Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

I recently purchased a few of those manequin heads. The white styrofoam heads, used for wig display.

I want to use them for many halloweens to come. This year, I want to make them into witch faces, but here is the problem.
I don't want to mark them or paint them since next year they might be something different.

Any suggestions on how I could cover them up with something, and then be able to pain it. I thought of tinfoil to wrap the head in, but I can't paint tinfoil.

this could be a little labor intensive but maybe try to wrap it in seran wrap then cover it in paper mache. I assume you would like to make the nose bigger etc. so you have solved that problem. plus if you use the paper mache right you can make her look really wrinkled, and have lots of warts. once the wet paper dries then you can paint it.at the end of the year just cut it off...I personally haven't ever been really concerned with the mannequins heads because witches/zombies/goblins can usually be interchanged with a little wardrobe change, and some good props. last year I made a wicked zombie head by soaking white paper towels in a tiny bit of water, elmers glue, a good size dolop of brown paint , and a pinch of black paint. afterwards I went in and did some touch up painting. I know this particular one isn't a manequin head, but you get the idea. her's a pic below

[url]http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/dutch ... xQp5Fd3Ig=

I got given one of those and wanted to use it as an aliens head. I tried all sorts of ways to cover it but i couldn't get andything to work. I just ended up painting it. It's only paint, so can be repainted over.

What about wrapping it in tin foil to protect it... and putting a nylon stocking over it, paint the stocking... let it dry... remove the tin foil and replace the painted stocking?

sounds quite a good idea, but wouldn't the paint crack and flake off when you replace it? And it would have to be quite thickly painted to show up. Hmm - thinking

Had a brainwave ( well, if I had a brain it would be)

Rubber solution glue (it's called copydex over here) like liquid latex but cheaper. Paint that all over the mannequins head (test on a small area bfore you do this I don't want to be held accountable if this doesn't work) and then paint it (it is quite easy to paint - I'm making my own scars and scabs with it). Hopefully, when you want to re-use it, it should just peel off

finlee wrote:sounds quite a good idea, but wouldn't the paint crack and flake off when you replace it? And it would have to be quite thickly painted to show up. Hmm - thinking

Not if you used "face paint"... by that I mean makeup. Course, then you might be able to just put it over the styro and if it did get on it, you could probably just wash it off with soapy water.

Makeup is made to bend and flex with your face. The stocking wouldn't need to be painted skin-colour, since you'd buy the skin tone you want. All you'd have to do is rouge the lips and cheeks... water resistant mascara for the eyes... fake eyelashes (applied after the face is painted). You could probably find eye stickers... or just put in some of those doll eyes you can get from a craft store.

... it's probably cheaper than liquid latex and it does look realistic... my mom used to use a similar technique when making heads for ornaments (mom had a craft business for a while). We also had a stuffed, nylon head that was fun to play with growing up....

The dollar store should have cheap makeup... and in a variety of colours.

Hmm, good ideas.

I'm going to have to fiddle around a bit and experiment I guess.
My basement is getting full of my supplies and props for a haunted garage, but I'm just not in the spirit yet to start putting it together. Maybe a little too early still for me.