Well, since I had some requests for the making of this little darling. Here is the process. She is life size. About the size of a 6-7 year old.
1) I used DAS air hardening clay to sculpt the head. I think I may have used a styrofoam ball or maybe just a ball of aluminum foil for the inside structure. The head had to be the size of a child's head so I payed attention to proportions. Also, the teeth are very small, like baby teeth.
2) After drying, the clay head was attached using a glue gun the the top of a 2 liter soda bottle. Then I used more clay to make a neck. This also made the bond between the bottle and the head stronger. Also, there is a small plank of wood glued to the bottom of the soda bottle as well. This serves as a base but also as where the legs will be attached. You do not have to attach the wood at this point. I did it early, but I think I may have removed it and reattached it later.
3) Next, aluminum foil arms were attached with a glue gun. The foil structures were made to be shoulders as well.
4) For the legs, it is a dowel purchased at a craft store that was cut in half for the legs. The feet are those little wooden oval pieces of wood that are sold at craft stores. Both the legs and the feet were attached with a glue gun. I started covering the upper body with snot rag mache (kleenex, elmers glue and water) You can do whatever application method you like. Some spots I dipped the kleenex and layed it out in a sheet fashion. In other areas I just balled it up and crushed it into areas.
5) Now, the whole body is snot rag mached and left to dry.
6) I made small, thin hand inner structures out of foil. I glued each small foil finger onto a small flat like ball of foil. Then, added the Das clay to the foil hands. After they dried, the hands were attached to the arms with a glue gun. Then, a little more clay blended in where the arm and hands meet. Similar to the process of how the neck meets the body.
Now the whole body can be painted. I went with brown for a realistic decay effect. However, sometimes I think I should have gone with gray..oh well
7) A cheap child's dress was purchased from a discount store. The dress was soaked in coca cola and the flower on the front of the dress was painted gray
The hair was actually added much later because I originally decided to not go with hair. The hair is the hair off an old Michael Myers mask. It was glued on sporadically and in clumps throughout the scalp area.
Little girl shoes were purchased, but they needed to be cut. I cut the soles out and cut the seem in the back so they could be glued the the feet. The socks can be cut and glued or they can just be slid on. They were, however aged by soaking them in coca cola.
Hello hallowscreamer.. The more questions the better
"a few questions please........im new to all this and have heard about DAS, but is that the actual name of it or just an abreviation?
how long does it take to dry?
what size dress and shoes were used?
did you put a sealer on her after she was all painted?"
Nope, not an abreviation. The actual name is Das and it can be found at any craft store. Drying time depend on how thick it is. I believe a thin layer of clay, say 1/2 inch may take 2-3 days or so to harden.
I cannot remember the dress size, It was sort of like a dress that a little girl who was maybe 6 years old wears old would wear. Although I do nto remember the shoe size, they are about 4 inches long or so.
I did not seal this project for a few of reasons. One, is that this is for indoor display year round. 2, I was not sure how the sealant would affect the parts of the piece that were snot rag mache. I did not want to take a chance. Lastly, I did not seal it because a sealant, not matter how transparent, would have created a shine to everything and made it look like ceramic. Leaving it unfinished, it really has the look of old mummified skin.
Hello hallowscreamer.. The more questions the better
"a few questions please........im new to all this and have heard about DAS, but is that the actual name of it or just an abreviation?
how long does it take to dry?
what size dress and shoes were used?
did you put a sealer on her after she was all painted?"
Nope, not an abreviation. The actual name is Das and it can be found at any craft store. Drying time depend on how thick it is. I believe a thin layer of clay, say 1/2 inch may take 2-3 days or so to harden.
I cannot remember the dress size, It was sort of like a dress that a little girl who was maybe 6 years old wears old would wear. Although I do nto remember the shoe size, they are about 4 inches long or so.
I did not seal this project for a few of reasons. One, is that this is for indoor display year round. 2, I was not sure how the sealant would affect the parts of the piece that were snot rag mache. I did not want to take a chance. Lastly, I did not seal it because a sealant, not matter how transparent, would have created a shine to everything and made it look like ceramic. Leaving it unfinished, it really has the look of old mummified skin.
thank you for answering all my questions
i love her and will hopefully get started on her ASAP on my next day off work lol.
i love all the recycling we all do making these awesome projects everyone comes up with all the time. we are also helping the enviroment at the same time
That turned out awesome and love that you put her in her Sunday's best lol! Thanks for posting the tutorial I just love to see something from start to finish and how we can possibly attempt to make one. I agree about the shine that a sealant would give. Great job undead_october!!
Hey Undead, hows it goin? I found a great way to completely kill any shine caused by a sealant. Krylon "Dulling Spray" . Works awesome. I use it after a coat or 2 of Krylon Crystal Clear.
So someone asked if I would post a tutorial on how I made my gibbet this year. Now I mostly followed Hermans Secret tutorial but I made some tweaks. As per the rules I won't link to that tutorial but I will put in the steps and what I did different. I just wanted to make sure that Hermans...
Note: This is a repost of an old tutorial whose links to pictures were broken with the software update at HF.
Gurus of interior design follow basic rules in designing a great room. Christopher Lowell came out with a blockbuster book called the Seven Layers of Design. In haunting, we also use...
Don't know if it will be so much a tutorial, but I've decided to revisit one of my old props and attack it with some lessons learned.
Back in 2012 I created the original Trevor.
It was meant to be a one-off, and sold after Halloween that year. I was unhappy with a couple little...
So here is a project inspired (copied from) by SKAustin.
It is essentially a large rope handled bin with the rope removed. I then needed to make a bunch of ribs to create the cauldron shape. Taking the time to make a great template was key!
Note: This is a repost of an old tutorial whose links to pictures were broken with the software update at HF.
These are flickering fake pumpkins that are on a timer. To see them live, here's a video:
They are brightly lit and have a very slight flicker to them. If you want them to flicker a...
