I am a huge fan of Stranger Things. So when one of my favorite YouTubers, Fort Collins, CO-based Dude Dad, built a 14-foot Mind Flayer and a life-sized Demogorgon 20 miles away from me, I knew I had to go check it out!
By the time he was a senior in high school, he had built an enormous 60-foot skate park with his brother. Throughout high school and college, he worked for local carpenters, framing houses and other stuff. He also worked in a bicycle shop for five years learning bicycle and general mechanics.
Taylor is a down-to-earth, friendly, funny guy. He is exactly the guy you see in his videos. Taylor describes himself as “a husband, a father, and an entertainer of many sorts.”
“I make content, whether it be sketch comedy or building things. I’m a bit of a ‘Jack of all trades’”. When asked who inspires him he said he gets inspiration from all different kinds of people. From his wife to his mailman, he finds inspiration all around him.
As we are sitting on his back deck talking, I couldn’t help but look around and admire everything around him. From the beautiful deck we were sitting on, to the enormous play house for his kids, to the backyard landscaping, Taylor has customized almost every single inch of his home.
Stranger Things Build
We spoke about the Stranger Things build and what inspired him to build it.
The Mind Flayer was not designed on fancy software, he made some basic drawings on a board in his office and just jumped right in.
He credits his improvisational design approach to birth order, noting some key differences in the approaches he takes on builds compared to his brother.
After building out the frame, Taylor then wrapped it in chicken wire to hide the joints and give it a feeling of legs without any sharp points. Originally he was going to use paper mache, but after he wrapped the chicken wire with saran wrap, he decided to just try painting that and see how it looked. It turned out amazing looking, I honestly couldn’t tell he painted it and thought he had used black landscaping plastic to wrap it. He told me that it had been rained on and had his sprinklers blown out underneath it and it has held up really well. Did I mention the head also moves!!
When I asked him if he was going to do it again, and would he do anything differently, he promptly replied:
I had a great time talking with Taylor and seeing the things he’s built. Thank you, Taylor, for taking the time to talk to me and letting me geek out a little bit. I’d like to close this with Taylor’s advice for anyone reading this article:
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