How to Make Noodle Roots
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- NOTE 4/4/23 - The spray paint I base coated this project with does not bond well to the stretch wrap. A better base coat is a mix of 1 part carpet adhesive 1 part latex and 1 part black exterior paint.
This is a tutorial video for something I came up with based on Alan Hopp's plastic corpsing technique. I sculpt and corpse pool noodles into "Noodle Roots" that make awesome looking roots, vines, branches, tentacles, horns and a variety of other creepy looking props. They are fairly simple to make, inexpensive, weather proof and lightweight. These are what I created our vine arch from as well as the roots coming off the base of our pumpkin king. Just remember, if you are making these for a larger structure like and arch or something, don't paint them at all until the entire piece is made or you will have a hard time getting the pieces to stick together with heat.
This is very similar to the stretch wrap I used in the video - amzn.to/2XjFVrq
The heat gun I use is no longer listed on Amazon, but this one is very similar - amzn.to/2T2ToW9
And if anyone doesn't mind spending a little more to have black pool noodles so they don't have to be so careful with the base coat, here they are. amzn.to/35Sjgqs
This tutorial is for personal use only. If you want to make this prop for your own haunt, that is fine. No recreation is allowed for resale or production without written consent.
you are genius!!!!! Best eve!
Abosultely love what you've done. Your explaination of the process is very much appreciated. Please keep us posted on any future work!
Finally working on my own. I keep rewatching this vid .
I spent 5 hours looking for a cheap way to make light weight tree branches on you tube. Your's was the only one that was cheap and effective. Thank you. I knew the method to make corps from plastic skeletons. I do not know why I did not think of this myself. Sometimes you can be so busy thinking of the best hard way to do props that you miss the best easy way.
How many pool noodles do you use? I can't find the list of items to make this
This is impressive! 🤩🤩🤩
amazing work! I do a LOT of plastic corpsing, and never even thought how close it would look to wood. Right, I'm off to make a tree monster now, you've earned my subscription.
This look awesome
What details!!! Absolutely love how that came out. You saved me allot of money. I almost went iut and bought one. Thank you.
WOW What a set up! Love it! Your painting/staining method is definite improvement over what I was doing! You've got me in the mode to start melting plastic again. Thanks for the tutorial!!!
Wow! Incredible!!
Love this! I've got to make a tree for a fairy themed baby shower. I'm doing this! Also I will be making creepy hallowwen trees for my haunted house. Love it! Thanks
Good job!
I really appreciate the (mostly) real-time process. It shows how you think about the shape and form, how you cover and blend certain areas, etc. That's something I rarely see creators show.
Thanks! I normally do subtitled videos instead of speaking because I tend to mumble and have a weird Virginia/country accent and the combo makes it hard to understand me sometimes. I also hate the sound of my own voice too as we all do. I tend to just plow through a project and film it as I go instead of setting up to film it in a "proper" format. No fancy setup, just a phone camera on a tripod pointing at what I'm doing and I'm good to go. I had my son help me out and film this one for me.
I’m so excited to try this! Thank you so much for this video ❤
These look fantastic!!
great explanation!
Man this is amazing idea i have corpsed a few things never thought of this! thanks for this video it is going to be a perfect entrance to the haunted house. Cheers.
Using one layer of drybrushing for highlights and then hitting it with stain is both a great cost and time saving for a project like this! I was doing my painting with painstaking layers of drybrushing before, but it rapidly became unmanageable as I moved to bigger props.
I'm planning to give my old, tired archways a root makeover this year. Thanks for the tutorial!
Man, you are an ARTEEST!! Well done!
Like the stain as opposed to paint.
A century years later I'm done making my effects. Looks very good
It IS a time consuming project to be sure!
Thank you so much for sharing this! Excellent and really is pretty easy! Love how it looks!
These look great ! This is making me rethink an item for this year.
After the stain dries you could do some more dry brushing to bring out some areas again. Also could run some watery green in some of the cracks to get that mould look
When I heat gun plastic I wear one of those oven-gloves . Cant feel the heat at all.
Thinking of adding moss at the bottom some. I use the bagged moss from craft stores and just glue it on.
Damn thats Freakin Awesome !! I'm so using that technique ...Thanks for Sharing !! HFL!!
Been waiting for this tutorial
Sick! Awesome technique for any haunter to have!
thank you for posting this!
Awesome job thanks for sharing
I'm going to make a canoe prop and try this method...obviously no splitting noodles etc...ill let you know how it goes.
wonderful work and wonderful tutorial!
again great work! thanks for the tutorial.
This is awesome! didnt know you could heat up plastic bags or saran wrap and it'll look like veins or vines! Great job
It's called "corpsing" and can be used for a variety of effects. It's most commonly used over plastic skeletons to create the look of rotted or mummified flesh. I've been experimenting with other ways to use it since it's such an inexpensive way to get a great look.
it's not toxic or gives off toxic fumes right?
I can't say 100% that it does not. I do notice a slight smell and I'm sure that prolonged exposure in a confined area probably wouldn't be healthy. Just be sure your work space is well ventilated and you should be fine.
i usually just work outside in my backyard, thanks again for the info!
Good to go then! If you ever do decide to get a respirator be sure you get the chemical vapor filters for it and not just the dust filters. I use one when I'm working with strong chemicals or carving styrofoam with a hot knife. You can get a decent mask for around $15 off amazon or at Lowes and the vapor filters for it run around $10
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!!🎃
so awesome!!!
I wish I had dry brushes the khaki paint more...I made one turned out amazing..
Ginger do you have a picture? I'd love to see it
How do you attach the milk jug skulls to the noodle arch? You are amazing! I’m making the arch but it takes a lot of time and patience! Thank you!
I just used the heat gun to "weld" the edges by melting there and pressing on it. Don't burn yourself.
How much carpet adhesive and liquid latex to make you archway would you recommend and is there any brands better than others?
I would think a gallon of each would be plenty for most arches. (2 gallons once mixed together) I'd mix it up in smaller quart sized batches so none will go to waste if it's too much. Add 1 part black house paint and it will save you some time base coating. I have not long term tested that method of base coating as of yet. I'm doing a bunch of corpsed pumpkins with it and will see how they fare for a month in the elements come Halloween. Initial testing is very promising though.
Excuse my ignorance, this is a bit confusing since I am new, so is it 2 or 3 parts? I thought we had to include the black exterior base coat. This is separate from the 1 gal of carpet adhesive and 1 gal of liquid latex? Do you have specific brands we should be looking for?
one part each@@nataliecontreras881
I’m looking to make this, but having trouble figuring out this mix blend for the base coat. Do you have specific recommendations of exactly what products?
Lately I've been doing a 50/50 mix of latex and carpet adhesive. If you use black latex you can save yourself a step by not having to base coat it with black paint. I used the Roberts 4002 carpet adhesive from Home Depot and Monster Makers black latex. - www.monstermakers.com/rd-407-mask-making-latex/ I got a gallon of each and mix it up one cup to one cup at a time so I don't mix too much at once. The mix will be thick and smelly and will still be a bit tacky once dried until the finish paint it done over it.
Awesome, I will get right on it then, thank you so much for this!!!
@@OakLaneCemetery Thanks for this awesome tutorial! Do you apply this mixture with a brush or sprayer? Do you think doing a coat of 3M spray adhesive and a second coat of black spray paint would achieve the same result?
Great video!! Any chance you'll post a video showing how you attach them onto the structure together?
I have an album on our Facebook page that shows in photos how I made the arch.
How do you get it to dry?? I had no problem with the paint or dry brushing but when I added the stain, it never dried
A few days of hot temps and sun should do it, if not you can mist it with flat finish clear coat to force it to dry. Bigger stained projects like this seem to not want to dry very fast and stay tacky for what seems like forever sometimes.
I don't have access to free stretch wrap so I'm considering taking these scraps of pool noodle I cut off to stuff in the middle, maybe with one or two layers of wrap over it to secure it to a root. Has anybody else tried this? Did it have staying power?
I'm not sure what you mean. The scraps you cut off of the noodles when you shaped them? I used those scraps extensively to make little side branches on the arch.
I love the look! How do they hold up in weather?
The structure holds up great. The paint, however, has been a bit of a headache due to the sun causing expansion and contraction of the plastic, which cracks and pops off the paint. Using a flexible base coat like spray addhesive seems to have greatly reduced the issue. My arch is still going strong after 6 years.
Stumbled upon this a day AFTER the pool noodles were on sale! Still bought them anyway! However, mine are the thinner noodles, will I still be able to achieve this (I sure hope so, I got about 40 just in case)
omg freakin awesome!!!!!
Fantastic tutorial!!! This reminds me of when Mike Bachman made his trees with the thick plastic bags. After I watched him, I made an entire body out of Walmart bags. Man, did that ever take a lot of bags and a LOT of melting! LOL
Now I want to try making noddle roots! Your arch turned out amazing! Thank you so much for making this tutorial and for sharing! And I love your shirt. Where did you get it?
I do believe he was the inspiration for the noodle sock I made to go over the post. I realized pretty quick that in my case I needed to remove the chicken wire frame to get it to work for my purposes. I did a body bag body from plastic jugs, a foam wig head, bottles and jugs, pool noodles and a pair of plastic skelly hands and feet. Wrapped it all in black plastic table cloth layers and shrank it with the heat gun. Came out really good and stands up to being slammed, drug and abused by my son/actor using it as a prop Halloween night.
Found it on Amazon. Just search build the haunt shirt.
That is so cool that you made a body bag. I need to make at least one of those. It really does hold up to being abused. I hung my woman that I made using the Walmart bags in our 'freezer room' and she gets bumped into every time someone goes thru there. Her body is heavy like a real person too! And I don't have to worry about the rats eating her! LOL
I think I may try this this year. Got out of Haunting for a bit...but ready to get back into it! By the way, LOVE your shirt! Where did you get it?
I have no idea where that shirt came from. I've got so many shirts that were given to me for holidays and birthdays.
This is amazing! Does it break down for storage?
Nope
What is the temperature setting on the heat gun?
If memory serves it was 450f. Needs to be hot enough to melt and bubble the plastic if held in one spot. Go easy on it at first and once you get a few layers built up you can really get on it with the heat and not worry too much about melting the noodle underneath.
Would you please tell me where you buy the Stretch Wrap Plastic, 20 inches wide, .90 mil that You use? I can't find it in any stores or online. Thank You.
Amazon or Ebay should have it. You don't HAVE to use the exact same wrap I did. Any reasonably thick stretch wrap film should work. If it's a bit on the thin side you might have to do more layers and go a bit lighter on the heat when you first start layering. Just don't try to use something as thin as saran wrap. Tried it once and it shrivels up to nothing.
Fantastic video, technique works incredibly well. Any recommendations for how you might modify this technique to make large bones? Building a very large skeleton.
PVC pipe inside the noodle holes to stiffen them up? Keep in mind you don't have to use noodles though. You can corpse over pretty much anything if you try hard enough.
I’m going to try this for my trees this year, I’ll tag you in my video. Where do you get your shrink wrap from?
I get my wrap from where I work. We throw out a lot of rolls because if they get nicked or otherwise damaged they won't run right in our cocoon wrapper. About the only thing I can tell you for sure about the stuff I use is that it's .90mil. Any reasonably thick wrap should work. (They sell black wrap on Amazon, but it's pricey) Saran wrap will not work, it's too thin. Be sure to get at least 5 layers down so you can get lots of texture without melting the noodles.
Question-what is the durability of these pieces? Do they start shredding and flaking over time?
Yes. There is an issue with flaking. I partially solved it by coating the plastic with spray adhesive before painting. Testing out Gorilla clear sealant spray as a protective coating this season.
Hi there!!! Absolutely loveeeee this tutorial. Just found your page and wow there are some amazing things on here! Do you sell any of your work for purchase? If so I would be interested in buying for our annual Halloween party! Thank you so much.
I have an Etsy shop, where I sell a few things from time to time. It's pretty well cleaned out right now this close to Halloween and I won't go back into making things until after the end of the year. www.etsy.com/shop/OakLaneCemetery
This is spot-on!! Is the stretch film considered the heat-shrink film or just common stretch film? I can't wait to build this one!
Just regular ole stretch wrap film. It does shrink a bit when heat is applied though.
i was wonder what is the plastic you used to corpse the frame my wife and i are looking to make thsi very project this summer by the way its awesome
I used a heavy stretch wrap that is used for wrapping pallets for shipment. It was .90 mil thickness
thank you for the fast reply
I did this but after applying the stain, it still had a shone to it. Is there anything I can do to make the color look dull or flat?
After a while out in the elements the shine will go away and the colors will fade some. Takes a couple of weeks.
A spray of flat finish clear coat would speed up the process.
Thanks for the reply, I'll give it another day or two and add the clear coat of needed.
How did you get your 'branches' to intertwine the way they did for the arch and were they made first, then applied, or pieced on the arch as they were made? If so, how did you get them to stay on with the other branches without falling down? I noticed there were quite a few layers used. I want something like this used as an arch for my wedding! It's amazing!!!
I forced some curviness into the branches as I made them. I made branches individually and attached them one by one. When attaching them I tried them in different spots and positions until I found one that worked well with the shape of the particular branch. Since I was just melting them in place with the heat gun to attach them I was able to further direct bends to where I wanted by "welding" to adjoining branches to get the intertwined look. I didn't paint anything till the entire assembly was done. Paint interferes with the melting together of the plastic.
Where do you get your skeletons from
Wherever I can find them cheap. I usually pick up a few at the local store's Halloween clearance sales. The ones from Target and Walgreen's are the main type I look for because they have better looking skulls and the toes are separate.
@@OakLaneCemetery ok thank you
What type of plastic is that? Where do you get a big roll like that? This was awesome, thanks for sharing.
Stretch wrap film You can get it on Amazon, or anywhere that sells shipping/moving supplies.
Thank You for making this video! I realize you get your Stretch Wrap Plastic as odd ends from your job but can you tell me where they get it and the exact type? U-line? I ask because, after searching online for a supplier of stretch wrap plastic, I find that there are so, so many different types and suppliers. I would sincerely appreciate your help.Again, Thank You!
The manufacturer or source probably does not matter much. As long as it's the thicker type ( I used .90 mil) it should all work pretty much the same. If you use wrap that is too thin, like saran wrap, you will have a lot of issues getting it to layer up thick without melting holes in it and having a ton of shrinkage. I'd just go with whatever the best deal you can find on some good thick wrap.
Is this shrink wrap or just plastic wrap?
It is stretch wrap. The kind used for wrapping pallets for shipping.
About how many pool noodles did you use? And could you use foam pipe insulation noodles?
Somewhere around 20, a mix of medium and small. Some of the thinner limbs are actually rolled plastic I melted together. I think pipe insulation may be too soft to withstand much heat. Try a piece and find out.
Very nice! What color stain did you use?
I believe it was Minwax Early American, but It's a matter of personal preference. I've seen a couple of people forgo the stain for a more dry, parched look.
looking in the background, I noticed a straight part of the arch - is that correct? If so, what did you use, noodles still or perhaps pvc or something else? Great Job! I am so doing this for my yard. I just picked up some noodles, now I am going to ask for a heat gun for mothers day.
There is a pvc frame hidden in there
About how many noodles does it take? Like for something like your arch?
Over 20. I didn't do an accurate count.
How many rolls of plastic wrap did u use ?
No idea. I used a few scrap "butt" rolls I got from my work for free. I would estimate less than 2 of the big rolls. I did around 5 layers thick to build up enough thickness to get texture without destroying the pool noodle. It's a tedious process. I'm currently working on some more noodle roots to connect the arch with our pumpkin patch/pumpkin king area.
Love the video and the level detail you went into on how to create the wood looking effect was great. Couple questions.
1) You mention in the some comments that the paint flakes off after some weathering. I would guess the clear plastic and colored noodles would show then. I found some 100 gauge black stretch wrap from Uline for concealed shipping. That seems like it would work well, still being black even if some paint came off. Have you tried any of that material before? How well did it work?
2) Do you have a video of you attaching all the pieces together on a frame to make the arch? I see how to make the seperate pieces. I'm just not sure how to attach it all together on an arch frame.
Thanks.
Yes, black would be less noticable, but still likely to peel unless you use spray adhesive or a carpet adhesive mixed with latex and paint as a base coat.
I attached the noodles to each other and around the pipe with heat from my heat gun. Basically just melted them all together.
how many layers of plastic would you estimate gives you a nice tree look...just ordered my .90 mil wrap :D
Probably an average of 5. More in some areas, less in others. I know that's not much of a definitive answer, but it's kind of a "let's see how it goes" sort of thing once you get into it.
Great tutorial. Just stumbled on this and want to make something similar. You mention 90mil stretch wrap but I can only find stretch wrap measured in gauge. Did you mean 90 gauge?
Ahh nevermind. I found some references. 90 gauge stretch wrap is .90 mil
Awesome tutorial!!! Did you make the roots before you attached them to the frame?
Yes. I made some short, some full length, and a few 8ft double length noodle roots. I made them as I went and melted them all together and to the frame before painting. There is a photo album of the entire arch build on our Facebook page.
GREAT! Thank You!! I started on mine today. I hope mine turns out as amazing as yours.
How many noodles do you need for the full tree?
+dabmakeup I didn't keep an exact count, but at least 20 went into this
How do you keep the paint from peeling/chipping off the plastic?
Still experimenting with that problem. The first season it flaked badly on top where the sun hit it most. I redid those areas using rubberized undercoat paint for the black base coat, then painted the rest as usual. This held up much better last year, but I still had some issues in a few places on top. Another haunter/prop guru, Allen Hopps used a coat of spray adhesive over plastic sheeting to get spray paint to adhere. I may try that next if the undercoating paint I used last year does not continue to stay put.
How many pool noodles do you need for this project?
I'm guessing at around 20, mostly small with some medium size thrown in for variation. Some of what you see is actually the hidden pvc frame. The ends of the roots and some of the small side shoots are rolled and melted stretch wrap. It was tedious to make, but worth it.
I'm assuming you are referring to the arch I made this way.
Yes I was, I think this is awesome and I can't wait to make my own!!
How do you attach the “branches”/“roots” to an arch?
Same way I made them, melting with the heat gun, then layering on more plastic to further secure them and hide the seams.
What color did you use for the dry brushing before the stain?
Khaki exterior latex house paint. Took less than a quart.
The can of exterior Glidden you used says 100% Acrylic on the front. Glidden doesn't make an exterior latex paint. Couldn't find any from them online or at Home Depot. Getting ready to start our roots archway and want to make sure we are using the right dry brush paint.
Where do I get the plastic at?
Most online retailers carry it, as do most home stores and big box stores. It's just plain ole stretch wrap. NOT saran wrap.
What mill plastic did you use?
.90 as specified in the video.
sorry, I guess I missed that. Thanks
will shrink wrap work?
As long as it's stretch wrap and not saran wrap. Saran wrap is far too thin. Plastic drop cloths or bags may also work, but you may not be able to get the ridges that look like bark.
The arch looks amazing. Just curious -- how many feet of plastic wrap are on that roll, and how many roots can you get out of one roll? Cuz that's a lot of plastic wrap.
You are correct. It took a lot of wrap and a lot of time. No idea how much I used because I used leftover rolls from my work that were not full rolls. No idea how many feet are on a full one, but it's a lot.