Halloween Skull Dog

Halloween is my favourite time of the year and for the past 5 years I've thrown a themed party and forced encouraged my friends to join in.

This year's theme is CarnEvil (a carnival, circus and freakshow mashup) so I'm making some twisted sideshow prizes as part of the decor. Yes, I realise we're in August. I'm a little late starting preparations this year. Don't judge me.

You will need:
A soft toy
Papermache skull mask (I got mine very cheaply from a craft store)
PVA glue
Paintbrushes
Scalpel and/or scissors
Hot glue gun
Acrylic paint (red, brown, green, yellow)
Baby powder (or white acrylic paint)
Fake blood  (or red paint)
Acrylic spray sealant (optional)



Cut down one side of the toy's face (slightly smaller than the size of the skull mask) and take out some of the stuffing. Cut the eye out of the fabric you removed.

Holding the eye in place (or hot glue it in), shove the mask inside the gap (you can "corpse" the skull before stuffing it into the toy if you prefer - it didn't occur to me to do this until later - see below for instructions on how to corpse a skull).

Push the mask into position

I cut a bit off the bottom of the mask to make it fit

Hot glue the skull into position. I glued the fur down on it in a few places and around the eye. It wasn't a great fit so I cut a bit off the bottom of the mask and pulled the nose and eye into position. (Hold it in place it while the glue dries).

Mix PVA glue with water (I use an approximate ratio of 70% glue to water) and stick pieces of kitchen roll onto the skull. Don't try to do this too neatly and don't worry if it rips - you want the paper to wrinkle. Wait for it to dry or blast it with a hairdryer.

Tear the edges off the paper and rip into small pieces

Adding detail around the eye

Build up the paper mache in layers

Cut a chunk or bite mark out of one of the ears.

Paint the skull portion with brown acrylic paint (I mix it with a bit of water so it gets in all the cracks). It will look far too dark and horribly naff, but remain calm - this is just the base layer.

Let it dry (or blast it with the hairdryer).

Using a dry brush add flecks of green, yellow and lighter brown (I mixed the dark brown with some yellow) and highlight the wrinkles and raised areas.

Dry it (again).

I couldn't be bothered to find my white paint so I rubbed some baby powder on the wrinkles as a final highlight. It kind of worked.

Paint a bit of red acrylic around the edge, getting some of it in the fur. Then rub/drip some fake blood around the edge of the skull. I used some Kryolan Wound Filler Gel I had left over from last Halloween. It's disgustingly sticky and quite expensive but my £1 bottle of vampire blood is in the loft and getting up there requires way too much effort for a Wednesday evening.

Pool some blood in any gaps.

I sealed it all with a spray of acrylic sealant.

I'll probably add a few more blood splatters on his paws later but I've tidied the paint and fake blood away now, so this may never happen.

He's a very handsome doggo.