01 Apr
Now I’ll show how I constructed the antlers for the steampunk deer head. I originally wanted to make one antler look natural, while the other look like a steampunk cyborg replacement of copper pipe. The problem is, the price of copper is so high right now, that it would have cost $50 just in that small amount for the antler. I decided that I could do a good job of making PVC look like copper with only a fraction of the cost. With some research, I arrived at a design for my antlers and got to work.
The natural side would be made of papier-mâché, but would need an armature. Looking around my junk pile, I found an old rusty drill bit extender that I bent into the right shape and glued it into a drilled out hole in the deer head armature.
Bent drill bit extender as armature
From here, I added another piece of metal rod I found, then bent into shape, and used the tightening nut on the drill bit extender to affix it.
More length added and bent into shape
Then, I found an old leaf rake head and removed a couple metal tines and bent them around the rods and Gorilla glued them in place as the armature for spikehorns on the antler. Great way to upcycle and repurpose some old junk!
Rake tines as spikehorns
For the pipe side, I began by drilling a hole in the wooden armature that was large enough to accomodate a threaded PVC coupler and glued and screwed in in place.
PVC coupler as anchor for pipe antler
Now the rest of the antler can be cut, shaped and glued into place.
The whole rack, ready for detailing
Next time, I’ll show how I began adding the thickness of the flesh to the deer head and how I made provisions for the eyes. Stay tuned!