Skeleton Fairies: Tutorial

There is an updated tutorial

right here

on my Steampunk blog

Yes, I know this is a creepy photograph, Skeleton in a poke bonnet peers at some sort of device...

I saw these wonderful, wonderful beauty queen skeletons at Pinkbuttercreme's

at the end of September and featured them here because I was so smitten with them. 

I wanted to make my own, to hang on my Halloween tree.

 I wanted them to look like they were flying, rather than dangling, s

o I needed a way to bend them and have them retain a pose.

So, I've been boiling bones *cue maniacal laughter*.

 I'd read about these technique for shaping Barbie hands into a more naturalistic pose. 

For the life of me, I can't remember where I read it, 

so if someone has seen such a tutorial please let me know?

So, to bend a skeleton,  

you need a bowl of very hot water, 

and another bowl of ice cold water.

And you need to be sensible.

 Hot water will scald and burn. 

Use tweezers, haemostats, tongs, to keep

 precious fingertips out of  very hot water.

Bend the skelly arm or leg or spine and immerse into the hot water. 

Hold it  a moment and then, PLUNGE it into the icy cold water. 

It seems to be the sudden chilling that helps the plastic hold its new shape. 

The skeletons dismember pretty easily, which means you can attend to each set of limbs separately. 

 Wearing dark robes and having a servant called Igor are not necessary,

 but if it helps you get into the mood, fine by me.

 The skelly can hold any pose you want, within reason, 

although I couldn't get the fingers to stay curled or the arm to move out from the shoulder. 

Once the skelly is posed how you wish, you can embellish it to your heart's content. 

This is my first,  Mother Crow.

Here she is with her friend, Cuthbert.

And I'd have more to show but my glue gun broke! What's a girl to do?