How to make a bone?

October 28, 2005 5:11 PM

How do I make a fake bone? I want it to protrude from my pants leg for a costume and am trying to figure out what materials to use to quickly and easily make one. Advice?
posted by smartypanties to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (16 answers total)

Why not get a real bone, like a cow thigh bone? Your local butcher might have one lying around and would probably saw it to your specification if you asked nicely.
posted by ikkyu2 at 5:18 PM on October 28, 2005

Are you looking to have a whole long bone exposed? Or just a part of a bone?

Lamb bones boiled in water with a little bleach look great, because they're the real thing. You can get them after a tasty meal or could ask a real butcher (which might help get the long bone whole, too). Not quick total time, but you don't have to babysit it.

If that won't cut it, and it doesn't have to be structural, I'd go for a wrapping paper tube with papier mache over it. More actual effort, most of the time will be in the drying (start soon).
posted by whatzit at 5:18 PM on October 28, 2005

You could try using white and red (for blood) sculpey clay, but that might wind up being too hard to support from your pants leg.

My first instinct is to go with some sort of painted styrofoam. You can cut it easily enough to shape it.

Paper Mache over a toilet paper tube? Or some other tube - the drying takes some time, but it's easy enough to manipulate and can be painted to suit your needs. On preview..whatzit has it.
posted by tozturk at 5:21 PM on October 28, 2005

You might try Paperclay. You can get it at art/craft supply stores and in the art/craft section of some discount stores.
posted by lobakgo at 5:25 PM on October 28, 2005

Scroll down.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:28 PM on October 28, 2005

Paper mache around one of those skinny balloons, it will be very light, and realistic.
posted by snsranch at 5:33 PM on October 28, 2005

Response by poster: thx folks!
posted by smartypanties at 5:56 PM on October 28, 2005

Am I the only one here that got the complete wrong idea when I read that he was going to have a bone protruding from his pants?

Just wondering......
posted by TheFeatheredMullet at 7:02 PM on October 28, 2005

PVC pipe. (cut jaggies at the break and maybe colour it).

You can fill the inside with scrambled dark yellow/red jello to make it look like marrow.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 7:21 PM on October 28, 2005

Painted wood, papier-mache, or plaster.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:40 PM on October 28, 2005

Response by poster: Re: "Am I the only one here that got the complete wrong idea when I read that he was going to have a bone protruding from his pants?"
Ah Feathered Mullet, "he" is a she and i did suspect I'd get that response. But no, it's a leg bone I'm making.
posted by smartypanties at 8:46 PM on October 28, 2005

I just bought a bag of fake plastic bones to plant in my front garden (for Halloween of course!). I have a skelton out there sitting on the bench, a fake tombstone, and bones popping out of the ground.

Wouldn't one of those work? They're being sold just about everywhere, and cheap.
posted by LadyBonita at 12:18 AM on October 29, 2005

Oh, they glow in the dark, too.
posted by LadyBonita at 12:18 AM on October 29, 2005

Go to the pet store and get one of those super long rawhide dog bones, they make them is these giant extra-long lengths. You can use that as a base to cover with paper mache or just paint the bone white.
posted by necessitas at 8:37 AM on October 29, 2005

Off white paint (flat) and an appropriately sized stick from your back yard (especially ones with jagged breaks). Knock the dirt and debris off the stick, give it several coats of paint, splatter some fake blood on it, and there you have it!
posted by bjork24 at 9:47 AM on October 29, 2005

Am I the only one here that got the complete wrong idea when I read that he was going to have a bone protruding from his pants?

Nope, you're not the only one.
posted by desuetude at 5:36 PM on October 30, 2005