#16 Man Eating Plant

I wanted some little scary looking little plants inspired by Audry II from Little shop of Horrors. 

So I used both Celluclay and Paperclay. 

Two of my favorite things to work with. 

Foil and a coat hanger for the stalk frame. Toothpicks are for teeth.

The cheap foam, pots, and foliage from the dollar store.

I made the shape I wanted with the cut wire.

I covered it in foil to bulk it up. I made it flat at the end in the shape of the tongue.

I covered it in a layer of celluclay and let it dry.

I made the head out of foil. I it balled up and shaped into a lower and upper jaw piece.

I also tried using styro-foam eggs I cut in half on a couple. 

They work good.

 But I think I prefer the versatility the foil gives to the shape.

 I cover the halves in a coat of celluclay let it dry and then smooth it out with paperclay.

When they dried I glued them on the stalk /tongue with hot glue

I filled in the gaps at the at the base and shape it more with the paperclay. 

I also added gums lips and other detail with the clay. In the gum line I poked little holes where I want the teeth, with a tooth pick. This will give a good anchor when I go to glue them in

After it was dry I just painted the head. Not so worried about the stem yet. 

I hot glued on the leaves at the base of the head.  Then I used paperclay to blend them and smooth out the stalk. Of course painted it when it was dry to match .

After I sealed the whole thing. I use a very High Gloss varnish several coats on the inside of the mouth,lips and tongue. to make it look nice and wet. Then super glue in the teeth.

I also made one with teeth made of fimo instead of toothpick.

 I just rolled them out and cut them and baked them.

I also used flower petals instead of leaves for the head.

#15 Rustic Lanterns

I wanted some old rusty looking lanterns hanging from the trees around my witch cauldron scene. I also liked the idea of it being something I could use year round. as outdoor garden lighting.

I've seen mason jars used as hanging lanterns in weddings before they usually are left clear with decorative sand in the bottom and a tea light. It's very pretty and casully elegant.

 I wanted mine to look old though,

 and give off a rusty amber glow.

So I started with the mason jars. I just coated the outside in mod podge to give it a foggy look. 

Could probably use just regular elmer's glue too, I just like any excuse to use mod podge.

(It's still wet here, but it dries to a frosty finish.)

Next I painted the inside with just a foam brush and slightly watered down acrylic paints.

 I used mostly Burnt Sienna and a little Raw Umber mixed. They gave a really good rust color.

I did a couple coats and layers playing up with splotches drips and varying some the two colors.

Then I would alternate sitting it up and down to dry.

 This let the drips go back and forth until I had a cool runny look.

It looks like they've been around forever.

Then splotched and dripped and smeared on the outside as well to give it even more depth. 

This is really messy and fun! You can't screw it up because its supposed to look random and distressed. 

I just used the floral wire I had on hand, about a 36 inch piece. 

I looped one end around and under the rim and twisted it tight.

Then looped the other end of the wire around to the opposite side and twisted it up tight.

I wanted my loops pretty long for a good distance from my tree limbs.

I will attach them too another piece of wire I wrap around the branch to make is all secure.

Then fill the bottom with a hand full of sand and put a tea light in.

 ( i used my kitchen tongs to set it in just right.)

They give a beautiful glow.

Later I will post pix of them in the trees at night

The jars are barely even warm to the touch.  Tea lights just don't give off that much heat. 

And even on a breezy night the sand holds the candle in place beautifully 

I have burned these for 6 hours (the life of my tea-lights) about 3 times over with no problems.

This is just a log of what I did. 

It involves an open flame which you should never leave unattended. 

If you want to try this, do so at your own risk!

 I am not responsible if you burn anything or anyone! 

#14 Witch Jars

 This is the easiest project and there are so many great ideas online. Some people go into great detail with amazing labels and such. I tend to keep mine simple with what I have on hand.


So Here are some of my Witch jars.




  For some I just use things from my pantry. I gave them new labels and put a little piece of cheese cloth and twine around the top. I wrote the real name of what's inside on the lids in sharpie. They stay this way year round.


With a little imagination ordinary ingredients become creepy.

Eye of Newt( pepper corns) Lizard Toes (whole cloves)

Scales of sea snake (fennel seeds) Pixie Dust (pastel sanding sugar)

Eye of Lycanthrope ( white cherries) Vampire Blood (water, corn syrup, and red food color with a touch of blue) Squid Ink (water, vinegar and black food coloring) 

Liver of Toad (artichoke hearts) Eye Of Goblin (red olives)

I also take empty jars and fill them with things. 

I like to get interesting jars and bottles. For example the shape of this bottle is perfect. 

.

Of course pasta, jelly, applesauce and giant pickle jars are wonderful.  I also like the small ones like minced garlic, horseradish. You can just paint the lids black if you want. Or like above rip up cheese cloth and spray it with tea or coffee to antique it. Then wrap it around the tops like above with twine.

You don't even need labels you can just put rubber  bugs and stuff in them with water and food colors. Hand sanitizer from dollar store is also good and it suspends things somewhat better and looks all slimy.

If you want the labels here is a easy how to. 

Find a font you like. Not necessarily creepy. This cursive font will work great. 

 You can download Halloween fonts online too. 

I rip the paper so the torn side is on the front of the label. Print side up, tearing towards me slowly.

carefully wrinkle it up and unfold.

soak in coffee or tea for a few hours.

Dump off the coffee and allow to dry completely. If you pick them up too soon and they will fall apart.


Then just mod podge them on or just glue them to your jars.

If you are doing a room with a black light tonic water is black light reflective. 

Or you can take take an old sharpies or a pac form dollar tree. 

Take the ink sponge thing out and soak them in your water.

Another thing that looks great in these is the magic grow things they sell everywhere. 

I got these at.....where else.... the dollar store.

They look so creepy in water with food colors. 

I don't even label them. This is good for a mad scientists lab too.

I chopped up the snake... looks so gross and cool! I don't label them.

#13 Black Light Mask Room

This is based on a classic haunted dot room. 


The dot room has been around forever. What you do is set up a room with a black light, and cover it in neon dots. The trick is you hide someone in the room, in black, with dots allover them. When they move towards guests, the effect is very freaky.


This is basically the same idea just using masks.

I ordered these plain white masks from Oriental Trading Company $4.99 for a dozen.

Sorry having trouble attaching links right now.
Just go to their website and type in masks, they will come up.

They are flimsy and cheap but they work just fine for the walls. And the price just can't be beat. Most white masks are  $2 to $6 each at craft stores, and you need a ton for the effect to work.  I ordered 4 dozen and I wish I had ordered at least 6. It depends on how big the room is. Our room was just bigger than I originally thought.






I purchased these neon paints at Home depot. Walmart has some too, not as many colors as I recall and the price wasn't any better. Plus good luck getting help to unlock the spray paint shelf in Walmart.

One thing Walmart did have was the black plastic that I use for the walls of my haunt. It's in the paint section. Just painters plastic. Inexpensive, sturdy, and black. If one Walmart does not have it, look around at others. I've noticed some carry it, some don't around here.

I don't know why this won't rotate, it's rotated in my album.

I also used plastic primer to prime the masks.  I had mine on hand I think I got this from Lowe's a while back. Anyway you can get that anywhere.

So after they are all primed and painted and dry I  pinned them to the plastic walls in a random pattern with little black safety pins.


It turned out amazing!

Kind of hard to capture the full effect here. Black light pix don't turn out well on my camera but it was very bright. all you could see were masks. 

Save a couple masks for the scarer. I say a couple because you need quick back up incase the string breaks, which it did.


My spook wore the mask along with a cheap halloween hooded cloak, black socks, and gloves.


We hung the light  from the ceiling in the garage. 




For the black light I used my big one, it's like 40 inches or more . But I think two regular 18 inch ones should fill a room. Don't use the bulbs they are not as effective. 

You are so disoriented in the room with the masks everywhere and the black light. 


 You truly could not see her. She would stand perfectly still and then start coming towards you! People freaked! It was like a floating head moving around. I was shocked how great this room was. 


We had grown men screaming!

Insane Life

Well these last few months have been a whirl wind of insanity.
Alot has happened in our lives, and of course the Holidays! My god the Holidays!

I am just happy that 2010 is over! I am ready for a New Year and new projects.

I have to really kick it in gear to make my goal 102 projects!
Not sure if I will make it before Halloween.

Let's see I have 12 done.... oh thats only 90 to go!
Not bad so that's like 9 projects a month. I should be able to make that.

I like that! Focus on smaller goals, not the big picture.

...as long as life does not throw anymore at me. I think I can do this.