WIP: Sentinel Modifications

The Sentinel statues created last spring received some modifications including shortening and straightening in order to make them suitable to be placed on top of cemetery columns. The addition of paper towel soaked in papier mache paste added the ragged robe/cloth effect.

Q&A: Figuring Dimensions

Questions regarding my projects and papier mache regularly fill my mailbox. In an effort to answer these questions and share information some of these questions will be regularly featured on this blog.

Missy wrote:

“I am building the sentinel props for Halloween. This is my first time making a prop and also using paper mache. In reference to the measurements for the skeletal structure, I cant seem to find a picture of a skeleton to get the right measurements. My sentinels head measures 9" from top of the head to the bottom of the jaw. I can’t figure out how to measure the rest of the bones for the rest of the body. Can you give me some information on how to find the right measurements on a website or something? “

Whenever I build the body for one of my papier mache heads or skulls I use a print out of a skeleton diagram where the length of the skull equals one inch. Click on the above photograph and print the diagram (you may have to save it to your computer first), then measure the skull, the length should be about one inch.

The one inch ratio is very easy to work with , I used Photoshop to resize a graphic that I found online.

If your skull is 9 inches from the top of the head to the bottom of the jaw then when using the diagram the ratio will be one inch = nine inches. If you want to know the dimensions for the upper arm or Humerus then measure the diagram.

The Humerus on the diagram is 1.5 inches. If one inch on the diagram equals nine inches for your prop you would need to make your upper arm bone about 13.5 inches long, or 9 x 1.5.

If your skull measured 21 inches long then it would be 21 x 1.5 equaling 31.5 inches and so on.

The measurements aren’t exact but are close enough to create a convincing prop. Good Luck!

Q&A: Sentinels

Questions regarding my projects and papier mache regularly fill my mailbox. In an effort to answer these questions and share information some of these questions will be regularly featured on this blog.

Jason wrote:

“What can be used other than the starch bottles ? I just don't use starch.”

Austin wrote:

“Hi, I was reading about how to make the halloween sentinals and i was just wondering what you used for the arms,hands, and collar bones. Thank you.”

The answer to the first question is any object will work to create the body armature for the Sentinels, I used starch bottles because I use liquid starch in my paste but any similiarily size and shaped bottle would work. Items that come to mind would be plastic juice containers, laundry detergent bottles, two liter pop bottles. My only advice would to make sure the container was relatively strong and resistant to crushing.

The arms, hands and collar bones were created from sheets of newspaper rolled into tubes then assembled with hot glue and tape to make the armature. The newspaper rolls were wrapped with masking tape for strength then coated with several layers of strip mache.

When creating the rib cage armatures for my creatures I always reference a photo or illustration of the human skeleton. The rolled tube of newspaper was flattened and bent to create the basic shape for the collarbone.

Fingers were created from small tubes of rolled newspaper and utility wire inserted into each finger.

Each finger was hot glued to a piece of corrugated cardboard cut into the shape of a palm.

Basic shapes all assembled to create the desired form.

The tutorial for the Sentinels can be found here.

Sentinel Improvements

After my last Frog Workshop class I had quite a bit of clay left over that needed to be used otherwise it would have to be tossed so I decided to make some improvements/modifications to my Sentinels that were created last Spring for The Mad Lab.



The Sentinels were somewhat unfinished still needing some additional detailing on the face, ribs, hands and wings plus I really wanted to use monster mud on the fabric to accentuate the draping and appear stone-like. The final paint job on the two pieces was also less than great so improvements were definitely in order.

First I removed the fabric shrouds and used my papier mache clay to bulk up the shoulder and ribcage and gave them some additional texture.





Additional clay was also added to the skulls essentially adding some width around the eye sockets.

A cookie press was used to add veins to the wings. The addition of veining to the wings really added some interest and gave the pieces some much needed visual flow and continuity, the wings now appear to be flowing from the body, they look like they belong on the statues.

Note: The aluminum can positioned between the skull and wing in the photos is a temporary support for the wing so it dries







Some more clay was applied to the joints and hands mostly for strength.

The next step will be to add fabric that has been coated with monster mud and draped onto the statues creating a heavy looking hood and robe.

The plan is also to add some twisted vines to the base of each Sentinel making them appear as if they have been overtaken by nature.

The Sentinels

The Sentinels were created from papier mache over an armature created from plastic buckets, plastic milk jugs, plastic bottles, plastic grocery bags, cardboard and lots of masking tape and hot glue. The figures stand 4 1/2 feet tall and will be used to guard the entrance to our 2009 Halloween display.

The Sentinels are also part of the April 2009 Mad Lab contest where others were challenged to create something from a plastic bucket. Check out The Mad Lab to see all the entries and check out my website to see how these were created.