Quick Frame

While digging through some old photos for my next post I came across these photo frames made in 2004.

File this under “crafts.”

For whatever reason I felt compelled to make some frames for some of our 2004 Halloween snapshots, the frames are very quick, simple and cheap, a fun rainy day project if you so desire.

The frame was cut from heavy corrugated cardboard then spray painted black.

Next the caption was printed from a computer on plain copy paper, white type over a black background.

The caption was cut from the printout then glued to the black cardboard frame.

Next the frames were adorned with some creepy accessories perfect for the Halloween subject.

The first frame was covered with cheesecloth that had been coated in white glue, sort of cobweb themed style frame.

The next frame was adorned with strips of crinkled wax paper coated in white glue, sort of a mummy wrap theme happening

The final frame was decorated with spider webs made from hot glue.

The hot glue webs were formed by “drawing” the webs in a shallow cookie sheet filled with cold water.

The cold water makes the glue harden immediately and prevents sticking….hold the nozzle of the hot glue gun an inch or so above the surface of the water and create your web.

Quick, simple and cheap….and sort of cool.

Carving Apple Heads

Making shrunken apple heads is a lot of fun and carving the simple faces on the apples really does help develop your sculpting and three dimensional skills.

Here are some nice close up photos showing the freshly carved apples prior to drying.

Information on how I make my shrunken heads can be found here.

Cool Works from Colorado

One of my favorite things about running www.stolloween.com is when I receive photos from people showing their papier mache props.

I appreciate the nice comments about how the information on the website helped get you started working with mache but the truth of the matter is that the website just pointed you in the right direction; your hard work made the creations a reality.

Here are some really great photos of papier mache props sent to me by Ron from Longmont, Colorado.

Great stuff Ron, thanks for sharing!

Q&A: Figuring Dimensions

Questions regarding my projects and papier mache regularly fill my mailbox. In an effort to answer these questions and share information some of these questions will be regularly featured on this blog.

Missy wrote:

“I am building the sentinel props for Halloween. This is my first time making a prop and also using paper mache. In reference to the measurements for the skeletal structure, I cant seem to find a picture of a skeleton to get the right measurements. My sentinels head measures 9" from top of the head to the bottom of the jaw. I can’t figure out how to measure the rest of the bones for the rest of the body. Can you give me some information on how to find the right measurements on a website or something? “

Whenever I build the body for one of my papier mache heads or skulls I use a print out of a skeleton diagram where the length of the skull equals one inch. Click on the above photograph and print the diagram (you may have to save it to your computer first), then measure the skull, the length should be about one inch.

The one inch ratio is very easy to work with , I used Photoshop to resize a graphic that I found online.

If your skull is 9 inches from the top of the head to the bottom of the jaw then when using the diagram the ratio will be one inch = nine inches. If you want to know the dimensions for the upper arm or Humerus then measure the diagram.

The Humerus on the diagram is 1.5 inches. If one inch on the diagram equals nine inches for your prop you would need to make your upper arm bone about 13.5 inches long, or 9 x 1.5.

If your skull measured 21 inches long then it would be 21 x 1.5 equaling 31.5 inches and so on.

The measurements aren’t exact but are close enough to create a convincing prop. Good Luck!