Making a Scorpion Pumpkin Monster (Scorpunkion)

When Halloween comes around I like to decorate the front porch for the trick or treaters. Every year I try to add new and this year I decided to make a Scorpion Pumpkin Monster.

Step 1: Items You Will Need

Items:

1 Dollars store plastic skull

1 foam pumpkin

1" thick EPE packing foam

1 tube of Paintable acrylic caulking

Acrylic paints

3 wire hangars

Contact cement or hot glue gun and glue

Masking tape

Tools:

Razor knife

Paint brushes

Drill and paint mixing attachment

Wire cutters / pliers

Heat gun

Step 2: The Skull and Body

Start by cutting a hole in the foam pumpkin large enough to fit the small skull into. Once you have the hole to your liking insert the skull into the hole. Using the glue gun, fill in around the skull. I used the glue gun to make some veins on the pumpkin.

Step 3: Making the Tail

Cut pieces of the EPE foam starting with one about 2" X 2" X 3.5" and gradually ending with one roughly 1" X 1" X 1". I used a piece of wire hanger to test fit the segments together until I got them right. I used five segments but you should use as many or as few as your like.

Once you have them cut, glue them together. I used Barge contact cement, it works well on EPE foam. Hot glue will work to. Again I used the glue gun to make veins around the tail.

Step 4: Making the Legs

Cut 1" thick EPE foam into 1" wide strips about 11" long. You will need 6 of these for the legs. Once you have them cut use a razor knife to make them into cylinders, then cut each cylinder to a tapered end. Using masking tape, wrap pieces tape around the cylinders at the points where you want the legs to be jointed. Take the heat gun and holding it around 4" - 5" and away (maybe farther if your heat gun gets really hot) from the foam cylinder heat each one to shrink the circumference. Make sure not to stay in one place for too long and make sure there is proper ventilation.

Once you have each leg to your liking, cut the wire hangers into 12" sections. These will be used to give the legs shape and strength. Slid a hanger section into the center of each leg leaving the excess sticking out. If the wire does not go straight just back it out and try again. Once each leg has a hanger you can then form the leg to shape.

I also used this method to make the scorpion monster's pincers.

When all the parts are complete using Barge or hot glue mount the legs on the sides of the monster. It helps to poke holes where you want the legs and claws.

Step 5: Skinning the Beast

You can skin your monster using spray plasti-dip, Monster Mud or any number of other coatings. EPE foam is an open cell foam so it has many pores to fill, you can just paint them but the pores will still be visible. For this reason I use liquified latex caulking.

Liquified latex caulking: basically you can make this by mixing plain old water with cheap paintable latex caulking. I normally use a mixture of about 3/4th cup of water to 1 standard tube of caulking, depending on how thick you want it to be add more or less water. I use a shake mixer that I got from the local thrift store for $2.00 to make my mixture, but a paint mixer and a drill will do the same. Once you have your caulking well mixed you can begin to coat your monster, I use $0.59 chip brushes from harbor freight because they are inexpensive and disposable. I have found that three coats does a nice job.

Using liquified latex caulk is pretty cost effective, gives a relatively smooth surface for painting, makes your project more or less water resistant and add structural strength to the monster's joints, but remember, do NOT pour this stuff down your drain as it will surely clog it!

Step 6: Painting Your Monster

The caulking makes a pretty good primer coat so you should be able to go straight to painting once it is dry. I am going to use acrylic paints. I chose an orange - red scheme.
I started with an undercoating of deep red on the tail and legs.
Next I painted the pumpkin section with a warm autumn orange, I added some dark green to the segments of the pumpkin to give it a dirty look.
Using the same orange I dry brushed the top sections of the legs to highlight them and used a black green mixture to dry brush the underside of the monster and added some around the joints of the legs.
I painted the skull grey then used black to trace the lines and cracks in the skull, then dry brushed a white over it all.
I used a green to trace out the veins I made with the hot glue and to darken around the legs, tail and skull where they meet the pumpkin.
Lastly, I added the stinger and painted it to Match the bone of the skull.

Step 7: Displaying Your Creation!

As Halloween draws closer I will begin the set up the front porch making sure to find an out of the way place where the Scorpunkion can sit, ready to pounce on its next victim.

Pictured here is a spider that was made in much the same way as the Scorpunkion but instead of liquified latex it was coated with plasti-dip spray. I hope you enjoyed this Instructable and if you don't mind voting for me (Decor Contest) I would very much appreciate it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!