Project Wolfie: Part 3 – The Polishing

This has been a busy week, but we have finally made it to the third and final post of Project Wolfie, one of the new signature props for last year’s Halloween Haunted Trail (link here). If you missed the previous posts, feel free to get caught up on the first phase, The Shell (link here) and The Shaping (link here) before tackling this final phase, The Polishing.

Last we left, the Wolf shell was finally patched, smoothed and ready for paint.

Of note, it took until September 22nd to get to this point – a long journey having started in the middle of November! Unfortunately, I was now in full panic mode. There was still plenty to do to make the prop ready for the trail and there were only 8 days left before the event. It is hard enough to get everything done on the trail for the props that were already completed and any precious spare cycles were going to be vacuumed up getting this monster good enough for our guests to view. Spending a year on a project and not making it out for the night of haunt would be very disappointing.

Hit the jump to see if Wolfie was able to make fright night!

The proper way to finish this prop off would be to have it coated in fiberglass. Not only did I not have time for that, it would probably blow out the annual Haunt fund and not even sure if there is a facility near us that could do that work. There were zero thoughts of doing that coating myself – my days of itching for weeks are long gone. It would also take me at least 3 precious days to coat the entire sculpture in tin foil which is needed to keep the glassing process from destroying the foam.

Had it worked out timing and dollar wise, I would have definitely opted for the fiberglass outer layer as it is very durable and definitely would have cut down on the number of paint coats. In crunch time, had to go with something easily accessible and quick. Note, it did not turn out as “quick” as intended. Linda overheard me mention the paint phase while on the phone with my partner in haunt and was waiting for me at the end of the call – “need some help getting that monstrosity to the out building?” There is a comical question mark on the end of that sentence – it was NOT a question. She had her own tasks to get done before the big event and my props were still all over the basement testing her patience.

Put some plastic down in the open bay and set up shop. All the gaps were filled now and the joints were looking very clean. That work would have been completely destroyed if I went with a spray painted finish. It is actually the propellant they add into the cans that will eat through several layers of foam – especially the pink Foamular material. The Expanded Polystyrene (white) layer is slightly more resistant.

In some cases, spray paint can be used effectively, like on tombstones, as it gives a quick weathered look.. this is NOT one of those cases. Slept on the decision and decided the only real option I had was to go with monster mud. For those not aware of what that is, it is a staple in the haunt world and used for a wide variety of purposes – in fact, this is the standard coating for my tombstones (link here).

There are a few different recipes for monster mud. The one I use is a combination of exterior latex paint, drywall compound and whatever paint pigment is needed to adjust the latex paint to the desired color. I buy the 5 pound buckets of joint compound for around ~$14. You get a LOT of monster mud out of that and the seal on the bucket keeps it fresh for a long time – I used the same bucket I had bought over 2 years ago for the pumpkin arch (link here). I recommend keeping an eye on the “mistints” shelf at your local hardware or paint store. Linda always laughs at me as I never miss a chance to pass through there and if I spy a gallon of latex paint, it is in the cart! The color doesn’t matter that much to me as I can adjust that by buying the 6 or so dollar sample paint sizes at Lowe’s in the required color to convert the mistint to color to the desired shade. So, for at least half the price of the normal gallon of paint and an extra $6 if needed for extra tint, I’m good to go for a large quantity of mud.

Put a desired amount of drywall compound in another container and then mix in the latex paint until you get a thickish consistency – you want it to slowly drip off a paintbrush without clumping. At consistency, then add in any needed tint to get the color you want. It takes some trial and error, but once you get the feel for the ratio it is quickly repeatable. Note – I highly recommend creating a large enough initial batch to complete the task – it is nearly impossible to get the exact color on a second batch if you are trying to match it exactly. The mud will stay for a long time if it is kept in a sealed container – I’ve used the same batch after more than 8 months without issue.

For this project I started with a purple hued mistint and made about 2 gallons of mud – if you are curious, had a shade of green sample made at Lowe’s to shift it back to grey – use the Internet if you need to know what shades make up the desired color that contains the color you are starting with. Now that the mud concoction was created to desired consistency, poured some out in a roller tray and used one of those small rollers (the single bar with the thin plush roller inserts) to apply the first coat. The roller insert is going to be ruined in this process so recommend getting a multi-pack.

Unlike standard paint, this will not get absorbed into the foam. Put it on pretty thick and then come back to make it uniform. I use a cheap (or used) 1-2″ brush to get into the tight places. If you wrap it tight in tin foil you can get a couple of layers out of it before it is just too stiff.

When this dries it will have a hard outer crust as a result of the drywall compound – not fiberglass hard, but much better than just using paint. It will dent if you hit it with something. This mud also does a good job of filling in small holes and other imperfections. Best of all, the exterior latex properties will protect the prop from standard weather damage.

Added the next shot just to show you how the monster mud coating had covered up the edges of the stacked foam that you can see in one of the shots above. I ended up putting three coats of mud on the wolf.

Now for a detail I wish I would have had time to add – fur. There was some early on discussions about completely covering the shell with fake fur. Went back and forth on that early design decision before finally opting not to cover up all the detail I had painstakingly added during the shaping phase. At the time, the compromise was to add some form of fur detail into the shell – turned out I was not able to get that detail etched into the foam boards without tearing it up, so ditched that as well. After the third coat was finished, immediately had the idea of putting another coat on and using an old comb to put the detail in. Sounded great until I looked at the calendar and had a near heart attack as I was a mere 3 days before the party with at least four steps to go – paint the mouth, add the eyes, cut down (and paint) the base and even add claws!

Started with putting a coat of paint on the mouth. Just used craft paints for this as it sticks well to the mud. Definitely rushed as I was doing this in the early morning hours after a long day of building the trail. Took a look at it the next day and immediately decided to add a second coat ugh! The Haunt Staff wasn’t showing up until later in the morning, so went ahead and put the second coat on – much better.

Later that night, I shortened the down supports on the frame so the legs would be about an inch off the ground. Also gave it a coat of black spray paint being careful not to get it on the freshly painted wolf – no need to add additional work. Ignore the missing claw, that oversight was fixed before it was moved out to the trail.

Speaking of the claws, I have to give props to Allen Hopps over at Stiltbeast Studios (link here) for the solution to the claws. In one of his tutorials, he used a set of Pumpkin Teeth to finish out one of his props. Linda found a variety pack for sale on Etsy (link here). Opted for a medium sized set and stuck them in the toes on all four legs. I may change this out for smaller ones next year or more likely just embed them deeper into the paw. This was fast and didn’t look awful – they were also glow-in-the-dark.

This final step wasn’t as successful.

Now to deal with adding eyes – now only one day before the event. Initial plan was to have lights in the eyes that would turn on as someone walked in front. If you recall, there are three PVC attachment points for the head – I figured it would only require 2 for the weight of the head – the third was really designated for the eye wiring and whatever mechanics I got around to adding. ZERO time to get that done now, but thanks to another of Allen’s tutorials I wanted to try something new – painting glass eyes (link here). Basically you take glass domes and do a cycle of spray painting and scraping with a sharp object – the linked tutorial does a good job of explaining the process. Long story short, I need to practice more. Too tired to have the required patience, the scraping was too heavy handed and let’s just say more practice is needed.

I was officially out of time, grabbed some paint and added some eyes – this will DEFINITELY be addressed before next year’s haunt.

I actually stepped back and gave a large sigh of relief. Wolfie was not exactly in the state I wanted, but it was a long and hard fought journey. It my opinion it looked like a wolf and all things considered – pretty darn close to the original drawing.

And now to see it in all its glory out on the trail.

We decided to pair it with another new prop, The Birdman. Consider this a bit of an early preview for that particular prop (a full tutorial post is forthcoming). For reference, Birdman is over 10′ tall.

All I could think about every time I passed it those two event nights was … “I wish I could have gotten those glowing eyes done”.

Then I quickly reminded myself 10 hours earlier I wasn’t even sure it was going to make it out that night.

When all is said and done, this was really a proof of concept – could I use this approach to get to the next level of prop building. Many things went right, a few things didn’t go as well as expected and having never attempted this before – certainly learned a tremendous amount. A big thanks to all the YouTube haunters and their incredibly helpful tutorials.

Wow, I look exhausted…did I mention this was all done in the midst of recovering from a broken elbow!?!

The only task left for this year’s haunt was getting it back out of the woods without damaging it. Confession, I wasn’t involved in bringing it down – think it was the last prop that made it down and it might have even been carried down by members of the Haunt Staff. We were way too wiped to try and walk that back out, so we eventually got it into the back of the truck and drove it out.

One last look at Wolfie before we put a bow on the third and final tutorial post.

This has definitely been a deep dive into this latest prop, but being a completely new endeavor, wanted to provide as much detail as I could for those who would like to try their hand at it for their next haunt cycle.

I can tell you I’ve already started on the next prop in the new foam sculpture line. This one is even bigger than Wolfie and just barely fits under our basement ceiling. Hopefully I will not be brushing up as close to the deadline as I was with Wolfie…who am I kidding, that never happens hahahaha.