Headless, yes. But I think once it's complete this "scarecrow" is going to be a great addition to our haunt this year.
The main body is, at its core, constructed from perforated angle iron found at a local home improvement center. It's the stuff used for shelving. Since it's perforated, it was easy to bolt on a cross piece of flat aluminum (also perforated). I then encased the whole thing in spray foam. I worked the foam in straight lines to build up a creepy, woody-looking form. Better still, the foam was an excellent foundation to attach the roots and vines at the base and on the body. Just jammed it right in. Then secured it with a little more spray foam before spray painting. The piece is easy to anchor by pounding the bottom on the angle iron into the ground. The whole piece is very stiff but light. There's no give in the aluminum pieces so it was easy to wire two pieces of curly willow (available at better florists) for the arms and hands. Throw on some creepy cloth left over from last year and the body is nearly finished.
The head is taking shape. Heavier than I expected. But...so far, so good. Never utilized this technique before. Utilized Celluclay over the carved cauldron form. Could not have been easier to work with. Easy to sculpt. Hopefully will take a sanding, too.
Thanks to Krough and Here's Johnny for the advice and Pumpkinrot for the original creations.
