In the event that I do get trick-or-treaters this year, I needed to find a way to deliver the candy in a socially distanced way. One of the trends going around is to create a candy chute/tube that is around six feet and candy can be rolled down it into a candy bucket. So I went out and got a 2 inch black tube from home depot (~$7) as well as a 45 degree elbow joint. The tube was cut at the 6 foot mark (originally 10 feet), and I used the extra tube on the other end of the elbow joint. I cut off a roughly 5 inch piece that I could create a piece around to decorate it. I originally had ordered some sour candy, but when it arrived I realized it wouldn't easily go down the tube. Rather than get a new sized tube, I ordered some candy that was small and round...and wrapped like eyeballs. So I ended up liking the candy better as it fit with the 'theme' (such as it is) better.
 |
Basic mouth template (x4)
|
The head piece that attaches at the bottom of the tube is an attempt to create a sandworm from Beetlejuice. It's a two headed piece created with cardboard, making sure that there was no obstruction to the actual tube and at different angles. I folded the cardboard so that it curved into a mouth shape.
I made a cardboard ring that fit around the tube, then built everything on there, with the tube fitting on top of it at every step. I took up some hot glue and made the lips as well as some eyes. This way, when I paper mache over it, it will be easy enough to get a shape that I want. I made a gum line. I'm planning on using white fingernail press ons that I have leftover from the Audrey IIs to add the teeth.
For the crazy tongue, I used a piece of wire surrounded by hot glue so that it could be twisted and bent at an angle away from the head and teeth. The shape is supposed to be spherical/cone shaped, so in order to get close to this, I made a little mold with a folded up piece of tinfoil. I taped a piece of parchment paper inside (which doesn't stick to hot glue). Then I basically filled up the mold, putting the piece of wire in once a layer had hardened up a bit (so the wire was more in the middle). Once the glue had hardened, I pulled it out and took scissors and a razor to it to shape it a bit more. Very happy with how it turned out.
The head itself, once the cardboard had been taped together (scotch tape), I drew on a few basic lines just to see where I needed to put the lips. The hot glue went on after that, using a low heat and slowly building up layers. As it was going to be completely covered in layers of paper mache, it was less about getting the details and more about getting the shape closer to what I wanted.
I cut out some fins to go on the back of the head/tube. And got a few layers of paper mache on the head. I may do a few more, depending on how it dries. I'd like it to be fairly solid.
Much progress! So once the paper mache layers were done and completely dry, I spray painted everything white just to get a base coat on, and most of it is white anyways. I went after doing the mouth first as it was the most awkward to reach. I had to do several coats of red to get a really deep bright mouth red. The pink of the gums came next, then the blue of the lips. The eyes got painted, and then the bold black stripes that I marked out with a pencil before attempting.
The teeth were fingernails that I glued in with hot glue. The bottom lip of the inner head I did a bit of a reinforcement as that's where the candy is going to hit or be slowed down. I tried to make it so that the teeth were relatively safe in terms of where they are pointing. Overall I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It definitely looks like the sandworm. Next up is to build a bit of a stand for it on both ends.
Oh the other thing I ended up doing was getting the tube ready by putting on the white stripes. I used white duct tape and measured every 2 inches (the width of the duct tape) so that the stripes were fairly even.
**UPDATE**
Got the tongue done by filling a hot glue mold made out of aluminum foil and sticking a wire in the middle so that it could be twisted different ways. Painted it black and white stripes. Attached it to the head by finding a place that was out of the way of the mouth/candy roll, but secure and still creepsy looking.
Next up was to actually put the chute together. I used an old pvc stand I made for Bert the dinosaur a few years ago that was already painted black and roughly sitting in a chair to pass out candy height. I put together a quick little stand for the bottom/head and spray painted it black. Some tweaking in attaching the tube to the stand. The head itself slips on and off. I wanted to make that fully removable so that I don't have to leave it outside as it was a decent amount of work. Sam helped me do a dry run--the angle wasn't originally what I wanted, but it works out well enough that it doesn't have the candy shooting out at rocket speeds. Most of the time it catches in the mouth, which is great so that I don't have to go looking for random candy in the bushes.
