Skull Topiary

$50 - $60 (based on 2024 prices)
Makes one topiary

For 2024’s cemetery, I endeavored to create a series of props to elevate the graveyard’s theme. One of them was this skull topiary that was inspired by the mossy skull I made during the same build season. To keep the cost down, I purchased the planter at the end of the summer when the garden supplies were on clearance. You can also buy yours at a second-hand store for a cheaper alternative. 

• One 21” x 15” pedestaled planter 
• One standard-size newspaper
• One sheet of cardboard large enough to trace the outline of the planter’s opening
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• 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 grasshopper*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in neon green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in hunter green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat olive*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One four-foot garland of artificial leaves (roughly thirty leaves per garland)
• Three 0.12 lbs. bags of mixed moss
• Five human-size plastic skulls
• Two small plastic rat skeletons
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in red chestnut*
• Four artificial mushrooms with wire stems

1. Use newspaper or foam padding to fill the planter’s opening. You want to thoroughly pack the material into the open space to create a solid base for the topiary. Also, depending on the weight of your planter, you may want to put heavy rocks in the bottom to prevent it from being top heavy. Do not make them too heavy, though, because this can make the prop tough to lift.

2. Trace the outline of the planter’s opening on a sheet of cardboard and cut it out. To give the illusion the planter is full of dirt, glue the cardboard near the top, forming a base for you to build the topiary.  

3. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the entire planter one or two even coats of black spray paint. You can apply more layers; however, keep in mind that this is the base coat and much of it will be covered by the other colors.

4. Use a stippling brush to build up layers of gray and white paint, working from dark to light to give the prop the look of stone. If one color becomes too overpowering, you can apply more of the other color to dial it back.  

5. To age the prop, water down brown paint and brush it along the edge of the planter, allowing it to run downward and settle into the fissures. Following this, use the stippling brush to pat olive paint randomly onto the prop to mimic moss. How much of both colors you apply depends on your chosen level of weathering.

6. Coat the cardboard with a light layer of glue and adhere the moss. For additional detail, you can also add clusters of moss to the sides of the planter; but, if you do so, try to use discretion because this feature can easily overpower the prop.

7. Working from dark to light, use a stippling brush to build up layers of grasshopper, hunter green, neon green, and olive paint. Do not overthink the application because a random pattern will look more natural. Then, stipple brown and gray paint onto the skulls’ surfaces for further depth. As with the green paint, you want a random application. If any of the colors becomes too heavy, you can use some of the other hues to dial them back.  

8. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, paint the skeletons with the wood stain. Start by covering the entire prop with a light coat and then apply heavy amounts of the stain, patting away the excess with paper towels. Once the skeletons completely dry, darken the inside of their ribcages and accent their joints with black paint.

9. Arrange the first layer of skulls on the mossy base. Since they will form the foundation for the topiary, you want something level and stable, so you may need to play with their position until you achieve this. For added visual interest, position a rat skeletons inside one of the mouths and glue everything in place.  

10. Use the leaves and moss to build up layers of foliage around the skulls. Concentrate their placement on locations where growth would naturally occur, such as inside the openings of the eyes or along the broad surfaces of the crown. To achieve this, cover small areas of the skulls with glue and press loose moss into the paste.  

11. Add the second layer of skulls, positioning them so they stack upward into a pyramid-like structure. Then, accent them with clusters of leaves and moss. As with the previous step, adhere the greenery to spots where it would typically grow and use a variety of colors to give the prop more visual interest.

12. Use a 1/8 bit to drill holes into the skulls and insert the wire supports for the mushrooms into the openings, gluing them in place and clustering additional moss around their bases to hide the juncture. Although I used store-bought mushrooms to save time, you can fabricate your own with modeling clay molded around a steel wire for support.  

13. Glue the second rat skeleton atop one of the skulls. If you plan to display the prop outdoors in windy conditions, use superglue for added stability.

14. I kept the prop relatively simple, but you can embellish it further with additional details, like a cluster of insects crawling across its surface.

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

"Small Hours of the Night" (A Poem)

Akin to Christina Rossetti’s “Remember,” Roque Dalton’s poem “Small Hours of the Night” discusses the mourning process, asking the grieving not to speak his name but happier words, like flower or bee. A renowned revolutionary, Dalton fought against the military regime in El Salvador, escaping prison when an earthquake destroyed the outer wall of his jail cell and undergoing plastic surgery in the 1970s to prevent himself from being identified.[1]

When you know I’m dead don’t say my name
because then death and peace would have to wait.

Your voice, the bell of your five senses, would form
the thin beam of light my mist would be looking for.

When you know I’m dead, say other words.
Say flower, bee, teardrop, bread, storm.

Don’t let your lips find my eleven letters.
I’m sleepy, I’ve loved, I’ve earned silence.

Don’t say my name when you know I’m dead:
I would come out of the dark ground for your voice.

Don’t say my name, don’t say my name.
When you know I’m dead don’t say my name.[2]

Works Referenced

Brown, Janice, Beverly Ann Cin, Rosa Fonseca, Kay Licona, William Ray, and Jacqueline Jones Royster. Hispanic American Literature. Columbus, OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Dalton, Roque. “Small Hours of the Night.” Small Hours of the Night: Selected Poems of Roque Dalton. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1996. 47.
____________________
[1] Brown, Cin, Fonseca, Licona, Ray, and Royster, 250
[2] Dalton, 47.

Witch Necklace

$10 - $15 (based on 2025 prices) 
Makes one necklace

 

To kickstart the build on my full-standing witch, I decided to begin with a few simple decorative aspects: a hat, a necklace, and a shawl. These would give me the momentum and inspiration to work on the larger figure. For this prop, I drew inspiration from the necklace I made to accessorize the scarecrow costume for 2016’s haunted farm theme. Due to its simplicity, the necklace can be modified in a variety of ways to cater it to your needs as a decorative touch for either a costume or prop. For instance, you can enhance it further with the addition of chicken feathers or weathered beads 

• One yard of brown twine
• Three small plastic bones
• Two vinyl fingers
• Four vinyl mice
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in Jacobean*
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in red chestnut*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat beige*
• 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 pink*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*

1. On a newspaper-lined surface, apply three even coats of beige paint to the fingers and three even coats of white paint to the mice. Although I used three, you may want more or less based on your desired coverage.

2. Once the paint dries, detail the mice’s ears, feet, and tails with pink paint and apply smudges of the hue to the fingers, concentrating primarily on the tips and around the knuckles. Use your own skin patterns or those found in a medical textbook for reference. Also, I discovered that applying a small amount of paint to your thumb and index finger and rubbing it onto the prop works well.

3. Darken the mice’s eyes with red paint. Following this, paint the nails on both fingers white, allowing the paint to fully dry before smudging red paint around the cuticles. You may want to pat the excess with a paper towel to blend it into the pink.

4. Gently drybrush gray paint over the raised portions of the mice’s backs to give the fur further depth. For the fingers, cover the severed ends with several even coats of red paint and, using a brush with splayed bristles, apply a smattering of the hue up the sides. For additional detail, you can create random abrasions along the fingers.

5. To mute the pink on the mice’s ears, feet, and tails, pat a light layer of beige paint onto their surfaces. As with step two, it works best if you apply a small amount of paint to your fingers and use them to work the hue onto the prop.  

6. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, paint the bones with the wood stain. I started with the red chestnut as a base and then dabbed Jacobean around the edges to darken them. This gave them a meaty appearance which made them look fresh.

7. Arrange the items in your desired order and use the twine to tie them all together. You can aim for symmetry as I did – evenly spacing each item and alternating their placement – or strive for chaos by clustering pieces together and leaving irregular spaces between them. Once you are done, leave about a foot of excess twine on either side. This will permit you to adjust the necklace’s size to fit around the wearer’s head.

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

The Soul of the Yąnomamö: A Mini-Essay

     For the Yąnomamö, an indigenous tribe in northern South America, the soul is divided into three parts: the No Borebö, No Uhudi, and Möamo. Upon death, the free will of the soul (No Borebö) ascends into the heavens where it meets Wadawadariwä, the son of the thunder god Yaru, at a forked road. On one side of the path is the tranquil world of Hedu and on the other side is the torturous world of Shobari Waka. If the soul has been benevolent and generous during their time on Earth, they travel to Hedu; however, if they have been greedy and meanspirited, they are sent to Shobari Wake.[1] While the No Borebö is judged for its deeds on Earth, the No Uhudi is released during the cremation process and escapes into the jungle in the form of a bore. If the No Uhudi was from a kind individual, the bore is a peaceful entity residing forever in the jungle. But, if the No Uhudi originated from a malicious person, the bore becomes an evil force with glowing eyes who attacks travelers trekking through the jungle at night.[2] The Möamo, located near the liver, is the most sacred part of the soul and can be stolen during life by evil shaman (shabori) or supernatural beings like bore. If a person’s Möamo is taken, they quickly fall ill and, if a good shabori cannot recall the Möamo in time, they die.[3] In addition to a three-part soul, the Yąnomamö also believe that every individual has an animal counterpart (noreshi) who is inherited from the parent of their same sex. Often, boys inherit a hawk or monkey from their fathers and girls inherit a dog or snake from their mothers. Being linked together, noreshi and humans mirror each other’s lives: eating and sleeping during the same times. Likewise, the death of someone’s noreshi prompts their own death, which means the Yąnomamö are highly sensitive to the act of hunting because they can be killing their own noreshi or the noreshi of a loved one.[4]

Works Referenced

Chagnon, Napoleon. Yąnomamö: The Fierce People. 3rd ed. Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983.
____________________
[1] Chagnon, 103.
[2] Chagnon, 103-104.
[3] Chagnon, 104.
[4] Chagnon, 104.

Rotten Teeth Cloche

$5 - $10 (based on 2020 prices)
Makes one display

 

Among the last builds for the laboratory theme was a series of small cloches containing a single specimen – an ear, an eye, and teeth – which served as small details placed among the larger towers of equipment. Featured here is the version with the teeth (see the ear and eye versions here).  

• One plastic cloche with detachable base (roughly six inches tall)
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in metallic silver*
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in red chestnut*
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in Jacobean*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*  
• One set of resin false teeth with gums
• One 0.44 oz. bottle of clear nail polish
• One to two feet of red yarn
• One 3/16” wooden dowel

1. Cut the wooden dowel into a three-inch section. Depending on the height of the cloche, you may need to adjust this measurement. Then, use a 7/32 bit to drill a hole into the center of the base and glue the dowel into the opening. 

2. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, build up layers of black and metallic silver spray paint to give the base and dowel the look of steel. It works best to apply a base coat of black followed by sliver, working in quick bursts to allow parts of the black to remain visible. You can also touch up portions with additional blasts of black if the silver becomes too heavy.

3. Once the spray paint dries, create a wash of brown paint and use it to add a level of grime to the prop, allowing the liquid to settle in the crevices.

4. Separate the teeth from the gums and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, use the red chestnut wood stain to paint the gums and the Jacobean wood stain to age the teeth. By using both colors, it gives the prop contrast: the meaty tint from the red chestnut and the dull grime from the Jacobean. 

5. Cut seven strands of red yarn in varying lengths and fray their ends. After this, apply a light layer of glue to the back and front of the gums and use the frayed stands to make veins. Try not to overthink their placement because a random pattern will look gorier and more unsettling. After the glue dries, coat the veins with the clear nail polish to give them a glossy appearance and lock the strands in place. You can also use a glossy decoupage medium for this process if the fumes from the nail polish become too overpowering. 

6. Attach the teeth to the gums and glue the prop on the top of the dowel. Depending on the height of the cloche, you may need to play with its placement or shorten the dowel so it fits properly under the enclosure.

7. Coat the remaining portions of the yarn strands in glue and wrap them around the dowel, using a needle or fine-tipped object to spread the fibers outward along the base to form tendrils. Once you have achieved your desired look, coat the yarn in nail polish to make it look moist.

8. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, paint the cloche with the Jacobean wood stain. Start by applying a thin coat and patting it with paper towels to produce a hazed appearance. Then, brush the edges to create the illusion of grime buildup. You want to refrain from making the coverage too thick, though, because it can obscure the teeth inside.

9. After the stain has dried, reattach the cloche to its base. For additional detail, you can embellish the prop with a specimen tag or biohazard label to cater it to your haunt’s theme.

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

Hydrangea Wreath

$10 - $15 (based on 2017 prices)
Makes one wreath

 

The Dia de Los Muertos portion of 2017’s haunted house required dozens of wreaths and flowers for an intricate funeral scene. To prevent myself from using the same design for each prop, I did variations on the sugar skull motif. For this version, I chose to use the bright blues and pinks present in other pieces to mimic the design for the hummingbird wreath that never made it into the haunt because my mother pilfered it for her own decorations. As with many of these wreath, they can be easily modified to fit your own needs by altering the color schemes and types of flowers.

• One three-foot garland of leaves (roughly seventeen leaves per garland)
• Five clusters of artificial hydrangeas in multiple colors
• One twelve-inch grapevine wreath
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• One foot of steel wire
• One decorative bird

1. Separate the leaves from their garland and cover roughly sixty percent of the wreath with the greenery, leaving about thirty to forty percent open for the bird. You want to place them along the outer edge of the wreath to make them visible once the flowers are added in step two. It might be best to buy large leaves (mine were almost three inches in length). Likewise, depending on how lush a coverage you want, you may need to purchase additional garlands for a larger assortment of leaves. 

2. Glue the clusters of hydrangeas to the wreath, creating contrast by placing differing hues next to each other. Although I went with a random pattern, you could arrange them with more precision to achieve a distinct design, such as an ombré effect.

3. Glue the bird to the open portion of the wreath. I used hot glue, but you can utilize superglue for a sturdier hold, especially if you plan to display this item in windy outdoor conditions for an extended period of time. 

4. If the wreath did not come with a hanging loop, you can fashion one with steel wire, folding it in half and wrapping both strands around each other. I kept the wreath relatively simple; however, you can add embellishments like butterflies or strands of ribbon.

"The Grave-Digger" (A Poem)

Among the first Arab American writers, Kahlil Gibran became part of New York City’s The Pen League (Al-Rabita ak-Qalamiyya) in 1920, joining fellow Arab American authors like Ameen Rihani who composed their works in both Arabic and English.[1] Being an immigrant, much of Gibran’s work deals with negotiating a dual existence and sacrificing parts of his heritage for acculturation. In his poem “The Grave-Digger,” he uses the metaphor of a sexton to discuss growing wiser with time after accepting the loss of his past self.

Once, as I was burying one of my dead selves, the grave-digger came by and said to me, “Of all those who come here to bury, you alone I like.”
Said I, “You please me exceedingly, but why do you like me?”
“Because,” said he, “They come weeping and go weeping – you only come laughing and go laughing.”[2]

Works Referenced

Fadda-Conrey, Carol. Contemporary Arab-American Literature: Transnational Reconfigurations of Citizenship ad Belonging. New York: New York University Press, 2014.

Gibran, Kahlil. “The Grave-Digger.” The Madman: His Parables and Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1918. 40.
____________________
[1] Fadda-Conrey, 17.
[2] Gibran, 40.

Mossy Skull

$20 - $25 (based on 2024 prices)
Makes one skull

 

For 2024’s cemetery, I endeavored to create a series of props to elevate the graveyard’s theme. One of them was this mossy skull with mushrooms sprouting from its head. The prop turned out well and inspired me to apply the same technique to a large planter filled with similar heads.

• One human-size plastic skull
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in grasshopper*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in hunter green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in neon green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in olive*
• One adhesive moss sheet (roughly 12” x 12”)
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One 0.12 lbs. bag of mixed moss
• Two artificial palm leaves with wire stems
• Two artificial mushrooms with wire stems
  

1. Thoroughly wash and dry the skull, removing any decorative elements to give the paint a clean surface to adhere to. For aesthetic purposes, I chose to remove the jaw, but you can incorporate it into your version. Following this, use a stippling brush to build up layers of grasshopper, hunter green, neon green, and olive paint, working from dark to light and trying not to overthink the application (a random pattern will look more natural).

2. For further depth, stipple brown and gray paint onto the skull’s surface. Like the first step, you want a random application to achieve an organic appearance. If either color becomes too heavy, you can use some of the green hues to dial it back. 

3. Cut the moss sheet into several random patterns, ensuring there are no straight edges. Then, starting at the base of the skull, adhere them to its surface. Concentrate their placement on locations where growth would naturally occur, such as inside the openings of the eyes and along the crown of the head. If you cannot find adhesive moss sheets, cover small areas of the skull with glue and press loose moss into the paste.

4. Accent the skull with clusters of moss. As with step three, position them in spots where this greenery would typically grow and utilize a variety of colors to give the prop more visual interest.

5. Use a 1/8 bit to drill three holes into the skull: one below the zygomatic arch and two in the crown. Insert the stems for the leaves into the hole under the zygomatic arch and the wire supports for the mushrooms into the holes in the crown, gluing all of the elements in place. Although I used store-bought mushrooms to save time, you can fashion your own with modeling claw molded around a steel wire for support.

6. I kept the prop relatively simple, but you can embellish it further with additional details, like a cluster of insects crawling across its surface.

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

Male Witches in Colonial New England: A Mini-Essay

     The role of male witches in colonial New England, as E.J. Kent discusses, has been largely overlooked by historians, with numerous scholars focusing primarily on their female peers.[1] Examining the trials and persecutions of thirty-five men accused of witchcraft, Kent reveals that the vast majority (twenty-three individuals) were tried, imprisoned, and/or executed for the same deeds of maleficium as their female counterparts, namely “murdering and bewitching men, women and children, bewitching and killing livestock, [and] harming property and domestic product.”[2] Unlike female witches, though, men were also charged with crimes of non-malefic witchcraft, including charming, conjuring, enchanting, and sorcery.[3] In fact, twelve of the thirty-five men examined by Kent were convicted of using evil spirits to find hidden treasure, fortunetelling, and employing black magic to deceive others and enact love spells.[4]

 

Works Referenced

Kent, E.J. “Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England, 1593-1680.” History Workshop Journal 60 (2005): 69-92.

____________________
[1] Kent, 69-70.
[2] Kent, 71.
[3] Kent, 70-71.
[4] Kent, 70-71.

Severed Ear Cloche

$5 - $10 (based on 2020 prices)
Makes one display

Among the last builds for the laboratory theme was a series of small cloches containing a single specimen – an ear, an eye, and teeth – which served as small details placed among the larger towers of equipment. Featured here is the ear version (see the eye version here).

• One plastic cloche with detachable base (roughly six inches tall)
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in metallic silver*
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in Jacobean*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat beige*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat pink*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red*
• One 0.44 oz. bottle of clear nail polish
• One to two feet of red yarn
• One 3/16” wooden dowel
• One vinyl ear

1. Cut the wooden dowel into a three-inch section. Depending on the height of the cloche, you may need to adjust this measurement. Then, use a 7/32 bit to drill a hole into the base’s center and glue the dowel at a slight angle in the opening. This will allow the ear to face slightly upward in the display for better visibility.

2. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, build up layers of black and metallic silver spray paint to give the base and dowel the look of steel. It works best to apply a base coat of black followed by sliver, working in quick bursts to allow parts of the black to remain visible. You can also touch up portions with additional blasts of black if the silver becomes too heavy.

3. Once the spray paint dries, create a wash of brown paint and use it to add a level of grime to the prop, allowing the liquid to settle in the crevices.

4. On a newspaper-lined surface, apply three even coats of beige paint to the ear. Then, give it a smudging of pink, focusing primarily on the tips and along the curvatures of the helix and tragus. Use your own skin patterns or those found in a medical textbook for reference.

5. Pain the entire inside of the ear red, ensuring the paint gets into all of the creases. For depth, you can build up layers of varying hues, starting with a darker shade and working toward lighter colors. Following this, use a brush with splayed bristles to apply a smattering of red paint around the wounds and up the sides of the ear. 

6. Position the ear on the top of the dowel, allowing it to tilt slightly upward, and glue it in place. Depending on the height of the cloche, you may need to play with its placement or shorten the dowel so it fits properly under the enclosure.

7. Cut five two-inch strands of red yarn and glue them in the opening of the ear to form a tangled mess of veins. Try not to overthink their placement because a random pattern will look gorier and more unsettling. After the glue dries, coat the inside of the ear and the yarn with the clear nail polish to give them a glossy appearance and lock the strands in place. You can also use a glossy decoupage medium for this process if the fumes from the nail polish become too overpowering.

8. Cut additional strands of yarn and, working from the opening, spread them across the rest of the ear and down the dowel onto the base, using a needle or fine-tipped object to spread the fibers outward. Once you have achieved your desired look, coat the yarn in the nail polish akin to step seven. 

9. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, stain the cloche. Start by applying a thin coat and patting it with paper towels to produce a hazed appearance. Then, brush the edges to create the illusion of grime buildup. You want to refrain from making the coverage too thick, though, because it can obscure the ear inside. 

10. After the stain has dried, reattached the cloche to its base. For additional detail, you can embellish the prop with a specimen tag or biohazard label to cater it to your haunt’s theme. 

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