Large Body
These were our experiments with building a large-body giant. There are other methods, outlined in the 'Alternatives' section, and this is link to a French design that is still widely used and we've heavily adapted it to what we had. It's not our picture so please click on the link to view it.
The idea of this giant is that can be disassembled and carried to where it will be used and reassembled. Once built, storing a giant can be difficult as it uses a lot of space and can be difficult to handle so being able to store it as parts is very useful.
Things we used here:
A lot of 6mm nuts and bolts, mostly 70-80mm coach bolts, but some eye-bolts with a loop on the end
Flexible plastic water pipe - we salvaged this and haven't bought any yet!
40mm push fit waste pipe - we've found some and had to buy some but it's not been expensive, do shop around and buying in bulk will save money, so share with another giant if you can.
Gaffer tape and cable ties are always your friends when building giants!
These are pictures of the start of the first frame. The hoops are water piping salvaged from the tip, a lot skip-diving involved here, but the pipes were a mixture of what we could find and buying pipes to match. When building your giant, do mark up the bits to show where they join. Write markers on tape where each join fits and where the front and back of the giant is, this helps in the future when its taken apart and reassembled, especially in a pub carpark at night.
The hoops are made by gluing sticks of wood into the ends of the bent water pipe, and putting a few small screws in afterwards helps to hold them together.
Having got the basic shape, two more hoops have been added to make it all more stable and the pictures show the rough heights needed to pick the giant up by the hoops. We didn't keep it this way but its a good start and works.
At the rear of the giant frame, a gap has been cut to allow someone to easily climb in to carry the giant later.
These pictures show the head being added. It's quite high now so a safe ladder or standing place is need to adjust it. The idea is that in future the head and shoulders are added while the giant is on the ground and then lifted up.
Here are pictures of the giant being dressed. That St George flag from the 'pole frame' has been recycled here and the viewing hole is at head height for the person carrying it. Arms have been added by sewing tubes of material and stuffing them with newspaper and a shield made from an offcut of hardboard.
The finished giant stood opposite The Anchor Inn in Sidmouth, with a very flat dragon.