Introduction: Duct Tape Dummy

About: One day I shall own a Delorean.

I needed a Mannequin/dummy for making fancy dress outfits and the like but i didn't want to pay £200 for one.

It didn't need to be perfect just a rough approximation of my body dimensions so the finished costume would fit me.

The idea for this project was actually supplied by another instructables member, creeves76, who was making a werewolf suit, unfortunately he didn't document it so i am documenting his idea for him.

Heres a link to his werewolf costume

I will be using this dummy on my predator project you can check out the mask here using a 2 part mold

Step 1: What You Will Need

You will need

Newspapers - lots of them, if you cant find any at home have a look in the recycling bins theres loads there normally and they are clean.

Duct Tape - any could will do, this is sometimes called Cloth Tape or Duck Tape or Gaffer tape, i used 2 and half  50Meter rolls, some would argue that this is the fifth element which holds most of the universe together and certainly a fair few cars and film sets.

Old clothes - you will need some old stuff that you don't mind getting cut up, Socks, Long sleeve T-shirt, light trousers (i used hospital scrubs) and optionally gloves, i bought cotton gloves from the chemist used for allergies.

Medical Scissors - these are more important than you think, i originally did mine with regular kitchen scissors and i got a couple of nicks in the flesh. medical scissors are designed for cutting clothes off people without damaging the person wearing them including motor bike leathers that are close to the body.

A close friend or partner - you need someone to help you with this one as it cant be done by your self, and remember this person will end up seeing you naked!

OPTIONAL Polystyrene head - you can get these on eBay really cheap, i happened to have a few kicking about so i thought i would use one on this project.

Step 2: Time to Trust Your Friend.


put on your old clothes, socks, trousers, long sleeve t-shirt, don't wear underwear as it will get destroyed.

Now you need to get your friend to cover you in duct tape, Its best to pull a length out then put the tape on by hand otherwise it will get very very very tight and cut off your blood supply which can be really dangerous for you.

You may need to pull and rap the clothing so its close to your body so the tape takes the shape of your body.

Make sure you overlap your tape and you only really need one layer unless you can afford a few rolls of tape.

once your friend has covered you in duct tape up to your neck and wrists they need to cut you carefully out of it using the medical scissors. Cut down the back from the neck to the top of the buttocks then down each leg and down the side of the foot. Then cut across the shoulders and down each arm and the whole duct tape suit will fall away leaving you naked... opps.

I would have liked to have got more pictures of this step but my partner got in late and was very tired and it was hard enough to convince her to cover me in duct tape and cut me out of it let along take pictures, she already thinks I'm a weirdo!

Step 3: Stuff It


Its now time to stuff your duct tape human skin.

Start at the feet, hold the 2 sides where you have cut together and put duct tape across it to hold it together, work your way up the cut in the same manor overlapping the duct tape as you go. work up to the ankle then stop.

Take sheets of newspaper screw them up and push them in to the foot nice and tight, don't be shy use a little strength really pack it in there nice and hard, once you have stuff it to the ankle keep going in this way until the whole leg is full then do the other leg.

You can then start to fill up the back if you like, once your half way i would suggest stopping there and doing the arms.

the arms a little more tricky, start in the same way as the feet tape the cuts up but only do about 3-4 inches then push some newspaper in to make the shape of the wrist. dont push it out the end though, you will then need to put duct tape over the end, now you can properly ram the newspaper in there, keep doing this until the arm is full to the shoulder.

if you have a head for your dummy put this in the neck hole and tape the neck to the head and a little way down the back from the neck leaving a opening to stuff the remaining space, stuff the rest of the space including the shoulders and then tape that last hole up and your done.

An optional bit is to make the hands, its easier for my project to make these separately, do it in the same way as before just put some gloves on that you don't mind destroying and cover in duct tape then cut down the palm of the hand to remove it then stuff it with newspaper, best to rip off little bits for the fingers make them in to small balls and push them in the fingers. if you want to you could duct tape these hands on to your dummy. I haven't as it would be easier for my costume if i didn't.

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