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Count & Countess Apple-ula
Dried
apples can shrink into very spooky faces, perfect for spooky doll
figurines at Halloween.
Create your own Halloween party with our
"Count Apple-ula" and his divine wife, "Countess Apple-ula"!
Dry
apples naturally (or in a
vegetable dehydrator), and then
create their garments with our instructions.
The Count
- Materials:
1 large Granny Smith or Red Delicious apple (use more to experiment)
- Potato peeler
- Apple corer
- X-Acto knife
- Scissors
- Water-based paints
- Black, red, and silver glitter glue paints
- Small paint brush
- Elmer's glue
- Paper cup: 6" x 3"
- Felt: 6" x 6" red, 12" x 12" black, and 3" x 1/2" white
- Sparkly black novelty yarn: 1/2 yard
- Toothpick (for fangs)
- Straw, if desired
-
Optional: Vegetable dehydrator
Instructions:
The Head
- Peel and core apple. (Four are suggested so you can choose the best
for your figure. They will all dry differently.)
- Carve a face on one side of the apple with the tip of an X-Acto
knife by cutting recesses for the eyes, ears, and mouth, and for
whatever extra wrinkles and scars you want the face to have.
- For the nose, cut a triangle that extends from between the eyes to
the mouth.
- Place the carved apple on a drying rack and allow one to two weeks
(depending on the humidity) to dry. (To speed the wrinkling process, you
can use a vegetable dehydrator.)
- When the apple is dry, highlight the eye sockets, lips, and cheeks
with water-based paints to bring out the features.
- Paint the toothpick white. When dry, cut the toothpick's ends to the
appropriate size for the fangs and push into the corners of the figure's
mouth.
- For the hair, take sparkly yarn and place into the hole of the
apple. Arrange with abandon!
The Body
- Consider the mouth of the cup to be the base of the figurine. To
create the cloak, measure the cup's diameter and height dimensions and
cut the right amount of black felt to slightly overlap the edges of the
cup. Then glue into place. Carefully cut the excess from the top and
bottom.
- To shape the collar, cut a 4" square of black felt, fold in half,
and glue together. Then cut the edges diagonally so that the fold
remains 4" and the opposite side is 2".
- Glue the 2" side onto the inside of what would normally be the
bottom of the cup.
- For the figure's shirt, cut a 1 1/2" x 3" triangle from the white
felt, and then glue it with the point down onto the black felt, opposite
the collar. For the buttons, cut two very small circles from the black
felt and glue onto the white triangle.
- Cut two 6" x 6" pieces of felt-one black, one red-and glue together.
To shape the cape, make two diagonal cuts on the edges so that the top
edge side will be 4" and the opposite bottom edge 6".
- Glue the 4" red side just around where the base of the collar is.
The red is the lining of his cape.
- As you like, highlight the cape, shirt, and lining of the cape with
the matching colors of glitter glue paint (use silver paint on the white
felt).
- For the finishing touch, place the dried apple head onto the cup.
Glue down, if desired.
- Place straw underneath him, if desired!
VOILA! Count Appe-ula!
The Countess
Materials:
- 1 Granny Smith or Red Delicious apple (dry several to experiment)
- Potato peeler
- X-Acto knife
- Scissors
- Water-based paints: black, red, silver
- Small paint brush
- Paper cup: 6" x 3"
- Black felt: 9" x 6" piece
- Elmer's Glue
- Black feather trim: 10" x 5"
- Purple novelty yarn: 2 yards
- Sparkly novelty yarn, black or gray: 1 yard
- Little broom (novelty craft)
- Straw, if desired
Instructions:
The Head
- Peel and core apple. (Four are suggested so you can choose the best
for your figure. They will all dry differently.)
- Carve a face on one side of the apple with the tip of an X-Acto® knife
by cutting recesses for the eyes, ears, and mouth, and for whatever extra
wrinkles and scars you want the face to have.
- For the nose, cut a triangle that extends from between the eyes toward
the mouth.
- Place your carved apple on a drying rack and allow one to two weeks
(depending on the humidity) to dry. (To speed the wrinkling process, you
can use a vegetable dehydrator.)
- When the apple is dry, highlight the eye sockets, lips, and cheeks
with water-based paints to bring out the features.
- For the hair, take novelty yarn and place into the hole of the apple.
Arrange with wild abandon!
The Body
- Cut a piece of black felt (about 9" x 6") to cover the entire cup,
with the excess folded all the way around into the shape of a collar. When
you think you have the best position, glue it onto the cup. (NOTE: the
mouth of the cup will be the base.)
- Glue feathered trim two inches from the collar around the cup to make
the dress. Add a few different colored feathers to enhance the styling.
- Now wrap purple novelty yarn around the "waist" several times to make
the belt and glue down.
- On the edges of the collar, glue black novelty sparkly yarn in double
rows.
- Place the dried apple head onto the bottom of the cup and glue it on,
if you like. Lean her broom against her.
- Place straw underneath her, if desired.
VOILA! Countess Apple-ula
Tip: You can dry the apple in the oven in a
slow-cooking temperature in about 4 hours. Or, if you leave it out to dry
out naturally in a non-humid room, it will take about 4 days. Note that the
apple will shrink to about two-thirds its original size when dried. After
drying out completely, the dried apple head will last a few weeks. It will
shrink further as it dries.
Warning: Children should not use X-Acto knives
and should be supervised whenever using any kind of scissors.
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