Halloween Stuff At The Dollar Store

It's my most favorite time of year again and the dollar stores are full of all things Halloween. Skulls and skeletons, eyeballs and other body parts... so many things to inspire gruesome morbid craftyness!

I found this flexible ice cube tray and knew right away that I could use it with clay. Now I have a way to make skull heads for dolls, fast and simple!

These are a couple of clay heads, baked and ready to go. I am impressed with the amount of detail these have!

I got right to work on a doll! I used a styrofoam cone as the body and twisted a couple pieces of wire together for the neck and arms. I glued a piece of scrap fabric around the styrofoam so it wouldn't shed all over the place while I worked on it.

I used a little black paint to get into all the nooks and crannies of the skull and bring out the details in it. When it was dry, I glued the skull onto the wire neck and wrapped the arms in some scrap padding just to give them a little dimension.

I cut a few pieces of fabric for the dress and used scraps of lace and trim to fancy it up a little.

I glued on some loose wool roving as hair and a couple of rhinestones in her eye sockets. I almost left her like this but I wanted her to be a bit more mysterious.

I think that the veil makes her look like she's going to her own funeral.

Madam le Corset de Gourd

A couple years ago my mom grew some birdhouse gourds. She dried them and set them aside and thought that someday she would make something with them. She finally decided that she wanted to paint some of them so we gathered everything together and got to work. She went straight at it but I couldn't really get inspired or come up with any designs to paint. I just kept ogling the "figure" on the gourd I had choosen and imagining what it would look like all dressed up. I am not one to fight a good idea so I put away the paint and busted out the fabric instead.

Here is my gourd, primed and ready to be painted.

First I had to make a pattern and a test garment from some old tshirt material.

Starting out as a gourd and having that long stem (neck) meant that this doll would look whimsical and surreal without even trying so I choose to go in that direction with the fabric and embellishments.

The corset was a little challenging so once I got it all sewn together I checked it for fit.

I wish now that I had not primed it, but oh well. I painted the exposed areas flesh tone and moved on. I cut a couple other pieces of fabric and made her some under garments and started layering it all together.

I made her a head from clay and painted her up with chalk and added a mole on her cheek.

Next came the hair.

I had thought I was finished with her clothing but when I got to this point I did not like her back so I went rummaging through my stash and came up with some tulle that would work perfectly as a collar. Once I added that I figured she needed some jewelry and a hat.

During this process I realized I had made up my own little piece of sexy medieval slang and that is where she gets her name. "To Corset The Gourd"

Who Do That Voodoo That You Do Soooooo Well Part I

Here is Voodoo Mama!

I started working on her awhile back and my ideas kept building on themselves.

I started out by making an armature out of heavy gauge wire that would stand up by itself. I coated it thinly in clay, then went back and added the face, hands, feet and boobies! BIG boobies!

A little paint and she is starting to look like somebody so now I need to get her dressed!

Her underwear

A skirt and a little trim around her top make her decent but I don't think there is enough definition around her waist so she definetly needs a corset.

Once I get her clothes just right it's time for my favorite part! Embellishment!!

She gets hair, of course! And jewelry! A chunky stone and bone necklace, shells and ribbons in her hair and a belt with pouches for all her little goodies.

Witchy Woman of the Woods- MMC Part 8

 I have never made a doll from scratch before so this is another element I left to my mom. She whipped this one out in no time and I think she is appropriately creepy looking!

 Every woman needs a little bling, even an old hag like her!

 I adore the frayed and tattered look of her dress.

 She even has a little beaded veil over her long gray hair.

O My Goth

 This is my latest collage and it is one of the rare times I didn't have any kind of plan when I started it. All I knew was that I would like to use up some stuff that I had already. I played around making clay faces one day and this was one of many. Months later I pulled them out, chose this one and started painting it up. It reminded me of the lead singer of Marilyn Manson so I decided to go that way with it!

I knew I wanted it flat on a background so... I am almost embarrassed to admit this... I glued the face onto a popsicle stick (seriously!) then I added a little padding on top and started using scraps of fabric to dress her. I used pipe cleaners wrapped around the popsicle stick for her arms and made the hands from clay.

Her outfit was completely pieced together from scraps of a purple satin nighty and an old Rocky Horror Picture Show costume. I trimmed the collar and sleeves with strands of mini pearls.I agonized over what kind of hairdo to give her and in the end I decided to keep it simple so that I could give her an elaborate hat instead.

Being flat made it very hard to get a good photo of her hat. I cut a piece of cardboard to the right shape and covered it in the same fabric as the dress.

Half way through this project I decided I really didn't like the background I was working with. The crackle finish is cool but I wanted something more subtle with a little bit of color.

And now for my absolute favorite part, the embellishment! I have quite a few little sample bead scraps that I practice new stitches with and this one worked so well with the colors of her dress I had to find a way to use it.

This is a close up of her embellished hat. It is a lot of feathers, an old jewelry finding, some beads and craft wire.