Introduction: Scary 7ft Jack-in-the-box (from Tinkercad to Real Life)
You can make this huge, 5ft ( life size) functioning jack-in-the-box for a scary Halloween prank: you walk up to your target with a box wrapped up like a present (ribbons and all), the target would then begin to open the gift and BANG! The horrifying clown would explode out of the box and succeed in terrifying your victim !!!
I will give a detailed description of how I made my Jack-in-the-box and how you can make one of your own.This project can be made entirely from home materials; I will even show you how to make the humongous spring out of wire clothes hangers!
I made all of my plans in Tinkercad because it is easy and quick to use and it offers a 360 degree view of the project. As well as this I found making the design on Tinkercad first meant that I could explode (pull apart) the individual components of the final plan and make these bits individually before assembling the final project.
First I will give a description of how I made the CAD model (and how you can too) then I will do the same for the real life prank.
(If you like this instructable I would be very grateful for your vote in the 'make it real-ly scary contest')
Materials required for final project:
12 wire clothes hangars
black bin bag
skull mask
pliers
round sponges
wrapping paper
cardboard/wooden box
paint (I used blue and red)
latex gloves (for the clown's hands)
toilet paper/ cotton wool (for stuffing the gloves)
lots of duct tape
I will give a detailed description of how I made my Jack-in-the-box and how you can make one of your own.This project can be made entirely from home materials; I will even show you how to make the humongous spring out of wire clothes hangers!
I made all of my plans in Tinkercad because it is easy and quick to use and it offers a 360 degree view of the project. As well as this I found making the design on Tinkercad first meant that I could explode (pull apart) the individual components of the final plan and make these bits individually before assembling the final project.
First I will give a description of how I made the CAD model (and how you can too) then I will do the same for the real life prank.
(If you like this instructable I would be very grateful for your vote in the 'make it real-ly scary contest')
Materials required for final project:
12 wire clothes hangars
black bin bag
skull mask
pliers
round sponges
wrapping paper
cardboard/wooden box
paint (I used blue and red)
latex gloves (for the clown's hands)
toilet paper/ cotton wool (for stuffing the gloves)
lots of duct tape
Step 1: Tinkercad: the Box
(You can just use my designs, get them on the Tinkercad website, if you don't want to design your own jack in the box version or, indeed, not at all because using Tinkercad isn't strictly necessary but it does help a lot for planning)
Although I will give basic tutorials for using the software If you are new to Tinkercad I would advise using their comprehensive and free tutorials.
With all of these steps you must feel free to change dimensions and shapes etc to suit your own version:
1)Open Tinkercad and begin by selecting the box tool; make the box as shown in the images by clicking and dragging the orange colored box tool on the side of the screen.
2) Next step is to make the two lid flaps, as shown, by compressing a cube shape, rotating it using the curved arrows hovering above it and then fixing the scale to fit. Then just copy another one onto the other side and rotate as appropriate.
Although I will give basic tutorials for using the software If you are new to Tinkercad I would advise using their comprehensive and free tutorials.
With all of these steps you must feel free to change dimensions and shapes etc to suit your own version:
1)Open Tinkercad and begin by selecting the box tool; make the box as shown in the images by clicking and dragging the orange colored box tool on the side of the screen.
2) Next step is to make the two lid flaps, as shown, by compressing a cube shape, rotating it using the curved arrows hovering above it and then fixing the scale to fit. Then just copy another one onto the other side and rotate as appropriate.
Step 2: Tinkercad: the Hole and Spring
Place the grey striped 'hole' box into the middle of your orange box and by clicking shift and pushing in one of the the white scale dot on a corner you can re-size your hole cube so that it fits inside the box.
Now, click the drop down bar on the side entitled 'community shape scripts.'select the shape which looks like a spring,click and drag, and you will need to re-scale and shape the spring to fit into your box . well done, your box is complete. feel free to add lettering etc onto the sides.
Now, click the drop down bar on the side entitled 'community shape scripts.'select the shape which looks like a spring,click and drag, and you will need to re-scale and shape the spring to fit into your box . well done, your box is complete. feel free to add lettering etc onto the sides.
Step 3: Tinkercad: the Body and Arms
Use the paraboloid shape on the shapes drop down bar to make the basic form for your body. Once this has been done take two cylinder shapes elongate them and then using the technique covered in the first step hold shift and scale the cylinders down until they are the correct size for arms. Push them into the body at points just below the tip, about 1/3 of the way down.
To make the two hand shapes on the end of each arm I imported a pre-made hand, courtesy of user Agustin M Sevilla, for the clown's grippers. To do this I searched 'hand' on the tinkercad website and opened Agustin M Sevilla's hand model. Then I selected the whole hand model and copied it onto my open document where I was making the jack in the box.scale the hands down so that they fit onto the arms and don't look out of place.
Color all of this in a way which you deem appropriate to the event, I used blacks and oranges all together because it was for Halloween.
To make the two hand shapes on the end of each arm I imported a pre-made hand, courtesy of user Agustin M Sevilla, for the clown's grippers. To do this I searched 'hand' on the tinkercad website and opened Agustin M Sevilla's hand model. Then I selected the whole hand model and copied it onto my open document where I was making the jack in the box.scale the hands down so that they fit onto the arms and don't look out of place.
Color all of this in a way which you deem appropriate to the event, I used blacks and oranges all together because it was for Halloween.
Step 4:
I then using the same process copied a skull shape from the Tinkercad community, courtesy of user 'Mason', and used this as the main base for my clowns face. I made two little half sphere for the cheeks and a stretched oval for over the eyes however by all means go ahead and decorate in your own way.
For the strange ears I slotted 3 spheres together and for the hat I simply used a cone.
I used a color scheme of blue and red for the face because it is traditional for clowns to be painted this color.
Now, to finish off simply place the clown onto the top of the spring right at the top. Now your model is complete.
For the strange ears I slotted 3 spheres together and for the hat I simply used a cone.
I used a color scheme of blue and red for the face because it is traditional for clowns to be painted this color.
Now, to finish off simply place the clown onto the top of the spring right at the top. Now your model is complete.
Step 5: Making the Real Life Piece:The Box and Spring
Firstly you need to take your cardboard box and some appropriate wrapping paper. wrap up your box much like you would do a present. Once done, cut slits into the top of your wrapping paper so that the box's lid is able to open up. For an extra touch I would advise taking a little ribbon and wrapping it around this 'gift box' to make it look even more like a present.
This is the most complicated part:
1) take one of your 12 clothes hangers
2) using your pair of pliers unravel the twist at the hooked end of the handger and straiten it all out so that it is a long strip of wire.
3)now take your straight wire and circle it around a thin cardboard tube (it expands) in a helix shape, you should get around 4-5 turns on a single clothes hangar.
4)finally you unravel the next clothes hangar but before you spiral it you need to twist the end around the end of the just having been spiraled wire so that it forms an even longer piece of wire,half of which is twisted. complete the job by twisting the remainder of the wire and continue the sequence until all 12 have been used up.
5) stick using either hot glue or duct tape or a combination of both, the spring to the bottom of the box. If you want complete rigidity when the clown jumps up and no swaying from side to side you can place a long stick going through the spring and attaching to the bottom of the box, this does however ruin the surprise a little.If you do this you need to ensure a hole is placed through the skull head so that the whole thing can actually slide down.
This is the most complicated part:
1) take one of your 12 clothes hangers
2) using your pair of pliers unravel the twist at the hooked end of the handger and straiten it all out so that it is a long strip of wire.
3)now take your straight wire and circle it around a thin cardboard tube (it expands) in a helix shape, you should get around 4-5 turns on a single clothes hangar.
4)finally you unravel the next clothes hangar but before you spiral it you need to twist the end around the end of the just having been spiraled wire so that it forms an even longer piece of wire,half of which is twisted. complete the job by twisting the remainder of the wire and continue the sequence until all 12 have been used up.
5) stick using either hot glue or duct tape or a combination of both, the spring to the bottom of the box. If you want complete rigidity when the clown jumps up and no swaying from side to side you can place a long stick going through the spring and attaching to the bottom of the box, this does however ruin the surprise a little.If you do this you need to ensure a hole is placed through the skull head so that the whole thing can actually slide down.
Step 6: Making the Real Life Piece: Stuffing the Hands and Clothing the Spring
Now for the actual construction:
Stick two cardboard cylinders onto the spring itself using duct tape (and cable ties for added strength if you wish) these will be the arms. Next, take two latex gloves and stuff them with toilet paper or cotton wool for an added 3D effect, to get to the fingers and use a pencil to jab the stuffing in. stick these hands onto the arms using, again, duct tape and/or hot glue. you have your completed arms.
Once this has been completed you should take a black bin bag, this will be the clowns clothing because it is extremely light weight and so doesn't hinder the explosion of the spring but also looks significantly rag-like and scary. simply cut two slits for the hands and arms in the bag and one for the head and slip it over the spring. you need not stick this down because it needs to be loose in order for easy compression and extension when coming out of the box.
Stick two cardboard cylinders onto the spring itself using duct tape (and cable ties for added strength if you wish) these will be the arms. Next, take two latex gloves and stuff them with toilet paper or cotton wool for an added 3D effect, to get to the fingers and use a pencil to jab the stuffing in. stick these hands onto the arms using, again, duct tape and/or hot glue. you have your completed arms.
Once this has been completed you should take a black bin bag, this will be the clowns clothing because it is extremely light weight and so doesn't hinder the explosion of the spring but also looks significantly rag-like and scary. simply cut two slits for the hands and arms in the bag and one for the head and slip it over the spring. you need not stick this down because it needs to be loose in order for easy compression and extension when coming out of the box.
Step 7: Making the Real Life Piece: Painting the Mask and Making the Frilled Collar
The final stage is to take your skull mask (which you can make yourself from papier mache if you can't find one for sale) and using either my pattern or your own paint on, using acrylics, your clowns scary face.
I sprayed the face in white and then added the details which can be seen by hand.
I found that highlighting the teeth with red looks fairly gruesome and covering the eyes with blue is quite alarming.
slick your sponges and/or sponge balls onto the clowns head for hair and as an added extra I place ping pong balls into the eye sockets but left them plain for a ghostly effect.
For the final touch you can take a sheet of A4 paper and fold it such that you make a landscape spring and then stick this to 10 more of the same to produce a traditional frilled neck for the clown, I crunched mine up a bit to make it look a bit more menacing.
Leave all the paint to dry and they you can stick the head and frilled neck onto the tip of the spring.
I sprayed the face in white and then added the details which can be seen by hand.
I found that highlighting the teeth with red looks fairly gruesome and covering the eyes with blue is quite alarming.
slick your sponges and/or sponge balls onto the clowns head for hair and as an added extra I place ping pong balls into the eye sockets but left them plain for a ghostly effect.
For the final touch you can take a sheet of A4 paper and fold it such that you make a landscape spring and then stick this to 10 more of the same to produce a traditional frilled neck for the clown, I crunched mine up a bit to make it look a bit more menacing.
Leave all the paint to dry and they you can stick the head and frilled neck onto the tip of the spring.
Step 8: DONE
Your jack-in-the-box is complete...BANG !!
As I have said previously, modifications are possible, for example if you wish to remove the central stick for that extra surprise factor you can easily do so (just be sure to widen you spring coil to about 25 cm diameter for optimum stability).
As I have said previously, modifications are possible, for example if you wish to remove the central stick for that extra surprise factor you can easily do so (just be sure to widen you spring coil to about 25 cm diameter for optimum stability).