How to shrink a head.....this is heavy on picks

hidehoman · #1 09-10-2007

ok. my shunken head is nothing more than paper mache and hot glue. I made a head shape out of tape and paper then conected it to a paper tube. bult up shape of head with mache and then used hot glue to form the nose/bridge and forhead. I built up a line of hot glue on each side for the closed eyelid. and raised the cheack bones up a bit with more hot glue. I then blended it all down with more mache and then two coats of snot rag mache to give it that leather look. I gave the heads two coats of wood stain. Then in true shrunken head form I rubed it down with some charcoal. The hair eye lashes is hot glued hair from the fall I cut up for the hair on the head. For the hair I used a fall cut out the hair tied it in the center and pushed it into a couple of holes in the top of the head and hot glued into place.
What sells this prop is the extra stuff.
Print all this stuff out and cut and past it to a black back ground and place in a frame.

To shrink a head......

1. Remove the skull from the head: Make an incision on the back of the neck and proceeded to remove all the skin and flesh from the cranium.
2. Sew the eyelids shut and hold the mouth together with splinters.
3. Turn skin inside out and remove fat from the flesh of the head.
4. Boil flesh in water for an hour to an hour and a half. This will reduce head by half its size.
5. Place hot rocks and sand, in head while molding the head to retain its human feature.
6. Run a hot blade over the lips to shrink and seal them.
7. sew lips shut.

The process to reduce the size of the heads was accompanied by a ritual, which culminated with la Fiesta de la Victoria (Spanish for "victory party") celebrated by the entire community.

Photobucket (Videos)

Big Howlin · #2 09-10-2007

very cool. I might make a couple. They look good hanging from bars.

Sickie Ickie · #3 09-10-2007

Notice they use hot glue. hehhehehehehheeeee

Severin · #4 09-10-2007

That looks very cool. Been a long time since I've thought of shrunken head props. Anyone remember the Milton Bradley kit Vincent Price used to hawk? You used apples to make the head. Geeze, I'm really getting old

Revenant · #5 09-11-2007

I remember those commercials! "Peel... gouge out the face... drown it in salt water... hang it in the shrinker..."
The Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture Kit. Yep.

Hideho's look more realistic tho!

octoberist · #6 09-11-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sickie Ickie

Notice they use hot glue.

Wow, Sickie, you really have hot glue on the brain, don't you?
I mean, I love the stuff, but I try to keep my passion under wraps.
But you, you just don't care who knows, do you?
I mean, you actually own your own hot glue pot. I know of no other human - living or dead - with a personal hot glue pot. Sure, we all would love to coat skulls with hot red glue from a hot glue pot. Would love to slop hot glue on skulls all night long. But we can't all indulge this fantasy. Unlike you. Damn you, Sickie, god of hot glue! Stop taunting us!

(Oh, cool shrunken head btw.)

monstercloset · #7 09-12-2007

I made a pretty cool shrunken head prop using a small plastic skull that I got at a Spirit store for .99 or so. I've seen them at Party City and places like that too. I covered it in my secret corpse skin recipe added hair, twin and waalaa. Here's a pic of Lula the Jungle girl holding it:

Revenant · #8 09-12-2007

Wha...?... there's a shrunken head prop in that picture?... I don't see... oh, wait.... oh THERE it is! Hehehe silly me...

(*ahem*)

Sickie Ickie · #9 09-12-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by octoberist

Wow, Sickie, you really have hot glue on the brain, don't you?
I mean, I love the stuff, but I try to keep my passion under wraps.
But you, you just don't care who knows, do you?
I mean, you actually own your own hot glue pot. I know of no other human - living or dead - with a personal hot glue pot. Sure, we all would love to coat skulls with hot red glue from a hot glue pot. Would love to slop hot glue on skulls all night long. But we can't all indulge this fantasy. Unlike you. Damn you, Sickie, god of hot glue! Stop taunting us!

(Oh, cool shrunken head btw.)

LOL I recently bought a small crock pot just for this purpose! Now I want to try mixing colors in it. I figure I can get a nice shrunked head decayed brown by mixing my red and green colors. Viva La Glue Sticks!!!!...and shrunken heads! LOL

Sickie Ickie · #10 09-12-2007

Even my 2 year old gasped in awe of the above beauty! LOL Kid after my own heart!