Monster Mud

Mud head in progress

When I was a Kid, I loved to play in the Mud but now I’m all grown up and hey…I still love to play in the Mud, Monster Mud that is. If you’ve never used it before that’s fine. I once was a Jedi too, but now’s your chance to learn and it’s simple. All you need is 5 gallons of Joint compound and 1 gallon of black latex paint. You’ll also need an empty 5 gallon bucket. Take half the contents of Joint compound and pour it into the empty bucket. Now you should have two buckets that are half full with Joint compound. Mix up your black paint and pour half in one bucket and the other have in the other bucket. Now you need to mix up the buckets. The first time I mixed this stuff I used a mop handle. I’ll never do it that way again, for 2 reasons. 1st reason is this stuff is super thick and I can find much better ways to get my work out. 2nd reason is by the time you get done mixing both buckets your creature could have already been built. If you don’t already have a paint mixer that attaches to your drill get one. They are worth that little bit of money that you’ll spend at the hardware store. Now go ahead and mix up your buckets thoroughly. Your monster mud should now look gray. Make sure you make a promise to yourself that you will not neglect your monster mud. Keep him in his container when you’re not playing with him. Do not keep him in the barn for the winter, when you go to play with him next year he’ll be Dead!!!

Mud head after

Now that you have a new best friend he’ll need some play mates, Chicken wire and burlap. Both can be found at the hardware store. Take your burlap and cut it up into different size squares (preferably smaller). If you’re going to build something big you’ll need to build a frame out of 2x4’s. Just keep in mind that the bigger you go the heavier it will be. My first project that I made was huge (5 different sections). It was a tree that some one could get inside and control the eyes and mouth. Now get your chicken wire and cut it the size that you need. You’ll most likely be doing a lot of cutting and I find that a pair of dikes works nicely. If you use a smaller pair of cutters your hands will get tired after a while. You will have to mold your chicken wire and add on to it. Let’s just say that you were working on a monster head. If you were going to add ears to it you would have to cut a triangular piece of chicken wire. Then put a curve to your ear. The base of the ear should have all those little sharp wires that you have already cut sticking out. Push those wires through the head and bend them around the wires on the head. This will secure the ear to the head.

 

Once you’re done doing your chicken wire frame work put on a pair of latex gloves. It’s time to play in the mud. You don’t have to use a pair of latex gloves. I’ve done this for a long time and discovered that clean up is a lot easier if you do wear a pair. Now dip one of your pieces into the Monster mud. Run it through your fisted hand just to pull off the excess. Flatten out you burlap onto the chicken wire. Now get another piece of burlap and do the same thing, this time overlap it onto the last piece. Rinse and repeat until you have a nice portion of your chicken wire frame covered. Now grab a handful of mud and run it across the top of all your burlap pieces. Just enough so that you can no longer see the tiny squares and overlapped pieces. Continue on until it’s all covered. The burlap works like rebar would to concrete. You’ll most likely want to do a couple of layers. This stuff varies on drying time depending on the humidity of the air. At the least it takes 24hrs sometimes more. If your working on something that is round (like a head) You’ll have to wait until the front side dries. If you try and flip it over when it’s wet all of you burlap will just flop off. Once it’s dry flip it over. Rub some mud onto the dry portion that you are going to be putting your next piece of burlap. Now place your mudded burlap on top of that. When everything is dry you can paint it. If you’re going to be putting it outside you will have to coat it with a few layers of Krylon- Clear coat. Ok now I’ve given you the Knowledge it’s all up to you. Take it and mold it and most of all have fun playing in the Mud.

 




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