Handmade Halloween Skeleton Coffin

As the scare season is creeping closer and only 100 days left until Halloween! I wanted to share something I pieced together from a surprise find I found while out for a walk with friends.

Passing a local parking lot, I noticed a small pile of discarded trash, unusual for this lot as it is normally kept very clean form debris, trash, etc, probably why it caught my eye something was out of place. At first glance it was just trash, some papers, plastic, nothing unusual, until I noticed the little black cardboard box shaped as a coffin! I could no longer ignore it!

Not wanting to disappoint my friends who had now stopped to see what in the world I was suddenly so excited about, while they stood giving me the eye rolls and the oh no, here she goes again, look. With all that what else could I do but take it home and make it into a Halloween prop! ha ha ha, therefore, and without any further ado, Ta da!

The possibilities for this coffin box are endless, however, I just wanted to make something simple and quick. I really didn't want it to hit the to do pile. I wanted it finished and ready to display. What I saw for it was something like the Skeleton that I created on one of my faux candles.

I grabbed some wire and tape twisted it together,coated it in hot glue then popped a small plastic skull head on it and done!

At first I wasn't sure I could recreate the skeleton because the first one I made was attached to the candle so it had a support. This one would be semi free standing. Once I got started I knew it would work and perfectly it did! It's completely posable. Moving forward I will definitely be creating more of these.

Well there you have it, a perfect example of handmade Halloween. Taking something and making it into something useful. All of which I love to do! Enjoy have fun and get inspired Halloween is coming!

Paper Mache Pumpkin, Halloween in June

Not really , however, there are only 135 days left until Halloween! Summer is a great time to work on props, paper mache, paint, glues all dry faster in warm weather and you don't freeze to death while working outside. Just remember the sun screen. Here is a couple of projects I have been working on for Halloween 2012.



I used a lot of bright color this time on my pumpkins. For those of you that may be first time readers and are not familiar with my pumpkins here is a picture of Mask. He is done in my traditional black and white.


I stumbled upon these Soy Paints while browsing at Jo-Ann's fabric store and fell in love with the brilliant colors. They're eco friendly and mesh well with the handmade, recyclable, reuse, quality of my art. Upon discovering them I immediately wanted to incorporate them into my Halloween decor. This is what I came up with. I will definitely use these paints again.



The pumpkin is painted with Tangerine and dried brushed with sunflower, the candles with Lavender and the mud flower is Kiwi and sunflower.

The pumpkin itself is made from papermache, (news paper strips and paper clay), the candles are created from paper towel rolls and hot glue, and the flower is made from monster mud. Here is a link to how I make paper towel roll candles.




I hope this guy (which I haven't figured out a name for yet) inspires you even though it is only June! Halloween is right around the corner.
Here are some candles I have been working on as well, they're works in progress. I hope to be able to show them finished soon.










Enjoy and remember to use caution while building, always be safe.

Halloween Evil Jester Paper Mache Project Recap and Update

Here I am so far with the Evil Jester pumpkin head with the updated pictures at the bottom of the post. I painted the Jester skull and added some silver glittered bells to both of their hats. He is completely black and white with just a touch of silver on the bells which all work perfectly together with the lighter colors absorbing the reflection of the colored lights directed at him. He should make for a great display come Halloween night.

Update: Evil Jester Paper Mache Project

Just started painting him. Here is what he looks like now. He still has a way to go before being finished.

Here is what he looked like before paint. Evil Jester work in progress. It is a slide show so you may have to give it a few seconds for the pictures to start changing.

Evil Jester Paper Mache Pumpkin work in Progress

This is Jester, an obvious work in progress. He is one of my bigger pumpkins he measures 51" around, not including the tongue and he's 20" tall. You can view the slideshow below to see my progress. I will post updates as he progress. Not sure if I will let him keep the tongue yet.



Find more photos like this on Garage of Evil!!

My Candle Creations

Find more photos like this on Garage of Evil!!

Killer Candles

In my last post I shared with you one of my Candle Pumpkins so this time I am sharing some of my stand alone Candles.

Both pumpkins and candles are made from the same process, paper mache, paper clay and re-purposed paper towel rolls and anything else I desire to use. If you would like to see more on how I create the candles you can read my DIY Candle How To here. Unfortunately the internet is not equipped with a feature that allows one to handle them because these candle are truly amazing, after seeing them and touching it one would definitely find it hard to imagine that they are made from a simple cardboard paper towel roll.

This is the top of the candle it holds a battery operated tea light so there isn't much concern that it can catch fire. Although if you do not have that concern the tea light is removable and will fit a wax tea light. Not that I am suggesting it, this is just for info purposes only. I personally feel better not having to worry about someone knocking one over while I am not watching.

The face features a cut out just like on a traditional Jack o lantern.



This is the bottom where the light box is attached which not only lights up the inside of the candle but it makes a great stand for the candle.


The light box changes color making for a spectacular light display the inside of the candle I make white which reflects the color better.


In this picture I bounced light off of it from an outside source. There are so many ways to display these, they are just as creepy with the lights on as in the dark.




If you have any questions I love to share so feel free to ask.
Enjoy!
Madame Dewberry