Well, it’s another DIY Wednesday, and I’m sure you were waiting on pins and needles for the next installment of…
THE DOLLHOUSE OF HORRORS!!!
I wrote about why I decided to make a haunted dollhouse and the planning stage in the previous DIY Wednesday blog post, so if you haven’t read that yet, go here.
After the planning stage, the only thing left to do was buy the actual dollhouse kit. I waited for a 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon (believe it or not, they didn’t always come every week back in 2009) and off I went to my favorite craft store where I bought this:
I won’t lie. I was really excited to get this thing, but when I opened the box and saw all the little parts, I was a bit overwhelmed. If you decide to build your own dollhouse, don’t fret. Just follow the instructions, and you’ll be fine.
Even though I got a case of the ‘Uh Ohs’ after I saw the contents, I still couldn’t wait to get started. I like to be completely prepared before I start a project, so I made sure I had all the necessary materials for construction before I jumped in, including:
Wood glue,
Painter’s tape,
A craft knife,
Sand paper,
A ruler,
Measuring tape, and
A pencil.
Then, the fun began.
Sadly, I don’t have many pictures of the actual construction process, but you can see from the pic above that there was a lot of gluing and drying time involved. It wasn’t too hard to do after I got started; it just took a lot of time and patience. It was just like a big puzzle. So. Much. Fun.
There were also a lot of little parts that were easier to paint before I glued them to the house. I went with a dark purple and gray color scheme because I wanted it to be really dark, but I didn’t want it to be black. Plus, purple is one of the primary Halloween colors. It just felt right, you know?
Here’s a pic of the painted house waiting for a roof:
And here’s a pic during roof construction:
And then another of the house with the roof completely on:
And…drumroll please…here’s the finished house!
Well, almost finished. And you can see the plywood “yard” I put the house on. I ended up gluing the base of the house to the wood so it would be a little sturdier.
I enjoyed building the house, but my favorite part was decorating it! That part is still in progress, so be sure to check back on the next DIY Wednesday for another installment of…
PVC pipe. If you haven’t played around with this stuff, you’re missing out on some fun. It is so versatile. Just type PVC Pipe in Pinterest and feast your eyes on all the cool things you can do. You can find everything from garden watering systems to a homemade ball pit for kids to organizational projects for the home. And of course, you can use them for Halloween props!
I never knew how much I loved PVC pipe projects until I saw a picture of a zombie prop frame and decided to try my hand at it. I got my project list, headed to Lowe’s, and ended up with this just a little while later:
You’ll have to forgive the low-light pic, but just look at this cool thing. It was my first prop project, but it definitely wasn’t the last. Check out these fun monsters I also made with a PVC pipe base, some masks, clothes, and foam heads:
Sitting Monster Base
Sitting Monster
Kneeling Monster Base
Kneeling Monster
Reaching Monster Base
Reaching Monster
Feasting Monster Base
Feasting Monster
If you want to try some projects out for yourself (and I know you do), just go to your local Lowe’s or Home Depot and check out their selection. The pipe itself comes in multiple sizes, and there are fittings of different angles to make your wildest dreams come true!
Okay. Maybe not your wildest dreams, but you’ll be able to do some pretty cool stuff with it. They’re like adult tinker toys. Seriously. It’s so fun.
Here are a few tips and tricks to get you started:
Draw it out.
The only art skill you need for this is basic stick-figure drawing. Drawing your prop first and counting the angles and connection points helps greatly with knowing how many fittings of each type you need.
For example, this is my sketch for the large standing prop:
An artist I am not. But you really don’t have to be. Draw the basic shape of your prop. For this one, I just wanted him to be standing straight with a slight bend to his arms, so it was very simple. For props that need strange angles, just draw them to the best of your ability. These are the guides I used for my monster props in the pics above.
Monsters 1 & 2
Monsters 3 & 4
See? More complicated but not impossible.
Use yourself as a guide to determine how long you need each section to be and write that down. Add all lengths together, and that will tell you how much PVC pipe to purchase.
To easily determine the type and number of fittings you need, use a different color pen and circle where pieces of pipe connect. The basic types of fittings available are 90-degree elbow, 45-degree elbow, 3-way elbow, tee, and cross. There are other types in stores, but these are the basic ones you will most likely use. After you’re finished, count all the circles for each connection. Now, you know how many of each type of fitting to buy.
BUY A PVC PIPE CUTTER.
There’s a reason this one is in all caps. A PVC pipe cutter makes these projects go so much more smoothly and cleanly than using anything else. I tried using a hacksaw the first time followed by an extra small rotary saw blade. It sucked. PVC dust went everywhere, and that’s just not healthy. You can buy one of these cutters at Lowe’s or Home Depot for cheap, and it makes all the difference. Other tutorials recommend the hacksaw, but I’m super partial to the pipe cutter method.
Make it sturdy.
PVC pipe fits pretty snuggly by itself in the fittings, but over time, the pipe can loosen, which can cause your prop to fall or possibly break apart. If you want to make your props permanent, use PVC glue found at any hardware store. Or you can use them on select fittings to keep your props a little more stable but still able to be deconstructed easily.
I don’t use the glue much because I like to be able to take my props apart completely. When you have as much Halloween stuff as I do, space is a big deal. So I use screws. Small wood screws inserted into joints can make all the difference, but you’ll still be able to break down your prop for storage.
Be creative with other materials.
Use your imagination to make your props bigger and better by combining these projects with other prop-making materials.
Create a full base for a large-scale prop by wrapping chicken wire around a PVC pipe base and adding papier mache.
Add thickness and depth to your props by using chicken wire or cardboard under clothes/costumes.
Foam pool noodles can be used to flesh out arms and legs.
Use spray paint directly on the pipe to make cages or “steel” pipes in your Halloween display. There are just so many options.
Combine different sizes of PVC pipe with wire and cardboard to make other body parts. For instance, with some thick-gauged wire, cardboard cut in the shape of my palm, and masking tape, I made these creepy, skeletal hands and arms.
So get out there and try some fun projects of your own. There’s no wrong way to do it. Unless you don’t use a PVC pipe cutter. That’s just dumb.
Let me know your successes with PVC pipe in the comments! And be sure to check out my other DIY tutorials, including:
I love severed heads. Not real ones, of course. I love the fake kind, and I experience quite the thrill when I finally get to check out the selection at Spirit Halloween and Halloween Express each year. I usually buy one myself, and then my mother-in-law gets me one for Christmas. It’s a tradition that I’m pretty fond of and one that makes my MIL one of the best in history. Does your mother-in-law get you severed heads for Christmas? I didn’t think so.
Anyway, I love getting a “commercial” creepy head, but there’s a certain charm in the homemade stuff. A few years ago, we moved from an apartment to our house, and with the added space came a new-found love of making props. So even though I already had a pretty decent head collection at that time, I thought I’d try my hand at making one myself.
This is how I made my very first DIY severed head Halloween prop.
Materials
Foam Head (any size you prefer)
Craft Knife and/or Metal Carving Tools
Prop Teeth
Hot Glue Sticks & Glue Gun
Assorted Paints (blood-colored + any other colors you need to create your vision)
Plastic Eyes (optional)
Twine/Thick String (optional for hanging heads)
Ice Pick/Long Screw Driver/Thick-Gauge Wire (optional for hanging heads)
Step 1
I started by purchasing a foam head from Hobby Lobby that using one of their 40% off coupons. (Aside from being a horror fan, I’m also a big proponent of getting the best deal, so I try to buy as many of my supplies on sale or clearance as possible.)
Hobby Lobby has a few varieties of heads to choose from – female, male, and faceless – so you can choose whichever fits your project best. Although the faceless ones are creepy on their own, I wanted mine to be pretty big, so I went with a male head.
Step 2
As you can see from the pic above, my next step was to draw out the features I wanted for my severed head. I wanted it to be gross, and keeping both eyes just wasn’t an option.
Step 3
I used a craft knife and some metal sculpting tools to pick and carve out where I drew my guidelines: one of the eyes, part of the scalp, and the base of the head to make it look actually severed. I recommend roughing up the base of the head for any head you create. We want realism wherever possible, people, and a clean-cut head just won’t – well – cut it. (I’m sorry. I hate myself).
Step 4
To give him a more realistic-looking mouth, I also carved out some of the area around the side of the mouth and jaw and used some fake zombie teeth that I bought at Spirit Halloween. The teeth were rubber and very easy to cut. They were also ridged on the back to make them easy to wear, so I sliced off the back to make them lay flat as possible to fit the head. I then used a hot glue gun to secure them in place. You can see in the pic below that my guy was already looking pretty handsome at this stage.
Optional Step (not pictured)
If you want to add eyes to your severed head instead of painting them on, there are many options for plastic fake eyes to find in your local Halloween stores. I recommend finding the hollow plastic versions that are easier to cut for this project.
Cut the eye in half with a craft knife and hold to your foam head in the position you want it. Trace the outline of the eye, and use your craft knife to cut straight into your foam in the approximate depth of your eye. Test the depth of your cuts with the eye before adhering to the head. When you’re satisfied, add glue to the inside of the eye, an then stick the eye edges down into your cut foam.
Tip: You could also use yarn, twine, wire, or something similar to stick to your head and eye if you want to go for that “just-popped-out-eye” look.
Step 5
After the glue dried, it was time to make it PRETTY!!! Pretty to me, at least. I already had a lot of paint on hand so I mixed some random colors together to get a sickly, partially-decomposed skin color. Like I said – pretty. I also mixed some red, black, and brown to get a realistic bloody color. I slapped my paint mixtures on until I got the look I wanted and – VOILA! – severed head!
You have a lot of options at this stage. It really depends on the look you’re going for. Be creative!
Isn’t he beautiful?
My zombie head has served me quite well these past few Halloweens. Another benefit from these foam heads is that they already have a hole in the base, perfect for sticking them on pvc pipe or dowel rods to make a full-body prop, a head-on-a-stake, or something else equally cool. I turned my severed head into full-body prop the first year. (See the tutorial here.) You can see by the sweet flannel shirt in the pic above that he was quite stylish.
If you want a great creepy project, I recommend you try making yourself a severed head of your own. It’s a cheap and easy way to up the scare factor in your home for Halloween. Plus you get the sense of accomplishment you feel when you make something with your own hands.
If Halloween isn’t your thing, it could be especially therapeutic if you make one to look like an enemy. No judgment. We’ve all been there.
