# How to make SAM dirty



## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: Hey Guys! My SAM character is just way too clean! He looks like he just stepped out of a catalog. How would you suggest I dirty him up? I was thinking dry brushing diluted brown paint...I would appreciate your thoughts or if you have dirtied up a prop before. I just don't want to ruin him and the thought of rolling him in a mud puddle just scares me to death....


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Check out the suggestions in this thread:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=33489


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## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Loving your Sam character! He looks great Pumpkin, nice work on him!

Short notice on aging, but try burying his clothes in some damp soil over the weekend. Zombie-clothes are often buried for months to actually get them to start rotting, but maybe three days underground will grunge them up for your immediate needs. That, or put them in a plastic bag filled with damp top soil and shake it around for a while.

For burlap, you can always make an acrylic wash with raw sienna in a bucket and just soak it for a bit, then wring it out. That is how I aged the burlap on my pumpkin head prop.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

What is the material made of? If the orange will absorb water, wet the whole thing down, mix acrylic black paint and some dark green together and make a watered down solution. When I did mine for the dress (wifes costume this year), I mixed about a half teaspoon of the paint with a half cup of water.

Then at the top of the costume, use a squirt bottle, like a mustard container, and squirt the paint liquid all over. Make long runs down the material. Now wait 2 hours and try not to do anything to it. It is going to look way different in 2 hours than when you first start. The water already in the material will pull the paint toward it diluting the lines and making light and dark areas that resemble water wicking through it over a long period of time.

I would seriously suggest trying this out on a test piece first. Don't rush it and just see what happens.

Here is a picture of my wifes dress. You can see the darker at the top and the light at the base where it didn't wick down as much.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Thanks Roxy, Sawtooth and Spiderclimber! Great ideas and I loved the thread on making Beeteljuice dirty. (Thanks!) I have used watered down acrylic paint before on my Voodoo witch costume last year, but I do like the thought of the "zombification" process Sawtooth mentioned.:zombie: I may try some of the fabric by itself with both methods and see which is best. (time is running out though...) And the fabric is the cheapest orange fabric I could find at Walmart..maybe flannel? If I run out of time, SAM can just be clean again this year......


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## EverydayisHalloween311 (Oct 14, 2011)

That's awesome. I need a how to make Sam tutorial lol. But I can't sew


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## Buzz (Aug 26, 2011)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol: Hey Guys! My SAM character is just way too clean! He looks like he just stepped out of a catalog. How would you suggest I dirty him up? I was thinking dry brushing diluted brown paint...I would appreciate your thoughts or if you have dirtied up a prop before. I just don't want to ruin him and the thought of rolling him in a mud puddle just scares me to death....


Fantastic looking prop, Pumpkin5. Love it! Can't wait to see it dirtied up.



Spiderclimber said:


> What is the material made of? If the orange will absorb water, wet the whole thing down, mix acrylic black paint and some dark green together and make a watered down solution. When I did mine for the dress (wifes costume this year), I mixed about a half teaspoon of the paint with a half cup of water.
> 
> Then at the top of the costume, use a squirt bottle, like a mustard container, and squirt the paint liquid all over. Make long runs down the material. Now wait 2 hours and try not to do anything to it. It is going to look way different in 2 hours than when you first start. The water already in the material will pull the paint toward it diluting the lines and making light and dark areas that resemble water wicking through it over a long period of time.
> 
> ...


Great job there Spiderclimber. Those clothes look so nasty I wouldn't want to touch them. :jol:


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

The dress started out as wedding material you buy at jo ann fabric. It was all shiny and white and.... horrible for a costume. I had to fix it. The water wicking really does work well, but it changes look over the hours so what you start with is not what you end with. An interesting process, but unfortunately you can't stop it in the middle when it looks absolutely perfect.


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