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Directed here from the Cosplay thread. Hello everyone.  My roommate is throwing a party this Saturday, and I've decided to dress up as a sort of bio-wizard. To complete the look I'm hoping to make a parasite-like staff. Coating, painting, and sealing the pole is no problem...  But attached to the top I want the staff head to appear like this...  I have zero experience/talent, but I have a credit card and a day off coming up. What would be the easiest way for a complete novice like me to put this together?
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Oct 20, 2015 04:39
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blastron posted:What I'd do is drill a tiny hole straight down into the top of your staff, then get some stiff wire and glue that in so it sticks out straight. Bend it so that it forms the core of the shape you want to work with, then start adding some stuff to thicken it up. Reformed Tomboy posted:Paperclay would probably work as well, using that same method. Going to get started with this tonight. Thanks a ton! 
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Oct 20, 2015 19:31
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Tomero_the_Great posted:Going to get started with this tonight. Update:   Well, I bought and added the paper clay (Polyform Model Air) to some jewelry wire, so now I'll wait until 24 hours pass. But... I am worried this will just collapse the moment I cut the support strings. Unless this clay becomes super strong overnight I might be in trouble. What can/should I do to salvage this project? Add more wire and coil along / around the whole thing? 
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Oct 24, 2015 07:36
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Hi thread, I could use some advice. The local comic expo is coming up in a few weeks and I'm hoping to rebuild/improve upon an old Halloween costume. The part I need to work on is the staff. I few years back I tried building it out of jewelry wire and 'polyform model air' paperclay. It ended up being ridiculously top-heavy and broke in half by the end of the night, so I tossed it out. I want to try rebuilding it, but proper this time - lighter and sturdier. My instincts are to either: - Make a hollow tube cast out of a wire frame+paper as a base for the clay. - Buy construction tubing or even Pop Tubes (+ wire) and build on that. - Impale a length of foam on heavy wire and bend it into the right shape and build on that. The issue is that I have no talent/experience with this sort of thing, so any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.   Thanks!
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Apr 14, 2019 07:10
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Mecha Neko, thank you for the encouragement.  An update:  First thing I did was re-do the glasses (old: left, new: right). Not being an idiot with spray paint made a huge difference.  For the staff, I used a trick I stumbled upon on youtube, which is to use hot sand to bend PVC pipe. I used a 3/4" x 10ft pvc pipe, a bag of playground sand, and rented a heat gun for the touch-ups. I taped the pipe to the ladder to make it easier to pour into a funnel from the top without burning myself and my helping hands. While the pipe did bend (almost like a garden hose), my original design was far more ambitious (the inspiration was the ebola virus shepherd's crook). But I'm happy with how it turned out. For other projects I'd recommend using a smaller pipe like 1/2". The sand was pre-measured and two batches worth were baked at 420°F in separate tin trays. Cold sand was poured in after to keep it in place and protect the straight segment of the pipe.  After that I drilled holes in the pipe to feed wire through, make a simple teepee frame for the tip, and filled with with air clay.  Painted with black, then red, then a bit of black before coating with high-gloss 'mod podge' spray.   I know jack poo poo about making stuff or being handy, but I think this one turned out alright.
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May 5, 2019 23:52
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