Halloween in July

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the           different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!

Every year around this time I long for the fall. I start thinking about Halloween/Samhain, about fall decorating, about pumpkin and apple flavored goodies and drinks, leaves falling, and fall attire. I'm not sure why I do this during the hottest part of the year. I think maybe it's the tree we have in our front yard. Every year in the heat of summer it starts dropping its leaves. Then I have a small area of autumn right there in my very own yard. Maybe that kicks in my thoughts of cooler nights and pumpkins?

The tree in the front yard

The leaves that have fallen

At any rate, I thought it would be a good excuse for a Halloween craft. It's never too early to start your decorations, right?? Come, let's revel in our thoughts of autumn and hayrides and the flight of witches over pumpkin fields!

I'm really on a clay kick right now. It's an awesome material to work with. I'm also trying to use a lot of the craft items that I have lying around. So for this project, I'm going to make a decorative paper mache box. A little painting, a little clay, maybe a little decoupage; nothing too difficult.

The figures will all be shadow, because they are easy peasy.

Take your box and choose your base colors. I wanted to make it seem like a sunset at dusk, with the darkness coming in at the top. I mixed bright pink with orange and as I went to the top of the box, I painted a lilac and white OVER the orange/pink. I didn't paint it even, I watered it down a bit, so that it would have a cloudy sunset look to it, as seen in the pic on the left. After that dried, I watered down a black and just did the top portion of the box, as seen in the right pic.

For the lid, I did the top in black only, but for the edge, I treated it the same as top of the box. White lilac, covered with black.

 



I also took the solid black and made a black bottom. This will be the shadow of the ground.

Now, just decide what you want to put on your box. For mine, I'm going to paint some trees with a few leaves left on and in the air.

 

I'll put a happy little cat under one tree, watching the leaves fall. In another I'll put an owl keeping watch for its dinner.

 

Under this one, I'll put a lit jack-o-lantern, shining the Samhain spirit into the coming night.

 Now, I think that I want to add a scarecrow in his field of corn.

And now a pumpkin patch.

















A witch flying over the pumpkin patch. She's on her way to

the Witches Ball!  

I also added a few stars in the sky. Different colors. Dip the wrong end of your paintbrush in the paint and make a dot. When the dot dries, water down some paint of the same color and put it around the dot, to give it a glow.

I need a graveyard, so I'll put it between two trees with a simple 

ghostly shape rising from the grave. 

Another black cat hissing at the rising spirit.

Since I'm finished with the painting of the box, now I want to make a topper for the lid. All that's needed is a moon. I'm going to put a silly looking moon on the top made from clay. First, I'll figure out how big I want it, by making my ball of clay. I'm using premo! sculpey.

After you have figured out the proper size of the moon, make a cross on the front to keep your face evenly placed

Next, make two small balls for the eyes and place them on the cross line. After you have placed them, flatten out two pieces of clay for the upper and lower lids.

Now, place a ball of clay in between the eyes and spread out to make the nose. For the top lip I rolled a "worm" and placed it below the nose. I made nostrils with a wood clay tool.

Continue shaping the nose and smoothing. For cheeks, just put a ball of clay under each eye and smooth down to blend. Place another "worm" of clay for the bottom lip and blend with your thumb until smooth.

I also put a ball under the bottom lip for the chin, I continuously smooth until I was happy. I also add craters with a wooden tool.

Now I baked the moon for 20 minutes at 275 degrees.

When you have your moon baked and cooled, then paint it your chosen colors. I am using a cream mixed with a bright yellow. For shadows, I'll add a bit of black. 

Now, I'll just glue him to the top. The moon also serves as a "handle" for the lid. 

 

 You can't see it well because of glare, but I have put a circle of gold "shine" underneath the moon for his moonglow. After everything is finished, I put a coat of protection on it and let it dry.

This project definitely helped ease my hankering for fall! Thanks for joining me!

Brightest Blessings,

Saga