Swamp Hag

$60 - $75 (based on 2014 prices) 

Every yard haunter has experienced it: you see a spectacular prop online and carefully count your pennies; you eagerly place the order and impatiently wait for it to arrive; you open the package and are crushed to discover the prop holds little resemblance to the wondrous creation you saw on the website. In the past, I returned the item and lamented over what could have been. Over the years, though, I began tinkering with these disappointing orders and quickly realized that, with a little creativity and diligent work, a dopey prop can become an impressive addition to your haunt. Now, I spend the days after Halloween searching stores and websites for those discarded and overlooked items which hold tremendous potential. One of them was this elfish witch discounted nearly ninety percent. After stripping her bare, I began a two-week overhaul which produced a creepy swamp hag fit to join my coven of witches. 

• One static figure prop with metal, plastic, or wire armature 
• One hooded shroud large enough to fit the prop 
• One hot glue gun and glue sticks 
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat green 
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black 
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown 
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray* 
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red* 
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white* 
• One 0.44 oz. bottle of clear nail polish* 
• Two to three rolls of black and/or gray creepy cloth (30”x 72” per roll) 
• One square of foam padding (18”x 18”x 1”) 
• One black and white wig at desired length

1. Strip the prop of its clothing and any accessories, removing the hands and head.

2. Using the hot glue gun, pipe vines onto the hands and face. You may want to play with the design on scraps of cardboard first, tinkering with the thickness and pattern before applying the final version to the body parts.

3. Once the glue has cooled, move the hands and head to a well-ventilated area. Holding the spray paint can roughly twelve inches away from the props, spray several even coats of green paint. I used three coats; however, you may want more or less depending on your desired coverage.

4. After allowing the paint to dry, use a fine-tipped brush to apply the brown acrylic paint to the vines. This process is painfully time consuming and a major labor of love. It took me almost a week to complete the face and both hands.

5. Add additional detail by painting the eyes white, the inside of the mouth red, the nails black, and the teeth gray. To make the eyes and mouth look glossy, apply a few coats of clear nail polished to the dried paint. If you want your hag to have a clean appearance, stop at this point and reassemble the prop, adding the shroud, creepy cloth, and some leafy vines.

6. To give your hag a grimy appearance, water down the black acrylic paint and brush it over the hands and head, ensuring the liquid settles into all the cracks and fissures (you can also use a spray bottle for the application). Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes and then wipe it clean. You may want to experiment with the consistency prior to doing this: the more water you add, the fainter/lighter the wash; the less water you add, the deeper/darker the wash.

7. To further the hag’s dingy look, shred the ends of the hooded shroud and, with scissors, cut holes, rips, and tears into the fabric. The level of distress you choose depends on how filthy you want the hag to appear. To make the garment even more soiled, smear it with black and brown acrylic paint.

8. Using the foam padding, give the prop added bulk around the arms, back, and shoulders. You can fashion a hump by building up layers of padding on the back and gluing them together with all-purpose tacky glue. As you cut, mold, and trim the padding, you may need to dress and undress the prop several times to ensure that the clothing and padding achieve a natural look when the final product is assembled. 

9. Reassemble the prop, dressing the hag in the shroud and creepy cloth and affixing the wig to her head. You can add additional accessories – a necklace of bones, leafs glued to her shroud and hair, or patches of moss – to give the hag even more detail and a further level of grunge.

 *You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.