The Second Beetle Juice Snake prop made.

The Beetle Juice Snake character (from the original movie), has always been one of my favorites, but I didn’t know if I had enough time to build one. With starting my prop creations in Sept., I was surprised I finished as many as I did, let alone two more. With less than three weeks before Halloween, this was how we accomplished making TWO different types of the Beetle Juice Snake props. The first only takes approx. an hour to make, and the second could take 3-4 days, if you can work on it every night. So there is still time to make one before Halloween!

My daughter stepped up and made the Betelgeuse sign, and then made three Shadow Casters: Barbara, Adam, and the Beetle Juice Snake (see below). After tweaking the lights, the snake actually worked out great – with it’s shadow cast upon our white garage door.

With only a few weeks until Halloween, I thought, I can probably pull it off making a life-sized snake from Beetle Juice. Luckily, with the first one in place, the pressure was off, in case I didn’t make it in time. But, it can be done quickly! Below are the two tutorials, and you  decide which one you’ll create. 

Our Shadow Caster Beetle Juice Snake on the garage door.

A Beetle Juice Snake Shadow Caster Tutorial (Read all directions/supplies list first)

Supplies Needed:

• A Poster-Sized Black Foam Cardboard Sheet ( I suggest buying 2, in case of a cutting error)
• A Sharp Cutting Blade (like an X-acto or Precision Knife)
• A Silhouette of The Beetle Juice Snake
• A  Point Source of Light (a small LED spotlight worked well, but other lights meant exactly for shadow casting, can be found on Amazon or a hardware store) 
• A Small Stand ( I used a small Styrofoam cooler)  
• Black Exterior Latex Paint, and/or Rubber Flex Spray for Waterproofing
• A Pencil 
• *Optional Printer/Paper/Scissors
• *Optional Black Halloween Cloth to cover stand portion

Directions:

1. Follow the link provided to the image I found on Pinterest, and decide how close the spotlight will be to the cut-out itself. Since there were many small details to cut, it was best drawn/cut out at the approx. 3/4 of the poster’s height/width. We used a small spotlight that was about 20 feet away from cut-out. 
2. If your artistic skill are really lacking, you can always save the image to your device, print the several pages for the right size, and cut the image out, using that as a template. 
3. With the precision or X-acto knife, cut out the image of the snake on the foam board.
4. Have someone help you with this step: When going outside to check space/lighting, have one person hold the cut-out snake, and have another move the spotlight back to ensure you’ve got the right size snake, and right type of light source. I bought a 250 watt LED thinking the stronger, the better crisp light. No, it happened to be our smaller LED light that worked better. Learn more about shadow casting lights.
5. The Stand:  Using a small medical cooler (the type that delivers meds to homes), make a slit into the top lid, cutting the correct angle for the snake neck to slide in, but not too deeply – just enough for support. Pull the lid off of the cooler, and put a small jug of water to weigh down the cooler and keep it stable/standing. The stand itself sat approx. 20 ft. away from our garage at an angle, and our light source was 20 or so feet farther from the stand, towards the street. 
6. Cover the white cooler with black Halloween cloth, (black spray paint can melt Styrofoam, if not specifically one meant for foam). If you decide to make a PVC or a wood holder for cut-out, then black spray paint is fine. 
7. Waterproof the Foam cardboard cut-out with Flex Spray or other coating to keep it from curling in the elements. 

Making the Life-Size Beetle Juice Snake Tutorial 

Supplies Needed:

• 1 Styrofoam Male Head
• A Sharp Precision Blade, X-acto knife, or Hot Foam Cutting Tool
• An Image of the Beetle Juice Snake for reference
• 2 – 16 oz. Empty Water Bottles or 1 – 2-Liter Empty Soda Bottle
• Scissors/ Black Permanent Marker
• Toothpicks
• Styrofoam block
• 1/2″ PVC (approx. 14″ to use as a holder for head, while working on it)
• A Hot Glue Gun/Sticks
• A Beetle Juice Wig or Make Your Own Hair Wefts
• Clay Foam, or other fast drying clay to sculpt features, and sculpt over toothpick teeth
• Clay tools (can be a butter knife, bamboo skewer, etc.)
• Kilz Interior/Exterior White Primer (a small amount) or white spray paint like Plastic Dip for plastic coating items
• Acrylic Paints: Sand Grey, Pewter Grey, Red, Black, and Yellow
• Spray Paints: Yellow, Black, Brown
• Urethane for Waterproof Coats, followed by Rubber Flex Spray
• 2 – Approx. 12 feet of Flexible Irrigation Tubing, or 1 piece of 25 feet. 
• Heavy Gauge Wire
• An Approx. 2 feet of Black Waterproof Material, such as EVA Foam (like a piece of yoga mat) 
• Black Duct Tape
• Spray Expansion Foam – 1″ or 3″
• A Light Flat Base that will hold the snake curls/spray foam in place (I used a plastic container lid)
• A Paper Lawn Bag – cut open and placed flat underneath the plastic container holding the snake curl body/spray foam overspray
• An Approx. 3 1/2 foot piece of metal tubing (construction sites use)
• 1 – 3 Strong Stakes 

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Directions: (see image gallery above for clarity)

1. Open an image of a good close up of the Beetle Juice Snake face. Cut out the areas (eyes to ovals, part of nose, mouth, and take ears off of Styrofoam head). Add deep creases where the facial features show in image: Forehead lines, creases between cheeks, following down to chin, etc. Don’t forget to thin the neck, so it will fit into the drainage tube body. 
2. The eyes: Cut out the rounded part of the plastic bottles for the eyes. Make sure you cut larger than you need, so you can shape more accurately when you place them on the eye socket areas you’ve cut out. This is where you can either spray paint the eyes white a few times with Plastic Dip before gluing to the head, or Hot glue them into the eye sockets and cool. Paint the eyes with white primer, and let dry. Then follow with white acrylic outdoor paint, and let dry. Repeat the painting process until eyes are completely white. Let dry completely before going on to step 3, and put the head on the PVC pipe to make it easier to work on during the next steps.  
3. Adding clay foam: Take clay foam, and cover the entire head with a thin coat of clay, and then begin building chunkier cheeks that are similar to the image in the link. Notice how the face smiles, the creases, add lips with clay, and a more defined chin. Bulk up the eye brow areas and around the hot glued eyes. Keep going back to reference the image, until you think you’ve gotten the features close to your liking. Set the head that should be on the PVC pipe into some kind of holder that allows the head to completely dry without leaning against anything. My metal fruit stand did a great job holding it up. Let the head dry for approx. 24 hours.  
4. In the meantime, you’ll make the teeth: Grab some tooth picks, and the Styrofoam square. Take very small(approx. pea-sized or less) pieces of clay and roll it into little snake shapes. Push the toothpick into the length of shape, and curve the end. Ensure the clay is secure on the toothpick, and push it into the foam block to allow it to dry. Repeat many times, and with many lengths. You’ll want to go with more shorter pieces than most of mine in the image. I wouldn’t make the clay tooth part any longer than an inch(not counting the toothpick itself) with several half that size too. The more you make, the more choices you will have. But in essence, you’ll only be using about 17 teeth of various sizes. I always make about double the teeth for a prop, because of better choices, something happening with the prop if it falls, or future damaged in storage. That way, I’ll have teeth ready to repair a prop quickly. Let teeth dry overnight, and paint yellow. 
5. It’s time to paint the head:  Look at the image again for reference. I covered the entire head with the acrylic color Sand Grey, and used the darker Pewter Grey and/or black for creases. Then went over to blend and shaded areas where creases were, or where highlights were needed. Pewter Grey is also used inside the mouth. Let dry. Add red for the tongue/spots in the mouth, and dry completely, before step 7. *If you notice there were a few missed spots of clay foam, add them after the paint dries, patch, let it dry fully, and paint as needed. 
6. Adding the Hair: Notice the hairline of the snake is past the creases of his forehead. If you purchased the exact wig as I did, you’ll need to cut off the plastic half skull cap in the front first, right before the hairline of the wig. If you didn’t buy the same and it has no skull cap added front piece, attach just past the crease line (about mid ear point) and hot glue the wig in place (or your homemade wefts, if you made them). 
7. Inserting the teeth: Again, look at the teeth placement in the image, and choose the ones that are closest in size and shape. You’ll have to break off the ends of the toothpicks, leaving just a fourth of an inch or so, to push teeth into the foam mouth. *If you don’t break off the tooth picks before inserting, you’ll end up with some sticking out of the chin, as I did – which made me repair chin/paint afterwards.   
8. Final head touches/waterproofing: Use black marker to make the thin line of the eyes, and let dry. If you’re happy with how the face is, take some urethane ( the paint on kind – not the spray), preferably outside for the best ventilation. Paint on all the face EXCEPT the eyes (urethane gives a clear, but slight tinge of caramel color). You’ll want your eyes bright as can be and of course, don’t cover the hair with urethane. Let it dry for at least several hours to overnight. (Jump to step 9 while urethane is drying) Once completely dry, go over the same areas with Clear Flex Rubber Spray. 
9.  The body: Take your 2 pieces of approx.12 ft. flexible drainage line tubing and with the black duct tape, attached them together. If you’re using 25 ft., you’ll just skip this step. Lay down the cut opened lawn paper bag on your work area, top that with the plastic lid or light base that will go under the curls of the snake. Find a friend or family member to help with the next part. 
10. Get some help: Have one person curl the irrigation tubing into a circle, and begin another round on top. The other person will wrap heavy duty wire around the bottom curl to the next level, and repeat by one person holding curls, and other person tying wire around the curls below it. Make sure you leave the last 5 feet of tube loose, but secured with wire at the bottom of the 5 ft. mark, to the coils. 
11. Use the Spray Expansion Foam inside and around the bottom base and curl, filling empty spots that may not be touching the base, and on the outside around, covering any seen base, or filling spots not touching the base. Let it completely cure for a few hours.  
12. Painting the curls: With yellow spray paint, spray down the middle of the tube, all the way around, and partially on the sides. Let dry. Add brown spray sporadically down both sides of the yellow center line that follows the entire tube. Let dry. Spray black paint sporadically in places just outside the brown spray, or where needed to lighten any area. Let dry. See if you need to go back and touch up any spots.  
13. Putting the head onto the body: Once the snake body curls are dry, you’ll take the PVC pipe out of the head, and push the neck of head into the top of the 5 foot loose piece. Use the black duct tape and secure the foam head to the tubing. The head will cause the floppy tube to come forward, which is fine. You’ll take the metal tubing, and work it into a cured piece of foam attached to the base, then make a slit in the back of the 5 ft. loose piece with the head attached, about half way up the loose section (check your tubing size and change location as needed), and slid the metal tube into the back of the neck of snake, as far as it goes. Between the metal tube and pushing a few corrugated sections closer together, the head/neck should be standing pretty well. Add a lot of hot glue to the bottom metal rod/foam connection near the base, and add a lot of hot glue to the area where the 5 ft. piece leans toward the curls in front. Let both cool completely, before moving the prop (at least 15 min.). 
14. Adding the tail tip: Cut the black EVA foam into a cone shape, that will slip into the bottom end of the snake. Attach with black duct tape, spray with yellow paint to match the rest. 
15. Position Prop: Once you’re sure the hot glue is completely cooled and secure, move the prop to the location in your yard. Use at least one stake ( I prefer 3) and pound them into the ground in the back area of the snake – approx. 12 ” apart.  With the stake directly behind the coils/neck of the snake body, take some heavy gauge wire and wrap around the neck to the stake. Secure and ensure the neck will stay back, with the wire tight enough. This will ensure the head/neck stays up if the inside stake fails or the hot glue does. The other two stakes on either side of the wired neck one are used to secure the snake/base to the ground (wrap wire around coils to stakes), and hopefully deter thieves.  

So there it is, two ways to make a Beetle Juice Snake. You’ve still enough time to make one. If you do, please share a few pics, and if you want to follow my tutorials, don’t forget to subscribe below. Thanks, and Happy Halloween!