Step 15: The Reaper and the Coffin

I don't have any progress pictures of the coffin. It was simply a coffin shape cut out of styrofoam, mached, and painted. The skeleton you'll see in the final pictures is a cardstock scrapbook print.

The Reaper was made up of 6 pieces of cardboard: one for the torso and head; two for the legs (the sides); two for the arms; and one for seat between the legs.

I left extra length on the left and right side of the seat. With a blade, I cut a slit into both leg pieces and slipped these extra lengths of cardboard through to create a chair.

I slit the front of the torso piece and slid the back of the chair into it. I then ran some wire around his back as a guide for the arms (I used tape to hold them in place). I wanted the one arm away from the body so that I could slide his scythe in afterwards.

I bulked up the sides of the Reaper with all the bits of cardboard I had laying around.

I covered him in tinfoil (including from shoulder to shoulder over his hood to make it 3-D) and covered him in paper mache. Once he was dry, he too was covered in thin layers of paperclay (which is how I achieved the fold effect for his hood).

I didn't shape the little fingers for him until the very last minute. I'm such a klutz I was afraid I would break them off while working on it (I ended up breaking his thumb anyway).

The base of the scythe was tinfoil, rolled and folded into shape. Mached, painted, and slipped under his arm.

The finishing touch was taking a scrap piece of reflective paper from the mirrors, cutting it in a circle, and sliding it into his hood.

Click on any of the images below to see a larger view.