Patented Process
How they come to life...
Creatures of Delight makes all of it's wonderful creatures out of natural base, pre-vulcanized latex and fiber, in a patented process, which results in our patented material "RUBBER PLUSH".
Working in his parent's suburban basement in hopes of a career in movie effects, T. Oliver Kopian had large ambitions, and a very small budget. he spent his free time sculpting creatures and masks from clay, and making plaster molds to practice his craft.
With a love of all things otherworldly, Kopian set out each year to decorate his yard with creatures big and small for what became a Halloween spectacular. Making large creatures out of the materials they use in the movies can be quite expensive, so he would fake it- using chicken wire, papier mache and fabric for bodies between latex molded hands, feet and faces.
A rainy Halloween weekend found some of the creatures' bodies melting like the Wicked Witch of the West, while the molded pieces stayed unharmed. This lead to the practice of coating the papier mache pieces with a quick coat of latex as weather-proofing.
When a neighbor who had a gift company fell in love with the pieces and saw marketability in them, if only they were soft and squishy all over, the standard papier mache mixture in between the molded pieces was replaced with a liquid latex and fiber, and the rest was history.
The original creatures were each pieced together over wire forms using the latex mache. They were then cut open, taken off the forms, stuffed and resealed.
To cut down on the time involved, and create more consistency in the creatures, the forms are only used for the original piece, which is then molded as a whole. Latex is poured in the mold and it is lined with paper fiber. When dry the piece is stuffed with dacron, sealed and painted.