Corpsing W/ Cotton Part 1

 There are so many ways to take something pristine and make it look dead and decayed!

One of my favorites is using cotton balls and glue.  I know lots of folks like using cotton balls and latex, and I admit, latex gives a look and feel you just cannot get with glue.  That said, I advocate for glue for two main reasons:

1. A gallon of white PVA glue goes for around $13.  A gallon of liquid latex is around $50.

2. Latex breaks down over time.  It REALLY breaks down in the heat.  I have not noticed this with glue.

I thought I'd share my very basic method for using cotton and glue.  I don't remember where I first learned this method exactly, but the first person I remember hearing about corpsing JoLs from was Denny "Denhaunt" Stanley on HauntCast back in 2012.

I started with a white pumpkin form Michael's, but of course it could be anything, even a paper mache pumpkin or a plastic Trick or Treat bucket.  Just drew out the face and carved it with a hot knife.

    

I wanted to add some dimension to my JoL's eyebrows, so I used aluminum foil for that, and taped it in place.  In the end, I glued these down, but if I'd used better tape it would have been fine.

I wanted fine threads hanging down over the eyes, so I put some shredded cheesecloth over the eyes now.  Could have done it later, but I'm not really a fan of the cheesecloth over the cotton - at least when I'm using glue instead of latex.  I DO like to put the cheesecloth all over the JoL first, then just use the cotton to build up.  That looks cool to me.

  

Sometimes, I mix up a 50/50 mix of glue and water and just dunk the cotton into that.  The result is a flatter layer of cotton that is also firmer when it dries.  To get real dimensionality though, you have to use 2-3 times the cotton balls, which really adds to the time.  Instead, I painted the pumpkin with the white glue, then stuck the unrolled cotton balls right to that.

     

After the fluffy cotton was stuck down, I brushed the water/glue mixture over the cotton with a chip brush. I took care to really push is down in the valleys and just brush lightly over the crests of the ribs. 

For more detail, I dipped some of the cotton balls into the mixture and really stretched and tore them so I could put them over the eyes without blocking the light in the finished piece.

Then, before setting it out to dry, I took a toothpick and added all the lines into the ribs.  I think that gives a nice "woody" texture that kind of implies age.

Next step - Paint!

Happy Halloween!