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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
  1. Peel and core apple. (Four are suggested so you can choose the best for your figure. They will all dry differently.)
  2. 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.
  3. For the nose, cut a triangle that extends from between the eyes to the mouth.
  4. 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.)
  5. When the apple is dry, highlight the eye sockets, lips, and cheeks with water-based paints to bring out the features.
  6. 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.
  7. For the hair, take sparkly yarn and place into the hole of the apple. Arrange with abandon!
The Body
  1. 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.
  2. 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".
  3. Glue the 2" side onto the inside of what would normally be the bottom of the cup.
  4. 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.
  5. 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".
  6. Glue the 4" red side just around where the base of the collar is. The red is the lining of his cape.
  7. 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).
  8. For the finishing touch, place the dried apple head onto the cup. Glue down, if desired.
  9. 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
  1. Peel and core apple. (Four are suggested so you can choose the best for your figure. They will all dry differently.)
  2. 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.
  3. For the nose, cut a triangle that extends from between the eyes toward the mouth.
  4. 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.)
  5. When the apple is dry, highlight the eye sockets, lips, and cheeks with water-based paints to bring out the features.
  6. For the hair, take novelty yarn and place into the hole of the apple. Arrange with wild abandon!
The Body
  1. 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.)
  2. 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.
  3. Now wrap purple novelty yarn around the "waist" several times to make the belt and glue down.
  4. On the edges of the collar, glue black novelty sparkly yarn in double rows.
  5. Place the dried apple head onto the bottom of the cup and glue it on, if you like. Lean her broom against her.
  6. 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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