Dancing Skeletons
Introduction: Dancing Skeletons
A dancing skeletons "costume".... this turned into a fall pandemic project.... there were several factors converging....
First, we live too far away from our kids and grandkids for me to help with Halloween costumes.
Second, I found an instructable that showed me how to make a skeleton in a way that appealed to me.
Finally for someone who NEVER forgot to bring her own grocery bags to any store in which I was going to need them, I had a crazy and pandemicly-huge pile of white grocery bags.
Before I go any further, thanks very much to <PERSON> who gave permission for me to use her instructables directions for Halloween Skeleton made of Plastic Shopping Bags (10/16/2011) here:
https://www.instructables.com/Halloween-skeleton-m...
Using plastic grocery bags for this project, she is a recycler and creator after my own heart. Like <PERSON>, my budget for this project is $0.00. Not only is this a thrifty and great way to keep plastic bags from the landfill, but using the grocery bags make the dancing skeletons light for their dancing partner in the middle to easily keep them upright.
I love how forgiving in looks the plastic bags, tape and bamboo supports are for this project. What follows are the ways I decided to build it. If you decide to try it, I hope you'll share your ideas!
Step 1: Tools and Supplies/Materials
For the two skeletons, I used twice the materials that CuriousTangles used of course, but I followed her directions with just a few modifications which I'll explain soon.
Supplies for two separate skeletons:
About 60 white plastic grocery bags
4 wire coat hangers
Lots of clear packing tape and narrow clear tape
Thread and a black permanent marker
Supplies/Materials for making the two skeletons dance with me:
16 bamboo garden stakes
White spray paint
2 more wire coat hangers for building skeletons
2 more wire coat hangers helped hanging skeletons
4 feet of inch-wide and sticky-backed black velcro
Small roll of white duct tape, some silver duct tape.
More clear packing tape
2 scrap, foot-long 3/4" or 1" pvc pipe
white embroidery floss
About 6 of each- white 4 inch and 8 inch cable ties
Hooks, string and strips of cloth to suspend the contraption while you work on it
Black shirt, pants and shoes to wear while in the costume (or just dedicated clothes of your design)
Tools
Very common hand tools like needles for floss/thread, pliers and scissors.
Tried a hand saw to cut bamboo but had much better luck with loppers (pictured above)
Step 2: Step 1: Make Skeletons (Actually, CuriousTangles Does This in 7 Steps)
I used CuriousTangles' excellent instructions: https://www.instructables.com/Halloween-skeleton-m...
Pictures 1 and 2 followed CuriousTangles' methods.
MODIFICATIONS from CuriousTangles methods are shown in pictures 3, 4 and 5 above.
The CuriousTangles' plan is for a skeleton that is fairly flimsy so it will hang freely. On the other hand, Dancing Skeletons will stand on their own somewhat, with help from their live dancing partner in the middle. They need to be sturdier to do this.
So the 3rd picture shows the finished shoulders of the skeleton and the base for the hips before fashioning the rib cage with plastic bags. 929
Using pliers and twisting the "hip" hanger together with "shoulders' " hanger formed the beginnings of a solid spine. I wrapped the intersection tightly with silver duct tape.
The 4th picture shows a couple of things: first I needed a way to keep the head sagging down below the chest. I chose to use a small (10") piece of pvc pipe which I simply taped with packing tape to the head and the upper shoulders piece. This piece of pvc proved to be a good choice and I'll show you why in the next picture. Finally in this pic you see a hanger which I used to gently hold up the skeleton so I could work on it.
The fifth and final picture shows the last of modifications to the plastic bag body. I flattened a hanger and then folded it up into two equal pieces. Then I threaded it through the firmly taped pvc pipe to improve the spine even more. If you look below the pipe near the back of the spine you can see uncovered hanger wire. It extends down to the hips and I attached it and covered it with white duct tape. I'll explain about the cloth tied around the neck in this picture in the next step. 787