10.23.2009 :: Pseudo Voodoo: Shrunken Apple Heads





Ever wish you were a witch doctor and had the ability to shrink heads? Yeah, me too. Did you know you can live out your dreams with some pseudo voodoo by making shrunken apple heads?

I have had this awesome "Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture" craft kit for about five years now that I found in my friend's parent's garage. I have kept it as a decoration because the box is so freakin' awesome with the mad scientist on the front and I have never bothered to open it—until now.

The box contains: The "Shrinker" a plastic contraption that connects onto a lamp and requires a 40 watt bulb, some white beads for teeth, black beads for the eyes, brown and white synthetic "hair", and some brown cord.

I opted not to use anything in the box and to keep all the materials that were left in tact and use the box only as my inspiration. So I made my shrunken heads out of stuff laying around my house instead.

Here is what I used:
three peeled apples
long white rice for teeth
raisins for eyes
lemon juice, salt, and some water mixed together
oven heated to 170 degrees (the lowest oven temperature)

The first step is to peel the apples and create ugly over exaggerated faces. I made the eye sockets deep, the mouths creepy, and the noses big.

After I carved the faces, I pressed some raisins in the eye sockets and embeded some rice in the
mouths for some wicked looking teeth. To keep the faces from turning brown, I bathed the apple heads in the a lemon juice and salt water mixture.







Now it's time for the oven... Since I have the patience of a five year old, I decided to speed up the drying out process by putting the apple heads in the oven for about five hours at a time at 170 degrees. I rotated them in and out of the oven making sure they didn't get too burnt. I am guessing it probably took about 15-20 hours for the optimal pruned face look.















I didn't want to stop there. I added some bright orange, lime green, and dark green roving wool as hair. Then I stuck a safety pin through the top of the core (where the stem usually is) and tied a thin black ribbon through it.

Viola! Creepy shrunken apple heads, just in time for Halloween! Like what you see? Come win one at the Long Beach Craft Mafia's Halloween Party at The Que Sera, Wednesday, October 28th. It is guaranteed to be major fun!

-Tamara Z. of CrayonFawn
(by Long Beach Craft Mafia at 11:39 AM) Comments (0)