Halloween "Wreath"
The Halloween "Wreath" is hanging on the front door now. I think it is unique and perhaps, as a friend said, a little bit "steampunk". The frame was a bargain for five bucks a year or two ago. The first element attached to the frame was the creepy fabric I found at the dollar store.
Next, the lamp was attached. An eye screw was attached to the back of the frame and the lamp was held by florist wire. In total, four eye screws were attached to the back of the frame to use to wire the skeleton, the sign, and the lamp to the frame.
The skeleton was half off at the craft store. Great deal but his hands were straight and flat. Contemplating different options, I picked up his hand and tried to bend a joint slightly. It bent a little so each joint was bent a little and the hand looked better, so I went back over each one and pushed a little more thinking that even if I broke one, I could glue it back together.
You can see how the joints look a little whiter where it was bent. Doesn't the hand look better? I wanted the hand to look like it was beckoning visitors.
This poor guy! I bent him, wired, hot glued and even drilled a hole through his heel! Wiring him to the frame seemed the best option but I wanted his foot up on the frame. I wrapped the wire around his ankle, but it didn't lay right so I drilled a hole through his heel, threaded the wire through, and attached it to an eye hook on the back of the frame.
At first, I tried to wire his hands where I wanted them but that did not work so well. So, I bent his legs, arms, and wrists in the position desired and hot glued the joints. Obviously, I had to hold it until the glue set, but it seems to be working!
Three black twigs with just a little sparkle were purchased at the craft store. Two were hot glued to the top of the frame and one was glued to the lower left side and bottom. Black flowers were considered for this project, but sometimes less is more. I had planned on spray painting some old silk flowers with black paint. As I added the leaves, I didn't think it really needed the flowers. (The leaves were hot glued.) A ribbon bow was made and attached with florist wire.
The sign was created on PicMonkey. I love that site! It was printed out on copy paper and Mod Podged to black foam board, which was purchased at the dollar store. The edges where the white foam were visible were blackened with a sharpie.
Mod Podge was used to glue the sign to the foam board. I laid the sign on the black foam board, lifted one short edge and applied Mod Podge all the way across, and rubbed down gently into position. Then I raised the loose side, gradually gluing a little at a time until it was completely glued.
That was allowed to dry, then another coat of Mod Podge was painted over the sign.
This wreath will be displayed on our front door, which doesn't get a lot of rain on it, but it does get some on occasion. Because of that, three coats of indoor/outdoor varnish were applied, too.
The leaves, which were from our yard, were Mod Podged last fall. The brown leaves pick up the brown in the sign. Hopefully, this Halloween "Wreath" is a stand out in our neighborhood!
