grasshopper grief

It's not often that I become completely stymied by a prop. Many of them don't turn out the way I originally envisioned them. And I'm okay with that. They transform and take on lives of their own. And I'm usually pleased with the results.

But this grasshopper . . .

Perhaps basing a prop on childhood trauma wasn't such a good idea.

A big part of the problem is that I planned to create him entirely out of recycled materials and old prop parts and whatever else I could find lying around the house. Foam football head. Pool noodle body. Legs of wire and leftover Tusken Raider vinyl. Krazy Karpet wings. And I remain committed to this goal. Even though I think it might be easier to get into the car, drive to Home Depot, and solve my problems there.

The problem isn't the entire grasshopper. I'm okay with the head and the thorax. It's the abdomen; more specifically, the legs. The back legs. The grasshopper-defining legs. The legs that put the "hop" in grasshopper. I used old metal curtain rods as the core. It worked well for Tusken Raider Gaffi sticks, so why not here. They're wonderfully bendable. The difficulties began when I tried to cover them. Thicken them. Fatten them up. I tried pipe insulation, styrofoam, plastic, wire . . . I began running out of household junk options. Something I didn't believe possible.

The struggle continues. If all else fails, I may just embed the lower third of his body amongst the shrubbery. Which, oddly enough, was infested with grasshoppers this summer. More than I've ever seen before. It's like they knew.