Thread: I have a few questions please take a look

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Insteasd of starting up multiple threads for differnet questions i decided to put them all in on thread.

1. I would like to add fake hair to my bucky corpses. How do i go about doing this and what do i use to adhere the hair to the scalps of my corpses? Where do you buy the fake hair? Do you just use simple wigs?

2. I have been thinking about creating a new more discusting scarecrow this year. I wanted to add Maggots to my scarecrow but i can't find fake maggots online. Do any of you know how i could make fake maggots? I don't want to use rice as this prop will be outside and stored inside so i don't want to deal with any animals feasting on my fake maggots. I also thought about using plastic fishing baits in maggot form (i figured this was my best bet).

3. Barbed wire. I don't need a lot of it and it doesn't need to be real but the stuff Spirit sells is so cheesy looking. I'd hate to go and buy barbed wire because it will cost me a fortune and i'm sre it has to be bought in bulk. Any ideas on how i can make barbed wire?

4. Zombie eyes. I have seen a lot of tutorials on eyeballs and they are helpful but i have yet to see one for making dead eyes. I don't want a clear blue eye. I want a hazy yellowish grey eyeball. Is there a How-to out there for this?

5. Solar powered garden lights. Has anyone tried taking these apart? These are the ones you see at Home Depot that are like $4 each and have a solar panel on the top of the light that lights three LEDs. I have ideas for this but i figured before i venture out and try i might as well ask first.

Thats about it for now. If you could help me with any one of these questions i would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot!

Nick

I bought some hair at Dollar General...it comes in "weave" and a pony tail looking thing. It is black hair but it is not real hair. I have been trying to lighten some of it but standard hair dying has not worked. I havnt attached it yet so I cant help you with that.

As far as the zombie eyes...I like the pingpong ball approach...instead of using clear nail polish I am sure you can come up with a substitute. Terra has a download for iris' and I am sure I have seen a zombie type iris on there.

Unfortunately synthetic fibers do not dye well. I was trying to dye a white lace tablecloth black and all it did was turn it gray which was fine. I used steel wool that came in one piece and unfolded it to use as hair for my witch. I have had it a long time and is still holding up. You could attach the hair you got with hot glue. Maybe you could use the hair color sprays they have at the stores with the costumes. I don't know how light you want it but they have many colors to choose.

For the hair, could you use the hair from you/ wife's brush?


Here's a great tut for barbed wire from Stolloween:

http://www.stolloween.com/?page_id=4108



And I made faux barbed wire from gray yarn last year, then hit it with a little rust colored paint. It actually kept people from wandering into the yard.
But I like Stolloween's method and will probably use that this year.

Originally Posted by Big Nick

5. Solar powered garden lights. Has anyone tried taking these apart? These are the ones you see at Home Depot that are like $4 each and have a solar panel on the top of the light that lights three LEDs. I have ideas for this but i figured before i venture out and try i might as well ask first.


Nick

I doubt that you would get the amount of light or the effect you're looking for with those solar lights. I bought some of Home Depot's 12volt Malibu lights and hacked them. I replaced the bulb base with MR-16 bases. This enables me to use any MR-16 bulb. There are lots of these bulbs available in local stores. I ordered colored bulbs here http://www.besthongkong.com/index.ph...jf5p33oniqiid1 . I went with 12volt lights and power supply to reduce some of the hazards of having 120volts strung all over the yard. The cost of each light totals about $15. You could make them really cheap by keeping the bulb that the light comes with and slipping a piece of "colored gel" inside of the lens. The gel is pretty cheap. I got mine here. With a 12volt power source (I use a hacked computer power supply) and the gels you could make these lights for less than $6 each. I haven't tried the gels with the standard bulbs but I bet they would work well.

1.) I have had good luck mounting hair to corpses using 3M spray adhesive. I cut hair from cheap wigs and press it into the adhesive. I try to apply it in layers, starting at the front and working back. It works great. When you are done, dust the head with some talcum powder to keep the remaining exposed adhesive on the head from remaining tacky. This method allows you to keep the hair as thin or as thick as you want. For me, longer, thin, wispy hair is the way to go for corpses.


2.) I have seen fake maggots online, but you can also go to big box or sporting goods stores. Head to the fishing supplies area. Rubber "meal worms" look like large maggots. There are a lot of other great creepy crawly items abailable in the bait/lure areas.

3.) The yarn barbed wire works great as shown above. K-Mart and some other stores also carry fake barbed wire at Halloween. I really like the yarn version that CreepyCathy showed.

4.) Zombie eyes can be made by applying hot melt glue over a colored marble. I try to find pale blue marbles, place them in the eye socket and form the eye with hot melt glue. It gives a nice cloudy/milky effect with a hint of color.

Eric

A big thank you to all of you so far for all of the help. Its funny, My dad mentioned using twine to make barbed wire before i even started this thread. I figured it wouldn't look right but i guess he was right.

Here's another great idea for eyeballs, Prop Eyez from Haunting Grounds.

I've not tried it myself, but plan on it.

You could use his pre-printed eyeballs & just paint over the iris with white or bluish grey.

Last year I bought an eyeball chocolate mold & used it to make paper mache eyeballs for a witch I did. I didn't use most of them but it worked pretty well & you could paint them whatever color you'd like. Plus they had a rough texture which was kind of cool.

1. Spray Adhesive that you'd find at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, etc., will easily attach the hair!
3. Dollar Tree had some fairly realistic barbed wire last year, but I don't think they have any this year for some reason...

Originally Posted by Big Nick

4. Zombie eyes. I have seen a lot of tutorials on eyeballs and they are helpful but i have yet to see one for making dead eyes. I don't want a clear blue eye. I want a hazy yellowish grey eyeball. Is there a How-to out there for this?

Nick, For good Hazy eyeballs, give the Prop Eyez a try. Here the trick for the hazy look...

On the last coat(s) of Modge Podge, mix a drop or two of acrylic paint, in the color of the haze you want, into your thinned out modge podge. Pale yellow works well for a Jaundace look, gray or white for a dead haze. when doing a haze, a little bit of paint goes a long way, so mix sparingly and test it out before you put it on the eyes.