Ground Breaker
There are a 1001 how-to’s for making Ground Breakers and Corpsing out there on the web. I used insparation from many of them to create my groundbreakers. I highly recommend checking out Spookyblue.com for additional Ground Breaker inspiration (Awesome Website).
What I used to make my Ground Breakers
Blucky Skeleton, Feltback Sheet Flooring and Carpet Adhesive, Paper towels, Masking Tape, Newspaper, Wood Stain (2 shades for contrast), Xacto Kinfe, Plywood and 2 x 2′s (for base)
First thing first -
The best thing you can do to a Blucky Skeleton is send it for Major Surgery. Using my Xacto knife, I cut sections out between the toes, fingers, ribs, leg bone (tibia/fibula) and even the arm bone (radius/ulna). This is a bit of a time consuming process; however, well worth it in the end. I also cut holes in the bottom of each bone to slide rolled newspaper/wood through in later steps. After fingers and toes were cut, I wrapped masking tape around sections to hold the shape (see photo below).
As far as the wood base for my Ground Breakers – I used a 16″ x 12″ pc of plywood and a 24″ x 12″ pcs of plywood (breaker with leg/skull). I used 2×2′s for the cross structures the torsos are nested on.
Now on to the arms, neck and leg…..
I rolled newspaper for the arm and neck supports (seen in sample photo below). I did not use the blucky head for my ground breakers – the size just did not work for me. So I purchased 2 cheap foam skulls from my local party supply store. Once the newspaper was secure inside the torso; I glued the foam head in place and reattached the jaw bone.
I continued to add rolled newspaper for the arms and leg (same as I did for the neck). NOTE: I slide the blucky arm and leg bones on the rolled newspaper prior to attaching to the torso. I stuffed approx. 4″ of the rolled newspaper in the shoulder/pelvis holes (I precut); I used masking tape to secure in position and added additional masking tape at joints for added support.
Once everything was attached, I was ready for the carpet adhesive and paper towel application.
Warning (don’t be an idiot like I was) – make sure you do an allergy skin test prior to using ANY chemical. I discovered too late that I was allergic to carpet adhesive . I will never live down the family joke about “the corpse that gave me a rash”. So please read all “Manufacturer Warnings” prior to using this or any chemical not inteded for prop making.
As an added note – on my second ground breaker, I used Avon Skin So Soft on my hands and arms. This prevented me from getting a rash a seond time + the adhesive cleaned off real nice. 
Carpet Adhesive + Paper Towels = a gooey sticky mess! But lots of fun as well! I’m a hands on person so – her ya go.
I dipped the paper towel directly into the carpet adhesive and smeared a glob of adhesive all over the towel until evenly coated. Starting on the torso, I placed the towel (skin) over the openings in between the ribs and smoothed it (partially) with my fingers to define the rib cage. After that, the challenge was to arrange the paper towels to look like sagging skin being sure to leave plenty of “wrinkles”. This part is really left to your own imagination. When it came to his facial features, I layered and formed a jaw line and mouth from the paper towels. Again you will have to use your imagination as to how you want his face to look. One thing that I found with using carpet adhesive is that it remains pliable long enough for you to adjust the wrinkles to your liking.
Below you will see photos of my first ground breaker prior to staining.
As an added touch, I made finger nails and toe nails from hot glue (see in the pre-stain pic above). I used 2 tones of MinWax wood stain to give a rotting flesh look to my Ground Breakers. Lastly, I paint the base black and added 2 coats of matte clear coat for added protection from the elements.
Frame for Jerry the Ground Breaker
After I had his hips attached to the board with a 2 screws, I slide his torso on the remaining board and secured in place. I followed same steps above as far as using rolled newspaper for the arms and neck supports (basically his inner bone in bone structure). I wanted him to appear as he was crawling out of the grave. The biggest difference with this ground breaker vs. the other two is his head. I paper mached a skull form and actually stuff the blucky head inside the paper mache form for his inner skull support (biggest reason…I was out of Great Stuff Foam, which is a big Haunter no-no, however this worked out great). I glued and taped the skull in place prior to corpsing. His teeth were made by hot glue same as I did for the finger and toe nails seen above.
Meet Jerry – Willy and Billy’s brother 
