| MAKE A LIFESIZE
VAMPIRE |
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| 1. I needed a head for my vampire project and was lucky enough to find this one at a yard sale for 25 cents.
It was from a cosmetics school and had already been used as a Halloween prop. It was a bit discolored but cleaned up nicely. |
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| 2. I cleaned it up with soap and water and used fingernail polish remover to remove the polish from the eyes. The head
looked much better cleaned up. The hair was very snarled up and try as I might it was impossible to comb out. |
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| 3. Because the hair was so snarled I decided to shave the head and use a wig. For cutting the hair I used household
scissors. Than I used a regular disposal razor and shaving cream to remove the remaining short hair and that did the trick. Kinda looks like Sinead
huh? |
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| 4. Next I washed the head with water to remove any soap residue. When it was dry I gave it a light coat of white paint
and let it dry. Than a 2nd coat of paint and let it dry. There was still a tiny bit of hair, but it would be covered by using a wig on the Vampire. |
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| 5. To bring out the features I used flat paint to color the eyeliner and brows. For the lips I used gloss paint to
give it a wet lipstick look and used gloss for the eyes for a little shine. I didn't use makeup because I planed on putting my Vampire out doors. |
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| 6. I found this mannequin at a yard sale for $3. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was cheap. I would have to
make some arms, and I would have to do something about that half a head. I decided that I would leave the legs as they are so it would look like she
was floating in the air when done. I started looking for a head at yard sales and found the one above. |
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| 7. I cut the half head off using a hack saw. The body was made of a fiberglass compound and was easy to saw. I drew
a line on the neck before cutting so that my cut would be straight. I left the neck in tact so that I could attach a head. |
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| 8. I bought 2 "L" shaped brackets and attached one on each arm pit so that I could attach the arms to these brackets.
I drilled a 1/4 hole for the bolt to fit into and held the nut in place inside by sticking my hand in the neck and holding it in place until I was
able to tighten the bolt with a wrench. |
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| 9. I wanted something that would flex a bit and found some old plastic garden lattice scraps. It's very strong yet
flexible and worked out real nice. First I drew the arms on the lattice with a marker, than I used a jig saw to cut the shapes out. |
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| 10. The lattice holes were visible through the dress, so I added some Styrofoam with a hot glue gun. I made a cut
at the elbow so it would flex and cut it to the shape. |
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| 11. I attached the wig to the head using a hot glue gun. Use glue sparingly doing one small section at a time so glue
doesn't dry out. The wig was part of the vampire costume/dress that I got at a yard sale. |
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| 12. I put a screw through the neck to hold the head while gluing. I attached the head to the body with a hot glue
gun. There was a line where you could see the glue but this was not a problem as I covered the glue line with a black ribbon. I also glued some fangs
on her with a drop of red paint to look like blood. |
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| 13. I used a red slip because the see-threw dress was a bit revealing. You shouldn't need one with a regular dress.
Put on the clothes you choose now before attaching the arms. Once the clothes are on slip the arms into the sleeve and attach the arms to the "L"
brackets with a bolt. |
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| 14. I used a black ribbon with a pendant
to hide the glue line and she was finished. It worked out very well
with the arms as they moved with the wind and her cape fluttered.
I put a spot light on her for more visibility but don't have a photo
of that. I imagine that you could even set up a light with a switch
so that you could turn it on when people get near and surprise them. |
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