Spitting Peruvian Idol

"Legend says that this Peruvian idol head suddenly appears in people's homes looking for worthy people who will treat it with respect and bring him offerings. If you ignore it or despise it, it will spit on you and put a spell on you. So beware, you people! You might die in strange circumstances if you don't treat it with respect".

I felt like doing a Halloween-themed project but I did not want to fall into stereotypes... not an easy task, IMHO. So after much thinking I starting toying with the idea of making a shrunk head. Of course, the concept has evolved since and mutated into some sort of Peruvian pagan idol who spits "blood" on unworthy people.

Here's the list of the materials I used:

MATERIALS:

- Newspapers

- Masking tape

- Aluminium foil

- Plastic tub

- Hot glue

- White glue

- Paint

ACCESSORISING:

- Raffia (or something similar for the hair)

- Toothpicks

- Hot glue and a small bead (to make the eye)

- Faux leather cord

- Wire (to pierce the nose)

TOOLS:

- Scissors

- Hot glue gun

- Brushes

Start by taking the transparent plastic tube and wrapping it with aluminium foil, a few centimetres (or inches) from the end. Gradually create a roughly head-shaped ball with it. The aluminum foil will help keep the tube in place so the spitting mechanism works as intended.

To keep everything firm and tight, wrap the "head" with masking tape. This way you will have a solid base to work on.

Cut small bits of newspaper. Mix white glue with water to obtain a white liquid mixture and glue the paper bits onto the head.

Once the basic shape is ready, take some more newspaper bits and start creating the head's elements: the nose, the eye contour, the mouth, etc. You can glue them onto the head with either glue, a glue and water mixture or masking tape. After everything is glued, add some more newspaper bits until you obtain a smooth surface all over.

If at this point you are not satisfied with the shape of the eyes, the mouth or anything else, you can correct this and add some detail with hot glue. You can add a frown, a wart, wrinkles, etc.

Paint the head with white paint. Apply a second coat if needed.

After the white paint is dry, you can start painting the head in any colour you want. If chose brown because I drew my inspiration from reduced heads you could find in some South-American or African tribes. To achieve a more realistic look, I used several reddish and orangeish shades of brown.

While you wait for the paint to dry, you can start making the eyes. Take some baking parchment (oven paper) and draw an eye-shaped form with your hot glue pistol. Before it dries, place a bead in the centre to create the iris. I used black glue but you can use transparent glue and paint it afterwards.

Then you can start accesorising the head.

I added an earring made with golden wire. I glued short black threads on an eye to make it look like it was sewn in. I also glued toothpicks onto the nose to simulate nose piercings.

LIST OF MATERIALS:

Piercing: golden wire

Eye: black hot glue and a white bead

Eye "stitches": black thread

Nose piercing: toothpicks

Hair: raffia or anything similar

PS. I don't have many pictures of these steps because it's quite difficult to take pictures while you are doing such delicate operations. Sorry about that!

Once the head is ready, cut the tube as much as you can so it stays hidden inside the mouth.

After giving it much though, I came up with an idea. I created a system based on the squirting flower prank.

The goal is to make the head spit blood through its mouth by using a pump that pushes the liquid through the plastic tube when squeezed. You can use a plastic bag or a similar item as a pump. I chose a washing liquid refill, emptied it and replaced the content with red-coloured water and some fake blood.

Take the bag's cap and pierce it in the middle with a fork, a knife or a hot wire. Then pass the tube though the hole. Leave a substantial amount of tube inside the bag so it can pick up enough liquid. In my case, the tube reached the bag's bottom.

Finally, you can attach an eye hook onto the head so you can hang it anywhere you want.

The only thing left now is to find it some accommodation!

Time to try it!

Fill the bag with any liquid you like it (red is nice, but can also go for limey green, brown or something like that). You may want to test it with water first, as I did.

Place it somewhere and find an unsuspecting victim :)

You can also make a bigger version to hang in your house on Halloween or a smaller version to carry on you, as a complement to your disguise. This way, any time somebody comes near you the evil idol can spit on him or her. It's up to you!