Audrey II

This is an Audrey II I made for Halloween this year. It was a very long process and my biggest project yet. It cost between 30-50 dollars, I don't remember the price, but the ending piece was amazing. I built the base out of foam insulation board. Here's what you will need:
About 4 sheets of insulation board
Armature Wire
3" Inch PVC Pipe (found some at Home Depot)
2 3" PVC Pipe Toliet Flanges (Also found these at Home Depot
A large Plastic Flower Pot ( Also found a big one for cheap at Home Depot)
Rocks (or something strong to place into the pot to keep it from wobbling)
Green Fabric (or whatever color you want your leaves)
Blue Fabric (or whatever color you want your gums)
Red Fabric (or what ever color you want your tongue and lips)
Purple Fabric (or what ever color you want the inside of the mouth)
Paint or Fabric (This is for the plants outer color)
Paint
Toothpicks
Stuffing
I picture of Audrey II
Tools I used:
Clamps (Both big and small)
Hacksaw
Saw(s)
Cawk Gun
Sandpaper with Woodblock
Razor Blade
Screwdriver
Sharpies
Scissors
Tacky Glue
Spray Adhesive
Double Sided Tape
Double Sided Foam Stick Tape

Step 1: Making the Head: the Top

This is probably the hardest part in the whole project. I first carved out each layer of the top of the head. Then after that was done, I cut each layer diagonally so that when I put it together, it was the shape of half of a circle. I tried attaching it with spray glue, but i didn't stick, so I used cawk instead.  For the back of the head I basically did the same thing, and then attached everything with cawk. 

Step 2: Making the Head: the Bottom

The bottom half is made using similar methods as the top half. I did the front of the top half the same way as I did the front of the top half. The back was also similar to the back of the top half, but halfway through with the back of the bottom half, I realized it needed more support, so I built two supporters on either side of the bottom half. Now, this bottom half also had to have a moving jaw, and here's where it gets complicated. I decided to make the jaw open and close by a string a pulled at the back (I'll get more into to detail later) so i had to attach the jaw to the lower part of the head with hinges. After that was done, I had my bottom half of the head, as well as the top. 

Step 3: Making the Teeth

For the teeth I used some of the left over foam, and just carved them with the razor blade. I then stuck in a toothpick and dipped them in glue to give a smoother feel. I let this dry before adding a mixture of yellow, brown and white paint. The end result was a musty color. 

Step 4: Making the Leaves, Tongue and Outer Area for the PVC Pipe

To make the leaves and tongue, I started out by making a basic shape with my armature wire, then put fabric underneath the wire, and measured how big the leaves and tongue had to be. After that, I went to the sewing machine and sewed it all up. The tongue and leaves were sewn very differently. For the tongue, i first sewed the whole thing together, then I sewed a line down the middle. After this I put in the wire, and then stuffed the tongue, and it was already to go. For the leaves, I sewed the fabric together, just like the tongue, and put the wire inside of the leaves. I realized that they weren't going stay, so I sewed another line so that the wire would stay in the leaves. I did this four times for four different leaves. I also cut and fringed the leaves to give the plant some more character. For the outer area of the PVC pipe, i just sewed together a long strip of fabric to create a pipe size piece of fabric, that easily slid over the PVC pipe.

Step 5: Open and Closing Jaw

The mechanism that opens and closes the jaw is not all that complicated. All it is, is a pulley that is opened and closed by a string. I also reinforced it with a metal plate, that has hole in it so that the string can fit through. The bottom jaw has a hook on it that the string attaches to. I then glued the string together to make sure it didn't fall apart.

Step 6: Inside of the Mouth

For the inside of the mouth, I used my purple fabric and black paint. I first covered almost everything with the purple fabric. For what I didn't color with the purple fabric, I used black paint.

Step 7: Making and Attaching the Gums and Lips

For the gums, I decided to go with a blue fabric, instead of a purple color as shown in the picture. I basically just cut the gums so that the would fit the surface of the mouth and then glued them with tacky glue. The lips were made by first sewing a strip of red fabric to make a sort of long pocket type thing. Then I stuffed it, and attached it onto the outer area of the mouth using tacky glue.

Step 8: Assembling the Pot and PVC Pipe

To make the PVC pipe stay in the pot, I bough two toilet flanges and glued one into the bottom of the pot with cawk, and then let it dry for about a week. When it was all dry, a stuck in my 3" PVC pipe, and it fit. I then glued the other flange onto the bottom of the plants head. I also drilled holes into the pot so that the leaves could go inside of the PVC pipe. I also cut holes in the fabric that went over the PVC pipe.

Step 9: Putting on the Final Fabric: the Last Step

The final step was to first glue the top and bottom together, using cawk, and then putting on the final fabric. But before any of that, I first decided to put strips of foam on the head and then put on the fabric. For the fabric, I cut the fabric, and then using a combination of double sided tape, and foam adhesive tape, I managed to put the fabric onto the head. I was very, very pleased with the end result, especially since it was made by a 13 year old with not much help.