The plan? Carve foam tentacles and mount them on poles off a backpack frame.
It all started with John Cassella's electric turkey carving knife.
I started carving the tentacles, then cutting out the space between each tentacle link.
But then Ben Rolling figured out that there was no way to drill a hole in the foam once the tentacles were carved. These tentacles wouldn't fit on the backpack.
So I had to start over.
For the second set of tentacles, we cut the hole for the poles FIRST.
Cabling would provide bendy support once the tentacles were mounted later.
Ben worked on attaching aluminum conduit to a WWII backpack frame I got from Armies of the World in Glendale.
He bent them into cool dynamic shapes so that they'd look like they were attacking you.
He drilled some holes and mounted the conduit with u-shaped mounting brackets.
Top two tentacles: Done!
Bottom two: Done! Time to try them on!
FEAR ME!
They're pretty solid. And the thing only weighs about ten pounds at this point...
Ben's girlfriend Missy Klepetar comes over to check it out.
Ben captures Missy with his tentacles of love. (Wow, I really wish I hadn't typed that.)
Painting the tentacles! First I took John Cassella's advice and coated the foam with this spackle sealing stuff.
Otherwise the foam would just soak up the paint like a sponge. This coated it with a lightweight latex seal that could be painted on.
Next I gave the tentacles a black base coat.
Ky Matthes came over and tucked foam between all the tentacle segments.
Now when we sprayed them metallic silver...
The middle bits would stay black. More on those when they dry...
Next came the claws.
Five of the claws came from a Star Wars "Sith Droid" toy.
The sixth was the bow of the U.S.S. Lionfish, a WWII submarine.
I cut it in half to fit with the other claws. (That saw is an original from the TV show "Junkyward Wars," still finding good uses.)
I hot glued the claws to plastic cups, and they were almost ready for mounting.
Meanwhile, Ky and Ben were doing the hard work with the backpack and tentacle frame.
Then Ky took a break to work on her own costume...
... Frankie Cook from "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."
We built some stilts for Kirsten, who is already tall. Now she'd be GIANT.
And mobile. The big flat bottoms made it easy to walk around, very stable. Not tipsy at all.
What is Kirsten going as, you ask?
Isn't it obvious?
Maybe this critical piece will solve the mystery...
No? Well, let's let Ky add the final missing detail.
Kirsten's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters!
She cut some holes for eyes...
Added puffy cheeks, painted it all white...
Blacked out the holes, added a tongue and the trademark hat. It looked awesome!
Vic Carbonneau came over to join the fun. He sewed a patch onto his Red Sox jersey.
Steve Scaia tried to print an iron-on patch for his "Sky Captain" costume.
Paint's dry! I added a coat of construction yellow on one side of the tentacles, to match the design from the movie.
Ky put all the foam slices back in, and we went to work on the WASH.
The Wash was a suggestion from Aaron Foss. He said to dilute some acrylic paint in lots of water, and just splash it onto the painted surfaces.
It ran and dripped everywhere!
But as the water evaporated, the remaining paint residue collected in all the nooks and crannies, giving the tentacles a weathered and rusted look.
It's that added detail that made them look really metallic!
They still weighed next to nothing.
After all, they're just foam, latex and paint!
But foam, latex and paint can still be DEADLY!!!
Time is running out. With just hours 'till the Halloween Party, the foam claws are still drying.
I painted them and put them in the oven to dry faster. Don't try this at home...
It's time to put all the bits together! Ben and Missy and I slid the foam tentacles over Ben's bent conduit frame.
Ben and Missy's dog Dee Dee ran for cover, cowering at the sight of...
DOCTOR OCTOPUS!!!
HEAR MY VOICE AND TREMBLE!!!
A trenchcoat would cover up the harness later.
I had to admit. It was pretty cool.
That night the touch-up paint was still drying when Vic showed up to help me get the costume to the party.
I couldn't fit through any door with it on, so we had to pass it over the balcony to get it out.
The claws went separately. We had to assemble the costume on the street when we got to the party.
Vic tied it into the back of his truck, because it wouldn't fit inside.
Dr. Octopus Attacks! (Ben and Missy Defend!)
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shows up to big applause. Kirsten danced the night away in that costume.
Dr. Octopus and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man... A crossover twenty years in the making. To see more pictures of the Detroit Street Halloween Spectacular, check out the rest of JasonJasonJason.com!