alien tentacles?

[Gobo_Tron2]

I'm building a latex monster. The body is around 2.5 feet in diameter and I need to build tentacles for it. I want them to be around 4-feet long with a width (at the widest part) of around 1.5 inches, but they're going to be manipulated by performers so I need them to be very flexible as well, capable of coiling around an object like a horse whip. If anyone has any knowledge of how to do this, please let me know. For an existing example, the effect I'm looking for is very similar to the 'Audrey II' vines (Little Shop of Horrors), but I don't have any technical info about that puppet.

 

[Ruben]

Alien tentacles? you could try using medical tubing like the the stuff on a doctors stethascope and thread it with wire to be able to control it? or you could do that and then have like a pom pom on top and conect some sortof thin invisable wire to the pompom and have it hanging down. so you'd have the wire through the tube for the puppeteer to hold, then the invisable wire coming out of the top could be used to wrap around things? maybe that gave you some ideas?

 

[Teenager's]

The moving and stuff is sort of easy.....the coiling part seems hard. In the movie the vines were marrionette like performed from above as well as cables from below....is that possible for you to do?....I mean the marrionette part

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I'd suggest going to Home Depot and look at the various types of flexible PVC tubing they sell (usually in the electrical section, but check plumbing too). I use medical tubing sometimes, but the flexible PVC stuff will probably coil better and give you the effect you're going for. I've built several Audrey IIs and that was how I always did the tentacles. If you're doing some kind of cable control it's easy to run the cable through the tubing and often the tubing will just naturally coil and flail around looking very cool just because it's attached to the body.

I hope that helps!

 

[Gobo_Tron2]

Home Depot PVC tubing was actually my original idea, but the problem is that around a half-inch (outer diameter), the tubing becomes terribly stiff. Even using a heavy rod it wouldn't flex much, and suspension wires would be useless. Unless what you're thinking of is a different variety. What my local store has though was just awful.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Must be different because the thinner what I use is the more it tends to coil. I don't really know the English name of what I've been using lately off hand but I will try to snap a picture tonight and post it.

 

[practicecactus]

First thought I had was having maybe a small rubber tube, threaded through discs [some hard thick material] spaced a fair distance apart and covered with a thin foam or latex or whatever. I dunno if it will wrap around stuff ok.
And if you wanted Cone-like tentacles you'd just change the size of the discs acordingly.
Dunno how'd you'd wanna operate it though. Wire, string, or animatronic cable controlled from inside.

 

[Sam Bald Eagle]

gobo tron2

if you email me ill send you a cable control tnticle/tounge design hopefully it will help