Hello everyone. This is a version of an inexpensive Halloween decoration/prop. Every Halloween I go out to a lot of Halloween stores for fun and mostly see the same things every year. I wanted to make my Halloween unique and original. Although there are some really cool props in the stores around Halloween time, I think it’s a really creative way to spend some time making something you can call yours.

I basically bought a female Styrofoam head at a thrift store called Savers. The store has many Styrofoam heads to put all of the costume wigs on at this time of year for Halloween, but I’ve also seen some on the Internet. I paid $2.99 for mine.

Materials I bought:

1. Styrofoam head ($3.00): “Savers thrift store”
2. Plain white Paper towel roll ($1.00): “Dollar Tree”
3. Two Packages of Halloween Cheese Cloth ($2.00): “Dollar Tree”
4. Spanish Moss ($1.00): “Dollar Tree”
5. Black Crow Bird ($1.00): “Dollar Tree”
6. Black Chip and Dip 16 inch Tray ($1.00): “Dollar Tree”

Total Cost of Raw Materials: $9

In addition to my raw materials I add these extras on hand:

1. Small Lo-Temp Craft glue gun with small glue sticks
2. Basic craft glue
3. Coffee
4. Black food coloring
5. Sponge tipped brush
6. Brown paint

You can make this mummy head for other ideas that you have without the tray attached. For example you can use it for the inside of a large candy bowl for tricks or treats on Halloween.

Step 1: Dying and Drying

This step is really simple. I brewed a pot of coffee for myself and had extra that had gotten cold. I poured about 1 cup of coffee into a bowl and added about 5 drops of black food coloring to the coffee, more or less may be needed.

Next put on a pair of rubber latex gloves so you won't dye your hands in the process and take single sheets of the paper towel from the roll, dip each into the coffee mixture and carefully ring each out. Place the pieces on a flat surface to dry.

I also repeated the steps of the coffee mixture and the paper towels with the Halloween Cheese cloth. These steps may have to be repeated after drying depending on how dark the desired result is.

Step 2: Painting and Gluing

Take the Styrofoam head and dip the sponge tipped brush into the craft glue and brush it on several sections of the head.

Than take the dried and died paper towels, flatten each piece and form the pieces to the glued sections.

After the initial first layer dried I repeated the process one more time.

When the paper towels have completely dried on the head, take a basic bristled paintbrush and paint the head with brown paint.

Step 3: Mummifying the Head

I took the sponge tipped brush and brushed random strokes of lightly coated brown paint onto both packages of the Halloween Cheese cloth.

In one continuous layer I wrapped one of the packages of the Halloween Cheese cloth around the dried and painted head, than stuffed some of the Spanish moss in random crevices of the wrapping.

Step 4: Gluing It All Into Place

I took my Lo-Temp glue gun and plugged it in to heat up. After it heats enough to melt the glue sticks, put the hot glue around the base of the dip section of the tray.

Next place the mummy head onto the center of the tray where the hot glue was placed.

After the head was firmly glued in place, I took the other package of Halloween Cheese cloth and wrapped it loosely around the head, enough to cover the tray. To hold this cloth onto the tray, lightly hot glue the edges of the tray and place the edges of the cloth onto the hot glue.

Step 5: Mummified Drink Tray

For the final step I placed some more Spanish moss around some sections of the tray and hot glued a black crow onto the top of the mummy head.

As an example of how to use this tray, I put a few of my empty wine glasses onto the sides of the tray.

Thank you everyone for reading this and I hope you try this at home, I know I had a lot of fun making this.