Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Let's Make Audrey II, Two Ways!

I have a growing list of spooky crafts for y'all this month, but I thought we'd start with the most requested after my sneak peek last week: Audrey II! Even if you're not a Little Shop of Horrors fan, everybody loves a monster plant with 'uge pointy teeth, right?

Run awaaaaay

John made this Autumn beauty first, then a week later I decided to try making my own, which ended up a lot more cartoony and silly-looking:


Like me!

:D

You know what they say, like mother, like monster-plant-daughter.

Both Audreys are made from Dollar Tree foam footballs, so let me walk you through the basics of how to make your own, plus I'll show you the different ways John and I made the lips, teeth, and greenery.


Step 1: The Body

 John cut his foam football in half, then cored out the centers. He cut each half at an angle and glued them back together, like so:


This method works great and looks fantastic, so the only real drawback is it takes time. I'm impatient, so for my version I took a shortcut and sliced out a wedge for the mouth, like this:


 I widened the wedge until it was big enough to fit in my teeth, but didn't bother coring out the middle. Since I used bigger teeth you can't see inside the mouth anyway, so that saves a step.


Step 2: The Lips

John used hot glue for his plant's lips. He doesn't believe in process photos (sigh), but here's a close-up of the finished product:



The hot glue lips are bumpy and rope-y, which definitely looks organic. They're also easy to apply and paint, so hot glue is probably your best option.

I, however, wanted giant cartoony lips, so for my version I used slices of a pool noodle:

Turns out pool noodles are surprisingly easy to cut and shape with scissors. Who knew? I tapered the ends and used pins to hold the lips in place, then once I liked the shape, I stuck them down with hot glue.


Figuring out my wreath layout. Definitely some Mario Brothers influence here, ha.

Pool noodles are big sponges, so next I smeared on a thick coat of water-based caulking to seal the lips and smooth out the texture.



The caulking helped, but I'm still not happy with how my gal's lips turned out. Next time I'll try foam clay for a smoother, more rounded finish.


Just before painting I drew some viney veins on top of the head, and traced over my pen marks with hot glue. This is optional, but adds some nifty texture.



Step 3: The Chompers

John made his teeth using Dollar Tree's air-dry clay, which comes in a terra cotta color:


After painting and hot-gluing in place, they looked like this:



I didn't like this look, though; I wanted my teeth BIG. So here's a handy trick: I used fake fingernails! (Get it? "Handy?" ... I'll show myself out.)

You can get these stiletto nails at Dollar Tree right now, which are already perfectly pointed:


And they glow, in case you don't want to paint them white!

I thought I might make more bitey things this season, though, so instead of the DT nails I bought this pack from Amazon, which has 100 nail tips for about $6.


I like that it has a bunch of sizes, and no painting required. (Remember that impatient thing?)

To attach them, I made a slit in the foam and just pressed the teeth in:


They hold fine, no hot glue required.


Step 4: The Stem

John used a large BBQ skewer wrapped in tinfoil, painted black and covered with leaves so it doesn't show.

I wanted my stem to be visible, so I used a piece of PVC pipe. I like the smooth finish, but I'll admit it does look a bit stiff and non-organic:



If you don't have any pipe lying around, you can also use the handle off a Dollar Tree plunger or mop.

 Regular acrylic craft paint sticks just fine to the foam football, no priming required. My only painting tip is to use lots of different shades of green on the body and make it streaky, to give the illusion of more texture:



Also don't be afraid to use extremely bright colors; they blend in and add some nice highlights.

You can see I was aiming for neon pink and lime green, while John used more Fall colors, so his Audrey II has orange lips and more mossy greens:



Step 5: Display

John displayed his Audrey II
in a Dollar Tree pot; he stuck the BBQ skewer in a block of floral foam.

As a bonus, John's Audrey has both form AND function: I use her pot to store all the Autumn flowers I haven't used yet for crafting, ha:



Fake flowers take up a ton of room, so it makes me happy to store them in plain sight on the buffet:



To mount my Audrey to her wreath we ran a long BBQ skewer (also from DT) up through the wreath, through the PVC stem, and into the top of the wreath, effectively pinning her in place:



We trimmed the excess skewer sticking out either end, added a dab of hot glue so she wouldn't spin in place, and finished it off with a bow:


At this point I really didn't like it. The wreath felt too plain, right? So I left it a few days, grumbling every time I caught sight of it.

Eventually I came back and added a few finishing touches, though, and now I absolutely love it:

FABULOUS, DAHLING

What a difference a few flowers can make!

The "vine" wrapped around her neck is actually another flower stem, with tiny flowers glued on.


I didn't set out to turn Audrey II into a frilly can-can dancer, but what can I say? The Halloween spirit moved me.


I hope this gave your Tuesday a big toothy grin! As always, I must know if you make one of these yourself, so please tag me or share your photos on the Epbot Facebook page.


*****


P.S. Attention: Bots who wear glasses! Check out what I got John for our anniversary back in August:

Koss Porta Pro Headphones

John wears headphones while gaming, but his padded gaming headphones squashed his glasses against his head, making painful dents in his temples. So I went on the hunt, read a bunch of reviews, and finally purchased these Koss Porta Pros. Not only are they ridiculously light and comfy, they pack some SERIOUS audio quality. I know nothing about headphones, but turns out Koss is a well respected brand among audiophiles, and a major step up from the big padded monstrosities John used to wear.

Best of all, they're custom-made for folks who wear glasses:


I always wait a while before recommending anything to y'all, and 6 weeks later John is still loving his new headphones. He tells me he hears things in his games like never before, and raves about how crisp the sound quality is. So if you're a fellow gamer or just someone who wears headphones a lot - and especially if you also wear glasses - definitely check these out!

While you're at it, be sure to bookmark the Epbot Amazon shop, where I keep all my lists of recommended products. Anything you purchase through my links - whether it's on my lists or not - gives John and I a small percentage back, so thank you for helping support us while you shop. 


9 comments:

  1. Yours definitely gives off Mario Piranha Plant vibes, with a dash of Miss Piggy thrown in. She's great. ^_^

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  2. To me yours is a mix of Audrey II and the Rumor Weed.

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    Replies
    1. Yes!! I was thinking Rumor Weed too! And now I have the song stuck in my head (I'm a rumor weed, oooh ooh ooh, a tiny little story is all I need...)

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    2. Veggie Tales reference on an Epbot post.... DAY MADE!

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  3. Oh, I love them! Both of them are so great!

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  4. I love how creative you both are! As creative as you two are, my husband and I aren't. It's fun to enjoy these projects vicariously through you.

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  5. Reminds me of the Rumor Weed from Veggietales/ Larry-Boy

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