monster mud

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this stuff will work for scenery but its useful for building cool halloween props.
When we first named the joint compound/paint mixture in '98 everybody was in awe of the whole concept. But "Monster Mud" has been used for many years by pro haunts and also widely used in the remodeling industry. It provides a great medium for sculpting cloth over prop forms and adds interesting texture to walls, ceilings, columns, posts and more. Nothing can be easier and give such great results for a low cost locally found material that you can mix yourself.

Recipe
5 gallon bucket of Drywall Joint Compound
1 Gallon Can of Latex Paint (Exterior House Black or any color you choose)

Mix together the compound and paint at a ratio of 5:1 or what ever you feel is good! There is no right or wrong but 5:1 works best for us. We use a drywall compound mixing attachment and a drill to whip the two ingredients together. Hand mixing can be done if you have the strength and about 30 minutes...

The mixture is applied with your hands. We normally coat our hands with petroleum jelly prior to starting since the MM will dry and stain. The MM can be used on anything from simple burlap to clothing or anything you can conjure up. Most of our prop are burlap covered. Apply the MM by taking the sections of burlap and plunging them into the bucket, squeezing it into the cloth and removing excess through your thumb and index fingers. Extra MM is applied to the prop as we go to keep it all stuck together.

It takes several days for the MM to dry depending on how heavy it is applied. The paint added to the compound is simply a color base coat. It can be left as is or detailed with other colors after the prop has dried. If you plan on using your finished prop outdoors it will need to be coated with polyurethane. We like to use a water based poly that dries fast and has very low odor as compared to the oil based poly.

[gmpullman]

Sean,
Not to burst your bubble but the word "Monster" is a registered trade name from the wonderful folks at "Monster Cable" the audio cable people. I heard about that company taking people to court for using the Monster name. They even sued Disney for "Monsters, Inc." movie and Monster Garage had to pay to settle a claim.
This is necessary litigation to help keep our poor lawyers in this country from going hungry.
Next thing you know, railroads will be charging us to use their names on our rolling stock! Hello Union Pacific?

[Anonymous]

Well I really dont care who sues who
when I ran a haunted house most of us nationwide used this stuff to build props nobody claimed fame to it.
I just posted it cause I figured it might be a new medium for building scenery.

its only called monster mud because that is what we built with it .....monsters.