"WARNING" -If you have not already seen the movie "The Ring", you may not want to read further as I may divulge some elements of the film that may spoil  it for you!
I created a stone well as shown in the Horror film of 2002, The Ring with an animated prop of the little girl Samara appearing to rise from below.

The well is constructed using an old plastic garbage pail cut down to  about 24" high with stones carved from 2" foam. The stones are then glued to the pail with Liquid Nails and minimal expanding spray foam is used as the mortar to fill in the spaces. All the stones were created from the scraps of previous projects.

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The stones are then coated with a layer of very dark Monster Mud. When dry, shading and highlights are added to re-create aged stone.

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For Samara, I created a pair of small child size hands the same way that I made my Mr. Bosco hands. 
  • They are basically created using thin sculpting wire formed in the shape of a small hand. Hot glue is then used to secure each finger to the center wire that also forms the middle finger.
  • 1/4" foam is added to each finger and secured with some masking tape. Additional foam is added to create the back of the hand and the palm. Masking tape is used to hold the faom together till the latex and tissue paper is added.

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  • Latex soaked cotton and tissue paper is added to simulate waterlogged skin.
  • As with the Mr. Bosco hands, Samara's are painted with a mixture of latex paint and liquid latex.  The colors are to simulate  waterlogged skin, a light blue greenish tone.

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  • A long cheap black wig on a styrofoam head mounted on a 1/2" pvc pipe is used for the little girl's head. Chicken wire and foam is used to create the basic shape of her shoulders and arms. The half figure is covered with a young girls white night shirt.

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  • The head will slowly bob up and down using a 120Vac, 3rpm motor and crankshaft system. Samara will be activated by a motion detector and timing circuit.  The motor and electronics are contained within a plastic pail and lid, the head is on a 1/2" dia. pvc pip and passes thru the center of the lid.
  • The crank system is the same as I have used in the past for my Mr. Bosco and Thing props, but I added  a couple of rubber bands as indicated by Chris Olsen for his animated Alien Pop-up head. This helps keep the head mostly vertical with slight side to side movement.

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Samara

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Revised 6/16/03

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