October 3, 2010

Handmade Raven, DIY Halloween Decor Black Feathered Raven Halloween Sculptures

I love large scale pieces and really wanted a huge raven...or crow...
(are they the same?) for part of my Halloween decor. All I saw
in the stores were smallish ones so I decided to make my own.

random styrofoam pieces
I had a bunch of random styrofoam shapes, not as big as I would have liked,
 but I'm thinking I can still make it work!

DIY Halloween ravens styrofoam base
I used a large egg and a small egg cut in half for each raven.

styrofoam bases for hand made Halloween ravens
I added cone shaped pieces for the tail... 
one was an actual cone, the other was another shape that I cut into a cone shape

Handmade Halloween Ravens wire feet
I bent big blue wire into a bird foot shape

wire feet armature for diy Halloween raven
I think they will work

flexall or joint compound
I usually use Flexall when I need to do something like this and it's
what I had on hand. Sadly, it has been discontinued but regular joint
compound will work just fine. 

DIY Halloween ravens
I put on disposable gloves and lathered these babies up.  
This is not to say I've never used it without gloves...fun but messy 

diy Halloween raven sculpture with joint compound
I made wing shapes with my fingers in the wet compound...let dry overnight

diy Halloween raven sculptures
For the beaks, I shaped tissue paper I had
that I happened upon in a dumpster... A brand new ream which is about 480 sheets still in the wrapper, who throws that away???. 
 into beak shapes and covered them with more tissue paper adhered with Mod Podge.
The red color doesn't matter since they will be painted.

diy halloween sculptures
I painted them black and then kinda forgot about taking pictures...


black feathered Halloween raven sculptures
But... I ended up gluing black feathers on the tail and wings.  

When I say "black feathers", I mean I didn't have any black feathers 
but I did have some turkey feathers so I spray painted them black...feathers. 

12" DIY Halloween feathered black raven sculptures
So here they are all finished, I screwed their feet into wood blocks and 
added little black beads for their beady little eyes.  

It's hard to get a scale from the pic but they are about a foot long and stand about 9" tall
BIG! I love them

diy feathered raven halloween decor

Check out my latest Halloween/Fall creation...

DIY 12" Halloween raven
Happy Halloween!

Visit my new online store for coastal and nature themed mosaic art, and
coastal ornaments. 
Find me on FacebookPinterest, InstagramYoutube
Cheers!
~Lucy

27 comments:

  1. WHAT THE... This is seriously COOL!!! Absolutely amazing. Joint compound? I never knew you could use it like THAT! Wow!

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  2. I appreciate it, and thank you so much for featuring me! I grabbed a feature button from you, thanks!

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  3. Lucy, these are way too wicked cool to not get noticed. I would suggest linking them with Stephanie Lynn's Sunday Showcase party http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ and Jen's Weekend Wrap Up party http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/ You're sure to get featured at one (or both) of these blogs.
    Blessings, Kim

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  4. cool, thanks Kim! I appreciate the links, totally new to this whole blogging thing, I'll check them out!

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  5. super creative and fun! Love them!

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  6. I know why you did these yourself rather then buy them, because NOWHERE would you have found two as unique and awesome as the ones you just did. You are super creative, and I simply LOVED that tutorial. It was so well done, and thanks for your super secret. How easy, and perfect. I am so excited to be your newest follower, you are RAD! Thanks Bella :) Oh, you know I want this one at my place too right? Darn you have a lot of linking up to do, lol. THANKS!!!!

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  7. Ravens are sold out everywhere already around here. I had no idea that you could make one. I might have to give it a try. LOVE the tip on spray painting the feathers... who would have guessed?

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  8. Thank you Tracie Bella and Dee for your sweet comments!

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  9. OMG! This is awesome. I went to a few dollar stores and they have been out of the crow's and raven's... think I might be creating my own this weekend! LOVE your tutorial... I'm your newest follower and found you SawDust and Paper Scraps link party.

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  10. awesome Katie, thanks! Link up a pic if you make one

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  11. I have been practically losing sleep since seeing this thinking of all the possibilities in my head. Don't know how you came up with this brilliant idea, but I SO LOVE IT, and can't wait to try out something similar. Just wondering, because of the joint compound, are these heavy, or pretty light still? THANKS again, for linking up to **6 weeks 2 Spook** I am all smiles, Bella :)

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  12. Hey Bella, they are still pretty lightsweight, not like a regular feather bird but not terribly heavy...hope that made some sense at all!! :)

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  13. That is so awesome I can't shut my jaw! You gave a wonderful tutorial, but still I know I would never be able to make anything even close to that! What great talent you have.

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  14. Wow! I love these. What more can I say?

    Jessica at Chapman Place

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  15. So glad I clicked on this, I think they are genius and beautiful to boot! Great job!

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  16. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it!!

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  17. This is so great! I have been to 4 different stores looking for a raven to put into my bird house for Halloween decor. Thanks for the tutorial!

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  18. Lucy- These are amazing! Great tutorial and very clever! Thanks so much for linking to The Sunday Showcase. I'll be featuring this today. Stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Hope you have a wonderful week. ~ Stephanie Lynn

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  19. thanks all for the comments! and thanks again Stephanie Lynn for the feature!

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  20. I never would have thought of making my own crows! They look amazing! Thanks again for linking up. I am now your newest follower! :)

    - Megan
    www.polishthestars.com

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  21. Genius! You are an absolute genius! THese are just wonderful!

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  22. Fabulous!! I searched all over the web this year to find large ravens and came up empty. If only I'd seen your post sooner.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  23. Thanks for sharing.. I have a "Thang" for Cravens..love your new term;-)

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  24. Love this tute, have always loved Crows & Ravens and think your combing them to "Cravens is brilliant"

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  25. Totally Awesome !
    But what is joint compound ?
    hugs, Joey

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I've moved to Lucydesignsart.com to focus on my mosaic art. I'm no longer creating dragonflies or mermaids.

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