Anybody ever re-created the MST3K moon?

[verdant]

I dont know what its actually called, but the thing at the top of this page, with MST3K on it.

I wanted to give an original gift to this girl for her birthday and i noticed she had a few MST3K DVD's. so i snagged a few more that she didnt have, but i wan't to add a personal touch!

How would one go about recreating the prop? What would be the best materials and methods to recreate it?
I was thinking i would make it in two halves, and make them book ends or something.

[Mr. Atari]

I don't know what it was originally made from, but if I were to recreate it, I'd spray silly string all over one of those big styrofoam balls. Then use modeling clay to make the letters, spray paint it, and Bob's your uncle.

[verdant]

I had though of that, but i would like to make it somewhat durable. Something tells me silly string wouldnt hold up for very long, even if painted over. the styrofoam ball is definitly a good starting place.

[sol-survivor]

Maybe you could try some yarn and Mod Podge. Mod Podge is used in decoupage and is essentially glue with a sealer. Regular white craft glue might work, too. Yarn might be too fuzzy or flatten out too much, so some lightweight cord or string might hold its shape better.

[BJ]

This piqued my curiosity about the ball, so I went searching. It led me... right back here.

Spaghetti Ball Thread

Here's an interview where they talk about creating the ball, shared by MJ

AV Club interview with Joel, Trace and Jim


And here I'd always assumed it was made with spaghetti. I feel stupid.


The relevant section, for posterity

JH: That's foam insulation. That's the stuff that you caulk around your windows, and we had a bunch of cans of that. And Trace had this ball that he got from the Guthrie Theater in his storage. It was like a 36-inch diameter.

TB: It was a 48-inch fiberglass ball that was used in one of their productions, and it was made so meticulously that it had to drop from the ceiling of the theater and roll to a specific spot on the stage every time. You couldn't bring it in a door. It had to go out through a dock door, it was so huge. But we just sat in the shop and sprayed it with foam insulation and then cut the letters out with a band saw.

JH: And stuck 'em in. And then the foam insulation reacted with the Styrofoam, and that's how we got that melted look. It was all, again, a happy accident.

TB: Not planned, thrown together.

[Afgncaap5]

Yeah, it's actually quite a big hunk of material. I imagine that a lot of the more intricate details from it are possible thanks to them being able to have such a large thing to sculpt with.

There's actually a really nifty photo in the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide of a few of the Brains standing next to it. It's lifted up into the air, naturally, but the top of it cam to about their chest if memory serves (though it's been ages since I've looked at that book, so I'm likely not the best one to go on.)

-EDIT-

Okay, while I didn't find the actual image that I was looking for, I *did* find what appears to be a cast photo from... I'm gonna guess near the end of season 1?... on this very message board that gives the scale for it.

[Lounge Lizard]

I made a little 12 X 5 canvas painting of it some years ago, it;s still around somewhere...

[verdant]

Thansk for all the input! i knew i wasnt the only one that found it interesting.

I never though it was so huge! i always figured it was around basketball size

[brandonakaxerxes]

This has nothing really to do with the topic but...

Anyone besides me ever think the MST3K moon looked kinda CGI-ish during the Comedy Central era.