry and Booberry.

Last time I bought 1 dozen of each.

Enjoy!

Oh, this is my first time working with Bondo period. I will let everyone know my experiences and opinions as far as this application is concerned.
I suspect it will be heavy, but think I will construct a shoulder harness if necessary. We'll see!

I still intend to see if there is another similar product with a longer working time when my Bondo is out (which will be soon!).

Halloween is approaching and I need more working time!!!

 

[Laffo]

I still intend to see if there is another similar product with a longer working time when my Bondo is out (which will be soon!).

You should try BondoGlass for the first couple of layers. Sand between each one, then go to Bondo, then Glazing Compound.

The BondoGlass is really rigid and provides a great base.

Laffo.

 

[takevin]

Looking good! I wish they made bondo retarder, the working time is just not enough and working in small batches is time consuming!! OH I almost forgot to mention, an electric sander works wonders with large areas of bondo! I used it for my kroenen mask and it turned out smooth as ice!

There is enough working time, it just depends on how much or less hardener you put in.:lol

 

[Laffo]

With the extra strength of the glass in BondoGlass you can cheat on the hardener and get away with it. It works like icing.
Laffo.

 

[Walter Neff]

Honestly I don't know how any work ever got done before duct tape! I am making the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for Halloween and half the costume is duct tape!

Great looking so far.

 

[Mycroft]

So far so good pal..