Trash to Treasure #13 Demon Horse/dragon

This has been a 2 year project, it didn't take 2 years to build but it started for LAST halloween and didn't work out, there are only around 7 hours involved in this actual piece

Step 1: History

the original idea for this project started several years ago, I had in mind something along the lines of the steads in the Harry Potter movie that pull the coach but mine would be pulling a floating "hearse". I went to my possibilium pile and pulled out some pvc pipe, some electrical cable and assorted bits and pieces then set to work building a frame. Well, the material wasn't strong enough for the size of the creature and it started to bend and warp. I shelved the project until I found different materials. ( I still like the bleach bottle "hoofs" idea)

Step 2: Materials

fast forward a few months and I found a couple of large Christmas reindeer and the gears started turning again, then I found a roll of package wrapping (like saran wrap) a little electrical cable to fill in some areas, a length of pvc to make the legs longer and a heat gun and I was ready to GO !

Step 3: Build It

First I wanted it a little taller and an extra bend in the legs so I cut off about 12" sections of pvc that slipped over the legs, heated it with a heat gun and bent it. I slipped the extensions on and added some hot glue to temporarily hold them in place. One of the reindeer had an stationary neck and one had a moving straighter neck, I only had to bend one wire to mate the 2 neck and heads but now it was front heavy ! Ok time to add a tail, I used about a 7' piece of aluminum electrical cable to form the top of the tail and ran it up inside the body, a couple of shorter pieces made the sides. I then took some scraps of wire and extended the haunches and wired everything together

Step 4: Build It 2, the Wings

I took about a 12' piece of the cable and formed a U shape then bent up the last 8 inches or so at 90 degrees, I wired that bent section into the body just behind the neck and bent the "wings" into an arch. After stripping the outter casing I unwound 4 wires at a time to make the inner branches of the wings and cut off any extras

Step 5: Build It 3, the Head

I used single and double strands of the wire to shape the head and neck, this was the most difficult and frustrating part. The first time it looked like a dog, next an anteater, after 4 or 5 times I got a shape I could live with. I also added in some spikes just because my granbrats decided it was a dragon

Step 6: Skin It !

in this case we are APPLYING skin not removing it. The plastic wrap I had found kind of stuck to itself (especially when I didn't want it to) but came lose in areas so I broke out the hot glue again. Basically I would cut off a section about 3 feet long, lay it in place and heat it up, in some areas I was able to wrap it in several layers. The wings were the most dangerous because of the hot glue wanting to drip from the bottom of the branches as I was trying to press the plastic up in place! Notice the dangling piece below the jaw, I was thinking dragon beard but the 3yo says its the dragons tongue...so it's a tongue !

Step 7: Paint

what color is a dragon/demon spirit horse? Yeah I don't know either but the green was kind of cool just too see thru. I reached for the spray cans, black, brown, red, florescent orange (5yo said there HAD to be ORANGE) and just started randomly spraying until the majority was covered .

  I'm not sure if this will go IN the HAUNT or get set up somewhere out front. I'd still like to make the hearse but we open in less than a week and i have a dozen other projects that need to be finished... ACK !