Ah, October. How I love thee.
If you know me, you know this is the time of year I absolutely live for. It’s the month when I feel most inspired to craft and create. Naturally, I’ve got Halloween craft projects coming out of my ears! This week the weather has finally started cooling down in L.A. and it’s starting to feel like Fall. Just last week it was STILL in the 100’s! Ewww.
Thought I’d share a couple of projects that I’ve worked on so far. I found all of them online so I’ll include links to all of them in case you’re feeling frisky. First up: the Gypsy sign
This started out as white card stock and text printed on regular paper that I glued on. After loosely following this tutorial by Dave Lowe, Prop master extraordinaire, I ended up with this:
One of my friends will be reading tarot cards at our annual costume party, so this sparked a whole gypsy tent project that I felt needed a proper sign. This gypsy has been all over the world and this sign should show it! I love how brittle and dry it looks now.
One thing I learned during this process is that strong coffee is the best “paint” to use when aging paper or fabric. I tried simulating this look with acrylic paints and it’s just not the same. Coffee is key!
Moving on to the cauldron. I found this project on Haunt Forum and talk about trial & error! I wanted to turn a plain ol’ plastic cauldron into something that looked rusty and well-used. The kind of cauldron that has cooked many a witch’s brew. Below is a picture of the first attempt.
The first round didn’t work because it was supposed to be a mixture of sand, oatmeal, water and glue. Well, I skipped the glue part and everything flaked right off the next day. OOPS! Crafting FAIL. I got the mix right the 2nd time:
I am totally in love with the end result. To get that extra-rusty look, I used Dave Lowe’s faux rust technique video and I have to say, it turned better than I thought it would. Doesn’t it just wreak of bubbling toil and trouble?
Last, but not least, the costume wand. This year I’m going to be a student of Slytherin house and I needed a proper wand so I found this tutorial on DeviantArt worthy of application. I don’t have a “before” pic but you all know what a pair of wooden chopsticks look like, right? Add some hot glue, paint and beads…
I ended up doing lines of hot glue along the length of the chopsticks instead of the hand-rolling that the tutorial suggests, mostly because I’m afraid I’ll burn myself, which happened anyway. NEVER make skin contact with the tip of a glue gun. Ouch. Anyway, I really like how this turned out and best of all, it’s 1 of a kind! Below are my wand stats because I’m a nerd:
Wood: Ash from the dark forest
Core: Dragon heartstring
Length: 12″
Exterior embellishments: Golden serpent eyes
Flexibility: Unyielding
Hope you’re all getting into the Halloween spirit. I personally plan on savoring every single minute of Octobery goodness. Pumpkin flavored everything! Oh, but speaking of savoring…
Tried these candy corn Oreos. YUMMMM. Happy October!