The 2011 Dancing Elf Project
After 4 months and a ton of work, Belardo Lights is proud to present our new Dancing Elves for Christmas 2011. It was a family affair,
with lots of work and endless help by my parents and Brandon. And a very nice tip of the hat to my friend Mike in Los Angeles, who made some Dancing Elves a few years ago for his Christmas display.
Mike gave us a lot of inspiration and answered many questions along the way...
Here is what the finished Elf products look like after our lengthy design and construction period in Summer and Fall 2011...
How do you start building Dancing Elves? From scratch...First you buy materials, such as styrofoam like these balls for the heads. These are 12" balls
that come in two pieces. So the elf heads are indeed hollow...The first step is to glue the halves together to make the heads...
That was easy; the first step is complete. We have heads!!! 15 minutes in, 4 months to go.
What should elf ears look like? It's all up to your imagination...They're eventually going to be attached to the head. Using a special type of foam
special ordered from Foam Mart in Burbank, CA, we were able to shape and sand these ears pretty quickly. They'll eventually be covered in quick setting plastic...
The elf hands are also made from the same special foam as the other parts. I used a bandsaw to cut out these pieces and shaped them with sandpaper.
Next up are the elf shoes. This foam is sure easy to work with and shape, but that means it also gets dented and marked up real easily if you're not careful.
After making up the pieces, we're getting ready to coat them in plastic. We used a large round hole sander to make a nice center hole where the leg will come through. As you'll see later,
this is very important.
We have a lot of work to do on the heads. Using a hot-wire foam cutter, we made shapes from spheres to put on the head that would be the cheeks, the lips,
and the nose. Remember the head being hollow? We put a piece of aluminum through the head to make it easy to rotate on the rotisserie. Applying the plastic coating is up next...
We used a quick-setting plastic product called "Shell Shock" to coat the foam parts. It comes in two containers, and you measure and mix some of each together
to start the chemical reaction.
Once mixed, you have about 2-3 minutes where the plastic can be brushed on. After that, it starts to get thick and eventually sets up in a few more minutes. Having the "Elf Rotisserie" made
it easy to brush on the plastic and spin the head to keep it from running. This photo shows just one coat on the head. Ultimately, we sanded between coats and ended up with several coats on the pieces.
We started to get pretty good at applying the plastic on the head and foam parts. The head is looking more solid and waterproof. We ended up using 2 gallons
of Shell Shock material on all the parts.
After coating the other parts with plastic, and spinning them for several minutes to prevent runs, my Dad hit on the idea of using wax paper. So
we brushed on the plastic, and then set the pieces down on the wax paper. Sure, it ran a bit. But we used a razor blade to trim off the excess before it got real hard...
Doing all this plastic work took several sessions. Sanding is necessary between coats, and it ends up being dusty work. Just think how great
these elves are going to look in the display, I kept telling myself!
The elf shoes were also being created, with the plastic coating complete. After painting them green, we decided to make a wooden sole for the shoe.
This is important because the elves will also tap their feet, so we need some good "shoe leather" down there...
Once the special elf shoe soles were attached, we were looking good. I can almost hear the elf feet tapping now(!)
How do you attach the elf ears to the head without them coming off? After all, they are going to be dancing pretty good in the display.
With an elf popsicle, of course! The Shell Shock brushable plastic is really a magical product. Dad made a wooden peg that goes in the ear base. We then mixed up a batch of plastic
to attach the wood to the ear. After that, we made some holes in the head where the ears were to go and used more Shell Shock to anchor the ears to the head. Then a final coat of
plastic on the head brought it all together...
The heads are starting to come together. I purchased some flesh-colored paint at Home Depot, and started putting finishing touches on the heads. Rosy cheeks,
lips/teeth, eyes, and eye brows. They were starting to look like real personalities! So the parts are coming along. What about the mechanical part of the elves that makes them move? That's up next...
Sorry to burst your pre-conceived notion of what is powering the elves, but here is the Big Secret! Straight from my friend Mike...He advised that we use
some 12 volt car electric door lock actuators to move the elves. So I ordered some from a supply house, and they arrived. We started experimenting with them to see how they worked. I purchased
some hardware from Home Depot and my Dad started to work on the elf bases.
Here is a short video that shows the Elf actuators being tested by the Light-o-rama software and a DC Controller...Now all we have to do is translate all that movement
to the elves and make them dance!
More work on the elf bases. This is a photo of the underside of the base. The brackets hold the elf actuators, which then drive two pieces. One piece from the actuator
makes the feet tap up and down, while the other piece goes up the leg and makes the body pivot and "dance". Dad worked a lot on these pieces to get them just right, and it took a few iterations
and a lot of mechanical adjustments.
These are some finished parts for the elf upper body and legs. Dad took up welding a few years ago, and that came in real handy for this project.
Notice the pivot mechanism in the center; that is key to the elf body movement...
Here is a closeup of the Elf pivot mechanism. Perfectly balanced on each side, this is the key to getting the elves to dance back and forth.
Here is a shot showing more elf parts. The large circular piece of metal is the waistline for the elf upper body. The pivot mechanism is in the middle,
and the elf "movers" are on the left and right sides...
Here is a closeup of the elf mover assembly. When the elf wants to dance, the actuator on one side is energized. It raises the threaded rod (and the foot)
and the rubber-coated rod hits the horizontal bar. It bottoms out on the opposite side (compressing the spring), bounces back and and causes the elf body to move.
If both feet are tapping sequentially, you can really get some good elf movement going...
This photo shows a bit of what the elf parts look like in position. Above the circular waistline, the vertical pieces that are going up support the head and make up the shoulder area.
This photo shows more of the leg risers, and the elf pivot mechanism. Things are starting to come together.
Dad welded up the elf frame for the waist and shoulder area. The head will end up being mounted to the center of the top. More testing will need
to take place to ensure that the head has enough "Wobble" to dance properly.
Things are moving along now. Here is a photo of the Elf Base, showing the actuators and a "fake shoe" to see where it will need to be mounted at.
The elves has already been dancing a lot, as we do testing to see if the movement is what we're envisioning...
More progress is being made, with the head getting ready for attachment, and the arms being welded and attached. The arm is threaded rod, and we
used the same technique as described above to attach the hands to it with the liquid plastic. It feels very solid.
We have a laptop, power supply, and DC controller in the shop to frequently test the elf dance and tapping movement. Lots of adjustments are
still being made. It's getting close to the end of summer. Will we be able to get the elves done in time for the lighting season? We all hope so, and Brandon keeps asking
that question every day...Dad figured out during this period how to connect the head to the body and have just the right amount of wobble when necessary. He fabricated a connection
between the head and the shoulder with two back-to-back bandsaw blades that are a few inches long. They're stiff, but not too stiff, and allow the head to move back and forth when
it is time to dance...
Elves need some underclothes, right? Well, we thought so. We put "knitters mesh" around the body of the elf to give him shape and make it easier
for us to make and fit the elf clothes.
Our elves needed some bulk in their arms to make it easier to support their jacket sleeves. So we put some black tubing around the threaded rod arms
to provide some support. Now we're ready to move the elves out of the shop and up to the "sewing lab" to work on the bodies and clothing.
We need to get the elves ready for my Mom to start working on designing and making the Belardo Elf outfits. First, we used more knitter's mesh to
shape out the lower bodies. We have access holes in the rear to attach the head and be able to make mechanical adjustments. It took a lot of time to get the bodies shaped and
ready for the seamstress. The clock is ticking, we need to get going...
We started with the elf sleeves. They have to be the easiest parts, right? We thought so. My Mom made a pattern for the sleeves
that are one piece. They need to be tapered to fit correctly at the body, and then the jacket parts will get added on top of the sleeves.
The jackets are two pieces and attach in the rear. We want the "drape" to be correct, and to minimize any bumps, wrinkles, or other noticable issues.
Mom worked tirelessly to make the jackets the best they could be...
Work continued on the Elf jackets in the sewing lab. Mom is shown, hard at work. One Elf jacket will be red and the other will be green.
It's very time-consuming work, as there is no pattern to work from. Our elves, however, seem quite comfortable standing around without their pants on! We're working to correct
that, but the pants were the absolute hardest part of the project...
We attached the elf sleeves with double-faced tape and they ended up looking great!
Ever made any clothes from scratch? Not many people do any more. Ever made any clothes from scratch without a pattern? Impossible, many would say.
That's where Mom came in. She did it, and turned out some great looking clothes for the elves. The elves rock the red and green outfits!
Oh, the hours spent making pants for the elves! Mom did a great job with the pants, working to get a good fit over the lower body and
putting in darts and getting the fabric to lay just right...The sewing is nearly complete, so let's start to put it all together. Our best friend is the 3M double-faced tape.
That stuff is magic tape! The pants go on a lot like a diaper, although you wouldn't realize it from the front when you look at the elves.
As the first elf came together, we assembled all the parts, sewed a scarf to go around the neck and cover the head "wobble" mechanism. I
purchased some Christmas hats from Lowe's and that seemed to make it almost complete. Oh wait, we need some dingleballs for each foot. So we found some and hot-glued
them to the shoes. Things are looking good. Display setup, however, is about 3 days away, and the other elf isn't done yet...On a rainy day during setup, we took some time
off from the display and came over to finish the elves.
So after a lot more work, we were finally able to get both of the elves done and dressed. It was time to start setting up the display.
Check out the cute elf view from the rear! No question this has been the most difficult decoration / project we've attempted, but the results are awesome!!!
Special thanks to Mike for his advice, and my Mom and Dad for all of their help on the Belardo Lights elves. They turned out to be even better than I was expecting!
One final parting shot of my Dad PaPa Joe and the finished Elves. Sometimes it's hard to believe that we built these entirely
from scratch...They turned out very well! Now that you've read the story about the elves, you're going to look at them in a whole new light when you see them in action.
Please stop by the Belardo Lights display and check them out for yourself...They are the hit of the display!!!