About the Candy Dish of Death:
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The Candy Dish of Death was constructed on the first year that my daughter was too old to go trick or treating. Until this project, all of our decorations had been built for our Halloween parties. But this one was the first one that could be enjoyed by everyone in the neighborhood.
The original idea was sketched on a post-it note and is shown below.
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Material List:
Several skulls (I used ones that I made using my Cheap Skulls technique.
Misc. assortment of acrylic paint and brushes.
Electric drill
6 - "L" brackets ( sold in sets of 3 for a few bucks at Wal-Mart)
4 - 12" spike nails (to secure project to ground when finished)
1 - (optional) Bag of Bones prop from Wal-Mart
1 - (optional) Rubber glove
1 - Wooden base at least 1' x 2' in size
1 - Roll of paper towels
1 - Hot glue gun and glue sticks
1 - Scrap pvc pipe (I used 2" pipe for strength)
1 - Plastic candy dish
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| Step 1:
The first step is to obtain the materials. I used several skulls that we had built using my "cheap skull" technique. I already have very detailed instructions on creating these skulls here.
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| Step 2:
Use 3 "L-brackets" to attach the 2" pvc pipe to the wooden base. I trimmed the pvc to about waist height, but you can make it as tall as you'd like. Just remember that you may have small children reaching into it.
Tip: It's a good idea to pre-drill the corners of the base so that you can hammer 12" nails through them and secure the pedestal to the ground on Halloween.
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| Step 3:
Begin cutting holes into the tops of the skulls and placing them on the pole. I also used some of the blow molded bones that you can by from Wal-mart" for a few bucks. These bones are glow in the dark, so you'll want to paint them later.
Keep stacking the skulls at random intervals. Make sure to rotate them so that they face different directions.
Optional Step:
I also used hot glue on a rubber glove in addition to the skulls and the bones, but in hindsight, I would leave it off if I were doing it over. The glove was a lot of work and isn't very effective visually.
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| Step 4:
Be sure to use hot glue to connect the open areas between the skulls and bones. Continue doing this until you fill the entire pvp pole to within a few inches of the top.
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| Step 5:
Once you have the pole covered with skulls and bones, use three more "L brackets" to attach the candy bowl to the top. I used drywall screws to attach the brackets to the pole, but attached the bowl to the brackets with bolts and lock washers.
For safety, I covered the exposed bolts with globs of hot glue.
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| Step 6:
Next I twisted paper towels into "vines" and glued them from the top skull upwards onto the bowl. Once you have them glued into a pattern that you like, cover the entire "vine" with a thin layer of hot glue by going over them with the tip of the glue gun.
(Be careful not to start a fire! They are paper towels you know!)
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| Step 7:
After this step I went ahead and painted the skulls and vines. For detailed instructions on how to paint them to look gross click here or see my tutorial on making Cheap Skulls.
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| Step 8:
I now had the whole thing painted, but I didn't like the looks of the inside of the bowl. I didn't paint it before because I was afraid that the paint would be scraped off from the candy. The solution was simple though.
I tore sheets of paper towels and glued them down until I covered the entire inner bowl's surface. I then covered the towels in a layer of hot glue, just like I did with the "vines" earlier. Once the glue hardened, I simply painted it black with acrylic paint. And that finished out the entire project.
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| Dish in Action:
Here are some shots of how it was displayed on Halloween night. Unfortunately, it was raining off and on so we had to use it indoors. It still looked pretty cool though!.
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What do you think? Contact me and let me know by clicking here.
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