Happy Skelly Ring Jointed Figure Assembly

The grin on this skeleton might take some of the 'fright' out! 

Dimensional head 'box' has connected side flanges, 

tabs and back panel with bottom slot and side wrap tabs. 

For contrast to show eye cut outs, cut and attach 

the inner back head overlay before completing head assembly. 

Face overlay has separate pupil eyes. 

Optional overlay contour shapes for legs, arms and body suggest dimension. 

Attach head to torso shape and hips with mini brad fasteners. 

Join others shapes with 10mm "chain maille" jump rings. 

Attach optional punched tab back head hanger 
and tie with ribbon for peg display. 

Modified bone shapes offer space for smaller-scale stamps 

and embellishments. 

View a wreath project that features this skeleton as a decoration here.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Identify and cut the shapes:

A dimensional head base

B inner contrast head liner (changed to orange in the final sampler version)

C face overlay with eyes underlay behind

D hanging attachment

E ribs base with overlay

F heart (made dimensional as 3 layers)

G hips base with overlay

H arms & hands base shapes with overlays

I & J legs and feet base shapes, overlays

Not shown: shoulder connector shape (see step 13)

2. Prepare the head shape by folding sides and tabs back or inward as shown.

3. Attach the contrast base shape (orange in the final sample) on the back inside of the head.

4. Position and attach the eyes underlay behind the head eye hole cutouts. . . 

. . . lining up the bottom shape of eye unit with the top of the nose cut out.

5. Assemble the head by bending sides to bring short straight edges to overlap the adjacent wedge tabs to the perforation line.  

Here the right top seam is connected. Complete 3 seams on each side of head in the same manner.

6. At the lower sides, the attached shapes are "tabs" which are folded downward as shown. Bend the actual connected side panels upward, with the tiny end tab bent outward.  

Align and attach side panels at the jaw/face side edges . . . 

. . . with the end tab under the bottom edge of the inwardly-angled head side panel.

7. Position and attach the face shape overlay to the head, matching the openings precisely.

8. Bend the head front over the back to insert the bottom punched tab through the slot on the back head bottom edge.

Then fold the back tab up under skelly's jaw and glue in place.

NOTE: the bottom head panel should be perpendicular (right angle) to the plane of the face. The side panels are angled.

8. Bend the side tabs and attach to the backside of the head.

9. Position ribs overlay onto base, matching punch holes, and glue in place.

10. Attach hips overlay to base.

11. Stack and attach heart layers (3 to 5 as you choose).

12. Attach heart to ribs assembly with mini brad. Attach ribs and hips shapes with mini brads. 

If desired, apply glue between the layers where these attach first, secure attachment, then insert brads. 

13. Position the shoulders connector shape behind the upper edge of the ribs shape, lining up center punch hole, and glue in place.




14. Position top tab of shoulders connector behind head tab and attach with glue if desired. Then . . . 

. . . insert and attach with mini brad.

15. Position and attach other bones overlays (including the feet which were left out of this shot).

16. OPTIONAL: decorate the bones with miniature stamps or other embellishments.

Since this project was originally created as part of a joint blog hop with Pink and Main clear polymer stamps company, I selected the "Planning Fall" journaling and calendar smaller scale stamps set.

The selected stamp design is attached to the clear stamping square, then inked and stamped onto the prepared bone shape.

NOTE: if you anticipate "booboo's", you may wish to stamp the overlay shapes before attaching to the base, in case the stamped shape(s) need to be re-cut.

17. Prepare the attach the bones and assemble the skeleton.

The original project uses these "chain maille" rings size 10mm that were perchased from JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts.

These rings can be spread and closed with just finger manipulation, but you can use a pliers tool for even greater ease.

Open/spread the ring ends, then insert through the punch holes of the shapes being attached.

NOTE: thigh bones and lower leg bones look much alike. Thigh bones that go at the top of the legs have punch holes on the side to attach to the hips.

Close the ring, and rotate the joint to the backside of the skeleton.

18. Attach the arms/hands assemblies to the shoulder connector with brads.

To help the arms hang away from the body in a desirable fashion, it is suggested to position and glue these in pace before attaching with brads.

19. Depending on your final use for the skeleton, you can position and attach the hanging tab at this point in construction.

Fold the top tab section to the back of the hanger and glue in place.

Position the hanger behind the head, match up the contour edges of each, and glue in place.

Here he is completed 

(though shown without his hanger here).