I think your haunted house wall needs a big scary monster on it. Let's figure out how to make a realistic werewolf head using hot glue, a taxidermy form, sculpey, wire, fake fur and glass eyes. Sound like fun?

Please be sure to read the entire Instructable before posting questions! And remember..google is your friend :)

EDIT, october 2010: I was introduced to something called Magic Sculpt by a prop building colleague. I would highly recommend using that instead of the super sculpey i originally used for the sculpt. Magic Sculpt mixes together like an epoxy but is used like clay. You have a 2-3 hour window to work with it and it can be smoothed with water. It is tougher than sculpey and you do not have to use a hair dryer on it. It is not liable to crack like sculpey can. It will also stick to surfaces much better than sculpey.

Drawback: It is VERY heavy! It is more difficult to get fine detail with this stuff.

Where to buy: amazon.com has it as well as a few places online

http://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/CastingMaterials/magicsculp0001.htm

Step 1: Carve Out the Face, Add Some Features

This step you need:

Foam taxidermy form ( black bear or grizzly bear depending on size you want)
Sculpey
Wire

Please note! If you have issues with buying a taxidermy form, you can carve a basic form out of rigid insulation foam. I chose to use a bear form to save time. I don't have a tutorial on how to make a rigid foam carving, sorry. It's the pink stuff you can buy at Home Depot but i don't have any more info for that.

I also apologize for not having a "start" image for the bear form. I made this project without the intention of making it into an Instructable until after i was well into it.

Dremel or carve off the nose and drill a hole for glass eyes to be set into. Carve out where ever you are going to add sculpey and change the shape of the face. Bears have long droopy lips so you might want to shave them off so you can add your own snarly ones.I bought a form with an open mouth...the lower jaw is separate so you don't see it in these photos. Don't add your jaw until you sculpt all of the teeth first!

Add your sculpey. You may want to anchor longer parts into the foam with thick armature wire. Please note this on the pink clay version. Sculpt away! Remember adding fur will add some bulk to the sculpt so try not to make things too thick as far as the snout/facial muscles go.

Step 2: Add More Clay

Keep sculpting! Start to add details like tooth grooves or lip accents. Try to keep the sculpt symmetrical by checking the progress from all sides. Add your jaw once the inside of the mouth is complete.

Step 3: Paint the Glass Eyes

Materials:
Glass eyes
Acrylic paint
Polyurethane sealer

So i got the largest blank eyes i could find...i think they are 24mm? You can also get pre painted eyes if you want to save time.
I painted the back with acrylic and sealed them with polyurethane.

Step 4: Insert Eyes, Keep Sculpting

Materials needed:
Sculpey
Hairdryer

Insert your finished eyes into the face and continue sculpting. You can anchor the eye with a ball of clay behind them and use the sculpey to form eyelids to help keep it in place.

I kind of made up the teeth. They don't follow any kind of natural carnivore tooth rules...just big and pointy.

Now you need to bake your sculpey! I used a hairdryer. You are supposed to bake sculpey in an oven but foam and heat is a probably a terrible idea. So be patient, camp out and blast this sucker with your hairdryer. Or get two hairdryers and a friend and cut on time. It'll take awhile either way.

Step 5: Paint Your Wolf!

Materials needed:

( optional) liquid plastic ( resin) ----please read safety instructions for this material and FOLLOW THEM

Acrylic paint

Okay so once he's all baked and cooled off, you can apply a coat of plastic resin to make sure everything is sealed and will stay in place. I use a 1:1 plastic. Mix it and brush it all over the form. You don't have to do it, but i did just to make sure everything stayed in place.

Once that sets up, start painting your wolf with acrylic paint. Don't sweat the body so much as you will just be covering it in fur. The teeth on mine are not that stark white...the flash really blows the details out, sorry.

Step 6: Add Ears, Fur

Materials:
fake fur
hot glue
exacto knife

Sorry for lack of photos here, guys :C

I used glued down wire to form the ear shape and covered those in fake fur. Do the same for the face and body. Cut the fur from the back with an exacto knife, in pieces that sort of fit the shape of the head....use hot glue to secure the fur. Fill in any gaps with smaller cuts of fur fabric.

Go back and cut the facial fur short with electric hair clippers or scissors if you like for a more realistic muzzle.

Step 7: Done!

Once the fur looks good, comb it out and make him look respectable. I got a lovely wood panel for the back of him to make it look complete and more "official". Add a silver bullet and a story and you have your werewolf trophy ready to hang! You could add different features to make a dragon, monster or whatever you want!

I used National Fiber Technology fur to make the long scruff on the back of his head. It's more expensive but creates a very realistic look. The rest of the fur is stuff i bought on ebay and at JoAnn fabrics.

So there you have it! A relatively easy way to mod a taxidermy form for your upcoming halloween party! Have fun!

For more costumes and cool stuff, check out missmonster.com!