Introduction: Human Centipede Doll

About: I'm a Designer, Creator, Inventor. #1 Hobby - brainstorming. I invented the Unicorn Poop cookie, as published here on instructables. And now I am a metalsmith. <3
Hahah. Oh wow.  Okay, I call this "DreiKind" because, in the movie, his beloved "dog" was named "DreiHund" which is 3-dog in German.  But, mine was made of Barbie kids, so I call it DreiKind.  This doll was inspired by the movie The Human Centipede.  It's a scary movie.  100% medically accurate, and 100% wtf.  I hope I don't scare you guys with this instructable.  

WARNING - if the idea of being sewn Hole-To-Hole is utterly horrifying, look away!  But it was Tom Six's idea, not mine.  He's the one who made the movie.  And as I hear it, The Human Centipede 2, (Second Sequence), was just banned in the UK.  Will it make it to the USA?  I don't know.  But I love the idea of a new doll challenge.  Hahah.

LET THE SURGERY COMMENCE!  Ps, LOL @ the Song in the video. "Slow" by Kylie Minogue.

Step 1: What You Need!

dolls
wood burner
safety pins
pliers
e6000 glue
thumb tacks
tan/skin colored acrylic paint
red paint
clear gloss varnish
sander/dremel/not a vibro-tool
sharpies to dye their hair
needle
thread
white fabric
scissors
TIME
Patience!

Step 2: Choose Your Dolls!

I got all of these at a yard sale last year and I wasn't sure what to do with them.  I've finally decided what to do with the three little ones!  Pick your dolls out, and if they need a hair color change, use some sharpies and just keep coloring until you're satisfied.  For this project, it's best if you put the hair into high pony tails and then color.  Unless you cut the hair short to be boy-like, which I did with one of mine.  (He was the front of the train.)

What kind of dolls to use?  My advice is to use dolls bigger than these, because when you fold them up and melt them, they are so compressed that there isn't much space to work with.  But you also have to take into consideration - how will they look with bent knees?  Will this work?  Etc.  Make sure to do a lot of visualizing.

Step 3: Off With Their Heads!

Pop their heads off, carefully.  Remember which head goes with which body.  Mine were three slightly different colors, and they matched perfectly with the movie.  Now, you want to cut their necks off with the wood burner, I used the blade tip.  Basically, get it as angled as you can, because you want their heads on top of their backs, while making their necks look like their bent.

So, cut necks off, angle them up as much as you can, if you're lucky and you have a Dremel, this should be easy.  But if you're like me, and your dad says "yeah, I have a Dremel" and gives you an inheritance from your grandma of a thing called a "Vibro-Tool", then you are shit-outta-luck because this will take you hours.  :)  And it will scare the crap out of you when you turn it on.

Anyways, you're going to need to sand the neck so that it's smooth and angled upwards.

Step 4: They Need KNEES

These dolls had no knee joints, but if they were to be converted into a human centipede, they would need knees.  I did my best job at melting out the backs of the legs to give a groove, in which the leg could fold upon itself.  Then I had to work at re-melting the plastic around it, to hold the new joint.  The key is to go as close to the front of the leg as possible, without burning through.

Note:  Some plastics will behave differently when being burned.  One of these dolls burned black!  Not just melting...but...frying?  I don't know, I've never seen this plastic reaction in all my years of melting.  :)

Step 5: I Think They Need Ankles.

I wasn't too sure about this, but I thought that they needed ankles.  I wanted their feet to lay flat when they were on all fours, to make it look more accurate.  So I stuck the wood burner in the front bottom of the leg, above the foot, and shoved the tip in there, until it burned a lot.  Then I pressed the "sore" open, flat, against the table to help the plastic cool in the new position.  

Their ankles kinda worked and kinda didn't.  But it was a cool idea.  I think.

Step 6: Face Painting!

In the movie, the diagram shows that the people are going to be sewn hole-to-hole, but if you're a medical doctor, and you want this to be successful, you need to reinforce this.  So that's what he did!  He made some slices in the butt-cheek areas and made some flaps to sew onto the adherent's face, to hold them in place.  Pretty smart, if you want to keep someone somewhere that they would never want to be.  Yes, I know!!! Disgusting.  But I had to do it...

Paint those triangular shapes onto the two back-dolls.  Your front-guy won't be sewn to anyone.  Choose a skin-tone color or make your own with brown and white.  Maybe layer it a couple times to be safe.  :)

Step 7: Bloodlines.

Okay, I wanted to add this for extra effect, so I made some extra outlines, to be featured because of the stress of the situation.  You'd have to imagine that things wouldn't be fine and dandy, right?

Step 8: Optional Mouths

I was thinking that it may be appropriate to burn holes into the #2 and #3 dolls, because they shouldn't have a smile on their faces.  No one should be happy, except the front guy, so he keeps his smile.

Step 9: Cut Your Staples!

In the movie, you can see medical staples on the girl's cheeks, where the person in front was attached to her face.  So I wanted to mimic the same look, but I had to majorly shrink the look of them.   So I was crazy and chose to go with safety pins.

This is crazy, because......you need to bend the pin open, use pliers and snip the sharp end off, have it shoot into your palm, startle you with a little pain, set it aside, then keep clipping tiny segments that behave in the same manner and shoot into your palms.  The key is to cup the pins and pliers when you clip them, so you don't lose those pieces.  And yet, it's so uncool to do at the same time.  

Do this to 6-8 mini safety pins and you will have a medical-kit worth of surgery tools.  And you will be a stronger person for withstanding the constant startles and pricks.  

Step 10: Stitches!

Take your e6000 glue on a toothpick, line the outline of the face flaps only about a quarter inch at a time, because the glue will dry too much if you do more.  Start putting your pin segments into the glue lines to make them look like staples.

The key is to space them evenly and to kind of stagger them so they aren't perfect.  Continue to do this in segments on all sides of the triangle flaps for the two dolls.  The 3rd guy is the lucky one because he gets shotgun.  

Step 11: Apply a Clear Coat.

I used this type of clear varnish stuff from the craft store, it looks like a big bottle of acrylic paint.  It's basically a clear coat.  I lined the staple lines with this stuff in hopes to cement everything down, even more.  And to give the shine of a glossy surgery finish.  I'm sure you could use clear nail polish for the same effect.  :)

Step 12: ON With Their Heads!

I've tried so many different ways to put their heads back on and it took me two days to figure this out.  (With glue dry time.)  The first one, with the thumb tack, it ended up working.  So the front end guy, his head can rotate.  Symbolically, he's the only one who should have use of his neck, according to the movie.  

For the rotating head, wood burn a thin hole into the back, at an angle, fill with E6000 glue, put some glue on the tack itself, then let them sit for a lil bit, then put the pin in the hole, not all the way.  Leave overnight and let them adhere to each other.  Then the next day, stretch the doll head over the tack head with great difficulty until you've made it work, without ripping the tack out.  Success!  

Alternate head attaching, just lay lots of E6000 glue where you want the head attached, and then do the same for the underside of the head, around the hole.  After almost a minute, place them together and hold them there for a while.  You don't want to let it go, because it needs some time to get the initial bond, in your hand.  Then, after a minute or two of holding, you can set that one down to rest for a day and move onto the next doll, repeating the process.  :)

Step 13: Pat Yourself on the Back.

Wow, it's time for  a breather!  You have three naked dolls, all bent up and melted and their heads re-attached.  WOW.  It took a while to get to this point, but you need to sit back and enjoy the fact that the hard parts are beyond you now.  Sigh.....:D  yes.  No more figuring out how to bend legs, align, deface, reattach, etc.

Next challenge, in what order to apply bandages!?

Step 14: Knee Bandages.

I cut up a hanky from the dollar store for the coarse white fabric.  Plus, my husband never used the freakin thing.  Cut your thin strips for the knees, which will cover the burnt joints!  BONUS! :D

Fold the fabric around the knee and hand sew it in place, tie knots, cut excess fabric and threads.  Repeat for all dolls.

Step 15: Neck Bandages.

The front guy needs a neck bandage to hide his broken neck.  Just hand sew some fabric around him and you're good.  For the two girls, you need slings.

In the movie, all the people had diapers on and the diaper extended to the jointed chick's neck to hold her in place.  But if you think about it...what are the chances that the diapers had perfect holes in them for ... hole-to hole?  I think it was a theatrical thing.  They needed to cover the "grossness" so the idea was implied.  I opted to go with waist-to-neck slings.  For 2 reasons.  ONE, there wasn't enough space to make diapers because these things are so small and the space would be so cluttered that it would look bad.  You have to bring your designer-self into this!  ;P

Second reason - I think Tom Six would have wanted it this way.  Hahah.  

Cut a couple LONG thin strips of fabric, sew them into place around the waist and then take the flaps and sew them into place around the attached victim.  Hand sew into place.  Tie knots, cut excess threads and fabric.  Repeat for the second joint and you're good!

Step 16: FINISHED!

WHOA!  Done!  Now you have a cute little Human Centipede doll of your own, to put on your shelf or desk.  Your co-workers will be impressed and probably stay away from you from that point on.

Personally, I just got my own workspace, and I have this shelf on the top and I put it up there like a cute little freakish trophy.  I made my own DOLL!  It was fun, definitely a challenge, and it was entertaining to scare my mom with.  She said it was disgusting, but also thought it was kinda cute.  My husband said that he loved me and that there aren't many wives out there who would make this. LOL.  

Hope you guys enjoy!  PS, Don't be scared of me.  :(

Optional - Attaching faces to...preceding bodies, Bloody splotches on the bandages, and diapers.  :)  (I like the pure look, without blood, I like the idea of omitting the diapers, and I like them kinetic, so I didn't attach the mouths. :)  If they had lips...maybe I would have. 

Halloween Decorations Challenge

Participated in the
Halloween Decorations Challenge

Toy Challenge

Participated in the
Toy Challenge