Sunday, October 25, 2015

Book of Horror!

Ohhhh October, how I enjoy thee! I wanted to design something really gory and disgusting. The other night I was watching Hocus Pocus and thought to myself "what would the sisters book look like for a rated R movie?" And here is what came to mind. This is the Book of Horror, enjoy or be disgusted-the choice is yours! (Evil laugh in the background) And some exciting news at the end of this post!
I started with a plain paper mâché book, added some gesso to the entire thing and some black leather to the edge. The leather lends a vintage feel to the spine of this wicked creation and also adds age. Can you see the bloody hand print on the spine?
Then I started sculpting with polymer clay. Now I have never done this before so there is always room for improvement but this is the first take. I lightly drew out where the eyes, nose, and mouth would go then went at it. 
I kept pushing the clay around until I was satisfied (kinda) with the results. Then it went into the oven to bake. While the grotesque face was baking I started on the back of the book. I glued down some interesting lace stuff, painted over it with gesso, and added some more polymer clay. I had to use air dry clay on the back and I am not a fan of it, I much prefer Sculpty. 
Next came adding the skin color and let me tell you, skin is hard to paint. There are so many shades and hues to skin. I used DecoArt Media line colors: Red Iron Oxide, Yellow Iron Oxide, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Quinacridone Gold, Paynes Grey, Carbon Black, and Raw Umber Antiquing Cream. The flesh tone was achieved by mixing a pale pink and Americana Zinc with a dab of Adirondack Hazelnut. You just have to play with the colors and go with your gut. 
The picture below is when the entire back section was done. I really am diggin the "wet" look of the exposed flesh. This wet look was achieved by using DecoArt Liquid Glass and DecoArt Media Mister-Red. I added some paint splatters to break up the skin color and give it some depth with the colors mentioned above. The "sutures" are made with rusty wire from my stash, with each one hand shaped and glued with Glossy Accents to the pulled and stretched skin!
I did work on the front and back pieces intermittently but didn't glue the front piece until it was entirely done. The teeth were a sore spot for me. I wanted it to look like the teeth had realistic gums so I added some more clay and pushed my "teeth" into the clay to create grooves. I will send something to the first person to guess what the teeth are made from.
I pulled all the teeth out and baked the clay, then added the teeth back to their spot. The teeth got a makeover (or make-under) with a wash of DecoArt Media-Yellow Iron Oxide and Quinacridone Gold. The gums, eye sockets, nose socket, and exposed flesh were painted Red with the DecoArt Media mister (love that Red! And I also love that after it is dry, none of the red seeps into my paintbrush when I layer colors over it!) The skin was painted the same way a the back of the book. The eyeball was aged with a wash of Yellow Iron Oxide and made to look gooey with Liquid Glass.
The "page" part of this book was made by applying thick and thin amounts of DecoArt Crackle Paste. Once that was dry I gave it a wash with DecoArt Paynes Grey and Old Paper DI. Then I rubbed on some DecoArt Raw Umber Antiquing Cream and wiped off the excess with a paper towel. (you may have noticed that I use the Antiquing Cream as a wash, paint, and dry brush-very versatile stuff!)
Creepy little guy! In the picture below you can see the colors from the washes I gave the "pages". Lastly I added DecoArt matte Varnish to all the edges. 
The spine was distressed with texture paste and the Andy Skinner stencil-Code Breaker. I aged the texture paste with DecoArt English Red and Titanium White Antiquing Cream as well as dry brushing it with DecoArt Red Oxide and the hand print on the spine was made by painting my hand with the Red Oxide and grabbing the spine on this Book of Horror.
The face kinda has a sad look to him. I hope you don't meet this Horror out and about on Halloween night! You may be the next in line to be skinned! Mwaha ha ha! Hopefully you weren't too disgusted that you blew chunks, although if you did I would like to know. Happy Haunting and Carpe Diem! ~Niki
                                               

This delightfully grotesque book will be shared with these horrific challenges: 



A darker art blog spot, so check it out!



I have been accepted into the DecoArt Blogger Outreach program and this is my first design! I am happy to share and learn more about their products. I have to say that as of right now my favorite supplies are-Liquid Glass and Red Oxide. 

29 comments:

  1. I am sure glad I saw this before dinner and not during because it is definitely goulish and scary. The nails are the fake nails that you put over your own to create long and lovely nails, something most mixed media artists don't have or they would be forever digging ink and paint out from underneath - I speak from experience and now have short nails. Love the step by step and the finished project is absolutely wicked.
    Hugs!
    Cec

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    1. Cec-you are correct and such a smart cookie! I tried hot glue for the teeth, Resin, Glossy Accents and nothing was working so I googled fake teeth and saw a video of a lady from ComiCon that made her fake teeth with Acrylic nails and there you have it. I will get your prize out shortly! Thanks for guessing! Hugz!

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  2. This was spectacular! I felt like this would be the journal of Charles Manson or something disturbing. I can't get over how you manipulated the paper into that gross old decay skin look. Thank you so much for entering on our challenge.

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  3. This is totally amazing Niki! I love the sutures and skin, wow so wicked! Those teeth are amazing and would not wanna make this book angry! Such a tease, I am so curious on these teeth...made from acrylic nails or what they use to make fake human nails?
    Anyways, so awesome and so happy you found us at Dream In Darkness,Creepy &Weirdly Odd Welcome!
    ~kim

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  4. WOW!!! Extremely creepy and gross!! I love it! And yes I could see the bloody handprint on the spine! And I think you used fake press on nails for the teeth! :) Thank you for sharing with us over at Emerald Creek Dares Tricks and Treats Challenge!

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  5. This is amazing! The teeth are incredibly realistic. Wow! Thank you for sharing your work with us for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. It was a pleasure seeing this! ~ Michelle

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  6. OMG, Niki, this is a real masterpiece! What a fantastic use of polymer clay! Oh, and those scary teeth, absolutely amazing! I think you used straws to create teeth :) All I want to do is to touch that wonderfully wonderful book!
    BIG congrats, my talented friend! It's so well deserved! Happy for you!!!
    Huge hugs and lots of love to you! Branka xxx

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  7. This is so delightfully disgusting and spooky, what a treasure! Fantastic idea, hugs, Valerie

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  8. OMG! This is ingenious, Niki!
    Best Halloween piece ever! And absolute perfect "horror" indeed! The polymer clay is such a brilliant idea and shows the stitching so well! LOVE this! Well done you! It's amazing!

    Hugs,
    Claudia x

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  9. This is SUPERB Niki, I just love how you created that 'horror' face with clay and those sutures - you deserve a medal for those alone - you must have the patience of a saint! I can only think that the teeth were created from false nails (but that has already been guessed) because of their shape but whatever you used, they look fantastic. On the other hand, it could be Ranger's Clearly for Art - not sure. I just love this piece though and the leather sides really do give it an 'aged' feel. Hugs, Anne xx

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  10. Oh, Cec, dagnabit! Of course it's false acrylic nails! I recognize them from my mother in law!

    Oh, Punkin! Now you've done it!!!! What a fabulous scary read! Love the stretched skin the eye, those teeth, and a genius idea for the finger prints! Great use of those DecoArt products! this really is gruesomeness at it's finest! My top hat is off to you! This is as horrible as it gets! (I hope)

    Huge congrats on your Blogger Outreach program acceptance! So well deserved and I know you are going to do DecoArt proud! Your work is AWESOME(sauce)!!!! Big hugs!

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  11. WOW! That if a truly fantastic, creepy, scary book! Brilliant use of clay with the sculpting and those teeth are so realistic. Thanks for playing along with us in the Monster challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

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  12. This is SO freaking amazing! I was scrolling through my feed and this stopped me right in my tracks. LOVED seeing your creativity unfold in pictures. WOW! Super impressed!

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  13. Wow this is absolutely brilliant and so well thought out for every detail on it.
    Congrats on making the outreach program.
    Julie x

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  14. OMG - this is amazing!! Love love all the details. Thanks for joining us for our Tricks and Treats Halloween Emerald Creek Dares Challenge

    Karon DT

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  15. Delightfully disgusting! What a great idea the polymer clay on a book! And these teeth! I would also say false nails. Very realistic!

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  16. Ooooh this is creepily wicked and I love that you love gory!! This is just amazing and so much gorgeous mixed media has gone into this!!

    And huge congrats on your blogger outreach acceptance for DecoArt hun xxx

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  17. So gruesome cool! Are the teeth fake finger nails? TFS and inspiring! Hugs Kristina

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  18. Eeeek! I don't watch horror movies and after seeing this I'm definitely NEVER watching Hocus Pocus! Truly disturbing, those fake nail teeth are terrifying! Deb xo

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  19. This is so creepy and grotesque! Yet I can't look away. Amazing project!
    Thanks for joining us over at Emerald Creek Dares Challenge
    ~~julia~~

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  20. This is really beyond cool - wow!! I reread it about three times to see what the teeth were. They look so cool!! Just totally amazing in every way. Thanks so much for sharing it with us at Frilly and Funkie!

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  21. OMG, this is the creepiest thing, absolutely fabulous. Such a fabulous details (like all those teeth), amazing, unique book box. Thank you so much for playing in Dream In Darkness this month, hope to see you back soon.

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  22. Yowsa, Niki!! Brilliant make - LOVE those teeth!! And congratulations on making the outreach team - can't wait to see what you do! xxx Lynn

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  23. Thanks so much for your congrats! I think you must have heard my happy dancing shrieks of delight :-) Appreciate your time to stop by - and as above, very much looking forward to your DecoArt projects! xxx Lynn

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  24. Eeek! That's a real book of horrors - amazingly creepy, amazingly brilliant!
    Alison x

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  25. Absolutely fantastic Niki - the texture around the eyes of the peeled back skin is so realistic -no experience of this but thinking of what I've seen on N.C.I.S & C.S.I etc :) Brilliant work!
    Many congrats too for the Decorart outreach programme.
    Gill xx :)

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  26. Wow your book is amazing! The texture and details are fantastic!

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  27. Yippee! Your creepy book is a Top 3 on Emerald Creek Dares!! I'm so happy for you! Hugs!

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  28. I LOVE VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL PRETTY

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