The Box
I used a styrofoad cooler filled with foam and then I glued foam on all sides.
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The Box
I used a styrofoad cooler filled with foam and then I glued foam on all sides.
Finishing the Box
I added the "Beloved" name plate, which has 2 wooden flourishes to give it a bit of styling. You can see all of the wood filler & sanding I had to do.
Adding the Skeleton
You can see that I spray painted the skeleton gray prior to placing him on the stone. I used rebar stuck into the base and zip ties to attach him to the rebar.
His arm was broken off, so I attached it with zip ties to his body, but I moved it down in order to get his hands in the correct position. I used coat hanger wire to anchor both feet. After I got him on the stone, I noticed that his left leg was raised too high, but I didn't want to take the chance of repositioning him. I added another broken "layer" of stone for his leg to rest on.
I added the monster-mudded flowers and the drape. Note to self: STOP using any color besides gray for monster mud!!!
I used a cheap Walmart twin sheet to make the wrap. Make sure to cut off the selvage and wash the sheet. I also cut up the pillow case to use as the drape on his legs.
Thoroughly mix 4 parts of drywall compound to 1 part of paint. I tried a 2:1 ratio... nope, it never got hard and I had to peel it all off and do it all over. I would use dark gray paint in the mix, this way his wrap will be a light gray.
Make sure you wear gloves and have on clothes that you don't care about, because draping him is messy. I was afraid to wet the sheet before placing it into the monster mud, because I had such a mess before. I would suggest that you wrap the sheet damp as you want it to drape. This way you won't be trying to figure it out with a heavy-filled monster-mudded sheet.
It rained the entire week right after I finished draping him, so I had to bring him inside the house to dry. I wanted him to be very stiff, so I repainted him entirely with drylock... my favorite stuff, just to make sure. What you save on the sheet, you'll spend on the drylock!
I finished him up with a white dry brush and 2-3 colors of green mossy paint. I also added four bolts (really screws with washers) on the side and added rusty paint splotched with a couple of dabs of black paint.
