Zombie Dolls

Want to come to my house for Halloween? Disturbing dolls await your arrival!

Dolls are the ultimate in creepiness in my opinion. I didn’t have dolls when I was little and have seen too many shows and movies with horrid attacking dolls to make me love them in any way. My grandmother, on the other hand, collected and cherished dolls. When I say collected, I mean she literally had hundreds. She mounted shelves high up on the walls around the perimeter of every room in her house and hoarded dolls on them to overlook every move or action that occurred in the room. I know her intention was not for them to be disturbing, however, I always felt like those hundreds of eyes were watching me waiting to make their move!

It was strangely satisfying to make these dolls into the horrible monsters I already felt that they were! Especially considering they are actual dolls salvaged from my grandmother’s collection!

Step 1: What You Need

Assuming you already have dolls to work with this will be a very inexpensive Halloween project. I spent about $9 total on items necessary to give the dolls their makeovers.

Materials

• dolls (My dolls are about 15-18 inches tall with porcelain heads, arms, and legs.) I bet you could find similar dolls at garage sales or thrift store pretty cheap.
• cheap face paint
• fake blood
• white spray paint
• scissors
• fire starter
• plastic bag
• old box or drop cloth

I suggest finding a place outside to work on the dolls. Not sure about your rules, but playing with fire and using spray paint aren't allowed in my house!

Step 2: Spray Paint

Remove any clothing the doll may have on and set aside.

Wrap the dolls hair in a plastic bag to avoid getting paint on it. Place the doll on a drop cloth or in an old box and spray paint the face, arms, and legs. Set aside to dry.

While the paint is drying, tatter the clothing. I cut holes and slits in the dress and cut some portions completely off. Then I spray painted the dress to mute the colors slightly and make it look more ragged.

Step 3: Paint the Face

Now that the spray paint is dry, unwrap the hair and apply make-up.

Using black and gray face paint, darken around the eyes and lips. Dab with your ring finger to blend the colors. Why the ring finger? I was told several years ago that the ring finger is the weakest and will blend make-up the best, but feel free to use whatever finger you want!

Darken the sides of the cheeks and under the chin to narrow and mature the face. Adding red face paint in a thin layer over black and gray and blending well will make a bruising effect. Do this where ever you would like the doll to look bruised.

Add red to the lips.

Add a red line of face paint to the neck to make it look sliced and bleeding.

Add black and gray sparingly to the arms and legs to dirty them; and red to the hands.

Step 4: Get Her Together

Dress the doll in her newly tattered clothing. Assess how she looks. I chose to burn her hair and clothes a bit. Feel free to torch parts of your doll also, if you so desire! I used a basic fire starter and lit the dress on fire in a few places to char it. Be careful not to let the entire piece go up in flames. Then I smeared face paint in every color on the fabric to make it look even more dirty.

Add fake blood to any areas desired. I liked the look of it in the corners of the eyes, mouth, on holes in the clothes, on the neck slice, and on the hands.

Repeat the entire process for as many dolls as you would like to make! Stage them for a Halloween fright!

Comments

[TeresaM7]

Oh, my! Definitely time for a trip to Goodwill. This is better than those dang expensive ones you can buy pre-made. Thank you!

[kiera.miller]

yeah, especially since thrift store dolls could be missing limbs...

[sleepingkoala45]

Can you do this with Barbie dolls?

[kiera.miller]

well, I tried it and it was beautiful so I say yes.

[Elvenwishes]

I have done it on those Monster High dolls but they are very fiddly but I reckon any doll will work :)

[wold630]

I don't see why not.

[Elvenwishes]

I made similar to these 2 years ago and I am going to update one of them with your makeup. Mine scared a few little kids but everyone who came loved them. I live in Western Australia and not alot of people get into Halloween but after experiencing it in America I do it here I love the scary season.... I try to make it better every year but this year with Covid and all the mess in the world I might have to revamp last years decorations... Stay safe everyone :)

[KaytimeKrusha]

I live in WA as well. Do you recommend any products in particular?

[Elvenwishes]

I have used paint and glue to make my zombie dolls but I did use plaster of paris ( which you can get from Bunnings for quite cheap) I did make paper mache concoction which was good till it rained one year... If you need anymore detailed info just send me another message and I will let you in on my secrets :)

[2030pollock.libra]

I had a glass doll but we know something was wrong with it so we broke it in i was happy in i did not go close to the 💀 this is the doll I had

[pebbles2014828]

For my zombie dolls I paint black then add thick layer of Elmer's glue then paint white it makes cracks then use watercolor pencils to color around eyes and mouth I've also used nail polish for blood

[pebbles2014828]

Here's a few of mine

[wold630]

They look great!! And by great I mean super creepy!

[jimmyzgurl]

Isn’t the face paint messy? Since it’s meant for human skin, I would think it wouldn’t dry. I was thinking of either acrylic paint or eye shadows. I might try the eyeshadow first as you can get any color in the world and it would blend well, but you’d probably have to spray a clear matte sealant afterwards, if you want it to last and use the dolls for other years. My doll is vinyl. Acrylic paint would work if you’re good at painting, but I think I’d mess up the doll and ruin it lol.

[wold630]

I've had these dolls out in the elements for four Halloweens. This will be the 5th year and they still look the same! Except there are some dried up spiders that died in their hair which makes them all the more scary!! LOL The face paint wasn't messy but feel free to try whatever you think will work best.

[VickyM62]

Omg they are so scarily cool. We don't really do holloween in New Zealand but I feel the need to make one of these dolls anyway. It is a standing joke in our family that the only things that truly scare my oldest son are dolls and zombies, needless to say, this will be his worse nightmare lol. Dont worry, he's not a child, I won't scar him for life lol.

[TonyaMD]

Hiw do u get them to stau standing ans the wind not knock them down?

[wold630]

They are on doll stands. ;)

[lclaiborne]

Fantastic! Brilliant use of dolls.If you have a stash of them... This really is wonderful, and beautifully executed.

But, fire starter is petroleum based and easy to spill and get into trouble with. Seems either a kitchen torch, the thing you toast the top of creme brulee with? Or a bbq lighter would give more control. If you really need accelerant alcohol will evaporate if not burned, petroleum distillates are forever... The burning is a great touch though.

[Carlylane12]

This is SO cool, i want to try this someday!