Creepin It Real: DIY Faux Taxidermy
Love the look of taxidermy, but feeling a little too squeamish to make the real thing? Bony Bubba's got your back! With just a few inexpensive supplies from collage, you can create faux taxidermy with as much or as little creep factor as you want.
You will need:
Assorted plastic figurines
Human Organs - for a little extra creep factor!
Bony Bubba used these colors:
Peridot
Lavender Frost
24K Gold
Jadeite
Obsidian
Printer or typewriter and paper
Paint your plaques! Make sure you shake the Extreme Sheen very well before use. The contents will separate naturally, and you’ll lose the extreme sheeniness if you don’t shake! Bubba and I found it really difficult to capture just how shiny these paints are in our photographs, but trust us, they're amazing. If, for some unfathomable reason, you don't want shiny plaques you could use Multi-Surface Satin Acrylic.
2. Paint your figurines. Or not, it's up to you. Your figurines may look great on a plaque as is, but consider painting them a solid color that gives a high contrast to your plaque color, or using a dry brush technique to bring out the details.
When you dry brush, the idea is to highlight the raised surfaces by applying a very small amount of paint to your brush which is a lighter color than the area that you're dry brushing. Starting with a damp or dry brush, put a little bit of paint on your brush and then brush most of it off on a dry paper towel. Drag the brush across the grain of the texture on your figurine. With very little paint loaded on your brush, this will only leave paint on the raised surfaces, simulating how light makes these surfaces lighter in color. Bubba used this technique on the fly and the snake.
3. Now that your plaques are probably dry, it's a good time to add the sawtooth hangers to the back if you plan on hanging up your finished work.
4. Use hot glue to firmly affix your figuine to the plaque. If you don’t want to use hot glue, you could try Crafter’s Pick or E6000 to eliminate your risk of 3rd degree burns and ensure a stong bond. Just be sure to give them a good few hours to dry before handling. Bony Bubba likes the hot glue because it's quick, easy, and he has no flesh to burn off.
5. For added authenticity, bust out your vintage typewriter and type out some real or entirely made up scientific names for your taxidermy. Cut them out and affix them to your painted plaque with some Mod Podge or Crafter's Pick. What's that you say? You don't have a vintage typewriter!!! Well, you could find a neat-o typewriter font in your computer’s word processing software, or use this website.
Have fun creeping folks out with your faux taxidermy! If you make this project, don't forget to take pictures and post them on instagram for the chance to win a $50 collage gift card. Here's how:
You must have a "public" Instagram account to enter.
Rules are as follows:
1. Make something with a product you have purchased from any of our collage stores
2. Take a picture of your project and post it on your public Instagram account
3. Tag us in your post @collagepdx and use the hashtag #collagepdxprojects
At the end of every month, we will collect all the entries and draw a winner randomly. The winner will receive a $50 collage gift certificate! Anyone can enter and anyone can win!
