Sunday, October 2, 2011

HALLOWEEN MUMMY TUTORIAL


Mummies at the Library!  That's right.  In honor of Halloween I wanted to bring some fun decorating into the library.  I had to tie in books with the decorations so I decided on the theme "Wrap up with a good book".  Our library usually doesn't decorate for Halloween but I thought I'd give it a go, hopefully we won't get any complaints.


This was my inspiration...........I think it is out of this month's Country Living magazine.
A co-worker brought it to me and said "Isn't this cool?"  I thought, I can make that!


I used mostly things that I had on hand.  We did have on hand wood poles and bases that had been used in a previous display.  I found these cool styrofoam skulls at Wal-mart.  I had some large sheets of (purple) foam and cut them in the shape of a body using a matte knife, but you could even use a large sheet of cardboard or thin plywood.



To add some dimension to the bodies I taped plastic Kroger bags and newspaper to form arms, legs and abdomen areas.


I had some butcher paper that I cut into 3 to 4 inch strips and wrapped around the body forms.  You could use crepe paper or old sheets.   I couldn't find my hot glue gun so I used plenty of clear packing tape.


I then covered the entire area with cheesecloth soaked in starch.  I made sure to leave room to add a book later under the hands.  I let it dry for the afternoon on the deck.


When it was dry I added some spider webbing, a few spiders and a book.  Presto - a mummy!



The mummies' new home - Woodstock Public Library for the month of October.  They've got a good book to read and look happy, don't they?


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