Pastel Clay Dipped Jars

You will need

Hexagonal glass jars (I cant remember where I got mine from – probably Wilkinsons)

Air dry clay

Rolling pin (I use the inner tube from a roll of foil)

Water

Paints (I used watercolour pastels but acrylics would work too)

Roll out the clay thinly

I used a ruler and a pair of scissors to get a piece big enough to cover the bottom half of the jar plus a bit to wrap underneath it. The top edge should be as straight as possible.

Wet the jar with a little water and wrap the clay around it. I folded the edge over so it would cover the bottom of the jar.

Use a wet finger to smooth the clay and seal the edges.

Wait for it to dry - overnight is best.

Paint it - I used watercolour pastels but you could use acrylic paints instead

 

Fin!

The Incredible Snake Faced Lady

For my CarnEvil Halloween party I want a few old fashioned freakshow exhibits, like the Incredible Snake Faced Lady.

You will need:

Polystyrene head (you can get these for a few pounds on Ebay)
Paper mache (newspaper or similar and PVA glue)
Acrylic paint (green, yellow, white and bronze) and brushes
Ready mixed wall filler  and sandpaper (this stage is optional)
Sharpie pen (black) or permanent marker
Wig, flexible toy snakes and hair pins (I used a wig which I'd altered a few years ago for a Medusa costume)

 

Cover the head with paper mache using watered down glue (70% glue 30% water). Try to smooth the edges as much as possible and use small pieces around the facial features (I went on to use wall filler on top of the paper mache so I've no idea if you can just skip the paper mache steps).

I used small strips of note paper

I did two layers of paper mache then left it to dry. Then I got bored waiting and used a hairdryer to speed up the drying time instead.

I started to paint the head to cover the lines on the paper I used.  After 2 coats of paint, I decided this wasn't going to work well enough and coated the entire head in a thin layer of ready-mixed wall filler (thinned with a little water) and left it to dry again, before lightly sanding all over the head.

Lightly draw cross hatched lines over parts of the head where you want scales to appear. I chose the cheeks, forehead and neck.

Pencil in some scales.

Water down some green acrylic paint and roughly brush it over the entire head - you should be able to see the pencilled scales through the paint. Trace over the scales with a sharpie pen.

I forgot to take pictures before I started painting!

Cover the head in a rough diluted mix of green/yellow paint
and pencil in the scales, mouth and eyes

Use a Sharpie pen to trace over the eyes, mouth and scales and add some little nostrils

Paint the whites of the eyes with acrylic

I dabbed on splodges of green and yellow paint

Then blended them together

I added a little bronze colour to the scales

And painted the teeth white

 

Get you a snake wig

I used a green wig that I bought on Ebay a few years ago, to which I had hot glued dozens of rubber snakes. I think I made a fake bun on top of the head (using tights), pinned it using hair grips and then piled the snakes on top. You can probably find some tutorials for similar wigs online.

And that's it. Enjoy!