How to Make a Human Tape Sculpture

These are human-mold sculptures made out of plastic wrap and packing tape.
They are fun, easy to make, and can take on any pose you can think of.

I discovered these sculptures a few years ago while researching street art installation. This Instructable is inspired by artist Mark Jenkins (http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com/) who is the original creator of these plastic wrap sculptures.
This is my attempt to recreate his amazing work.

(Also see ‘Plastic Wrap Sculptures!’ Instructable by TheJehosephat under the Art Section)

Materials

The plastic wrap sculpture requires only a few basic materials found at your local hardware or home supplies store. Total project cost depends on where you buy your materials and what tools you already have. I made mine for under $20.

You will need:

1 (100 yards) x Plastic wrap -Saran cling wrap works well and is relatively cheap

6 (54 yards) x Clear Packing tape -duct tape will also work but give a different effect because of color

1 pair Scissors

1 Tape cutter -You will be removing tape from your body, this will allow you to do so without injuring yourself.

1 cutting board surface

1 Box cutter -or other durable razor-sharp cutting utensil

1 Subject model – You can use yourself or a friend. I would encourage you to use a mannequin head in place of your own. Wrapping your head in plastic wrap is dangerous.

1 (or more) Friend -you can do this yourself but it’s much easier if you have a trustworthy assistant.

Stuffing Material (Optional) – you can use newspaper or other material to reinforce the sculpture mold.

Step 1: Prepare the Plastic Wrap

Most household plastic wrap comes in rolls 12” wide and various lengths. While this is ok for the larger parts of your body (torso, arms, legs) it can be too wide for the smaller parts of your body (hands and feet). To adjust for this I recommend cutting the plastic wrap roll in half, making it easier to work with.

Remove roll from box and place on cutting surface.

WARNING Blades are extremely sharp and can cause serious damage or loss of extremity if not used with extreme caution. To avoid injury, always use knife on cutting surface and keep firm grip on object being cut, keeping hands away from path of blade. Always retract or cover blade when not in use.

Use utility knife to cut roll in half.

Comments

[WolfKodi]

Oh my, that looks exactly like a live wrapped human!