Apple heads. They aren't just for 1972 Christmases anymore. They're traditionally air dried for weeks, but we're going to stick them in the oven and have them done by tonight.
Upon reflection I can see that these are horrible photos. For one thing, Frankenstein is linty. Not that Frankenstein is known to be particularly fastidious, but still.
I intended to make apple dolls for Christmas last year but I ended up making a deal with myself to keep putting it off until it was too late to do it instead.
Therefore, I have for you today a quick tutorial on how to make shrunken apple heads for Halloween. We might circle back at Christmas.
Table of Contents
Materials
- Large, hard apple & a paring knife.
- Bowl
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- Pumpkin carving kit might come in handy as well.
- Dehydrator or oven to dry the apple in.
That's my favourite apple peeler from Kuhn Rikon and my pumpkin carving tools.
I really only ended up using the apple peeler and a paring knife.
Instructions
- Peel the apple.
- Fill a mixing bowl with water and add about ¼ cup of lemon juice and ¼ cup salt.
- Drop the apple in the bowl and let soak for at least 15 minutes.
- Remove the apple from the bowl, wipe it dry with a paper towel and start carving.
- Carve your head.
- Soak apple in solution again.
- Pat dry with a paper towel and dehydrate in the oven at the lowest temperature until the head is dry to touch. If you have a dehydrator, I dried these at 135 for about 12 hours.
Use the largest apple you can because these things shrink a lot.
TIP 1
The first time around I was treating it like a fine piece of art. It's not.
The first way I did it is wrong for 2 reasons:
- I was carving it as a "relief" not using the entire apple to form a head.
- The details were so small that when it fully dried/shrunk it didn't look like anything.
It looked promising when I first carved it, but after drying it just for a few hours I could tell it wasn't right.
TOP TIP
You can carve details, they just have to be large and chunky. Like the spine in the neck. I found this Youtube tutorial after I did my own heads. It gives you a really good understanding of what to leave and what to take out when you're carving the face.
You can also do these heads much more basic and they still turn out impressively.
Frankenstein
Cut the apple into a squarish head shape. Make a deep brow, carve a scar into the forehead and once the apple head is dry, add cloves for eyes, and bolts to the side of his head.
I soaked the apples in the lemon & salt solution right after peeling the apple, and after carving it so nothing would brown.
As it happens, I ran out of room on the apple for Frankenstein's mouth, and it still looks good.
To finish it (within about 1 minute) stick a bamboo skewer into the head. I cut the basic outline of a suit from a scrap piece of black fabric and attached it to the skewer with an elastic band.
To stand them up just stick the skewer into anything that will hold it. For mine, I stuck the skewers into small necked glass bottles which get hidden behind the apple head clothing.
Happy Halloween to you, the kids who come around and the fruit flies that will appear, find, and swarm your apple head within 15 minutes. Just so you know.
It's actually really appropriate that fruit flies should swarm the apple heads because it's quite horrific. Very in keeping with our theme of yuck.
The fruit flies will disappear once the leather of the apple head face is completely dry.
Love the shrunken heads. So cool. Great job 😈
I made an apple head for my mom about 50 years ago . I still have it in my kitchen. It has a tiny cowboy hat, rice for teeth, and a tongue from a date pit and eyes from olive pits. It turned black over time.
That is amazing in so many ways! ~ karen
These are fantastic!!! And macabre. lol Truly a craft you would do. LOVE THEM.
Thank you Deb. They're hilariously easy. And fun! I'm going to try to do a real, detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to make them exactly. You can squish and mould them to an extend throughout the drying process, etc. ~ karen!
These are hysterically creepy! You are really creative and this is from someone who cannot draw a straight line with a ruler. I do have other useful talents but this would not be one of them. These and the floating candles are the best for Halloween!
Daggone! Another great thing to learn and do! Just in time for Christmas, too. Imagine doing a head for each holiday's character - hardly any work to replicate a Turkey, bad Easter Bunny, etc.
Keep it coming, Karen ;-).
Love that idea but as "name cards" at the dinner table. Let's see who can recognize themself.
ok that would be hilarious. ~ karen!
I made these with my kids many years ago. Thanks for the reminder. Yours are super! I think I'll give it a go with the grandkids. Memories of crafts like this give kids the impression they grew up in "the olden days," and everybody likes to think that. :)
I just ordered a bunch of stuff on Amazon via your link. Looking forward to getting started on the Christmas Pledge. So much to do!
Quite the novel idea. Thanks for sharing. I'd expect mine to end up looking like a mostly eaten apple - lol
Those are really creepy! I finally got rid of my fruit flies, so I may have to think about this project.