3ft Realistic Piranha Plant From Mario

My beardie Rorschach and I headed out to the 99 cent only store to get everything we needed. I made two of these plants so my list is cut in half.

Here is a list of everything we ended up with..

1 set of ping Pong balls
1 reg broom
2 plastic serving dishes -oval
1 large taracatta planter
2 different types of silk plants- leafy
1 bottle green paint
1 red table cloth

You will also need a hot glue gun
duct tape - optional
heat gun (most ideal) or heat source like toaster oven or hand held torch/flame.
A razor knife or scissors
Red & white paint is optional

Take the two plastic oval serving bowls and tape them together on the ends with duct tape. You could also use hot glue to do this. Tape them together at an angle so that they stay separated a bit, like an open mouth.

Take the ping Pong balls and cut them in half. Glue the cut ping Pong balls on which ever bowl is going to be the top of the head of the plant. I put 6 on the top of mine.

Optional- I found some white paint and painted the inside of the bowls white. Going back and looking at this I am not sure that I would do that again. A red inside looks just fine, and that is what you would get by using clear bowls.

Take the handle and the bristled bottom off of the broom so you only have the metal pole. Paint the pole green and let it dry.

While you are at it, paint the planter pot green as well. You will need this later.

You can leave the broom pole straight for a perfectly vertical plant or you can bend the pole a bit like I did to give your plant a creepy lean.

To do that simply step on the pole with a heavy pair of boots or shoes on while pulling the pole up a bit. Bend it slightly in just a couple of spots. Flatten one end of the pole about the last 3 inches.

Glue or duct tape the flattened end of the pole to the same end of the joined plastic bowls.

You now have your base of the project completed.

Take out the red plastic table cloth. Cut the table cloth into 4 equal pieces. Take a piece and wrap it around the bowls with the ends of table cloth pushed inside of the opening of the bowls. It doesn't have to be perfect and you don't have to wrap them super tight. Try to make sure that your glue and or duct tape is covered up by the table cloth.

Make sure to be in a well ventilated area for this next part.

***Make sure to be in a well ventilated area for this next part

Take your heat gun at a med heat no more than 500 and start heating the table cloth about 6in away in slowish smooth motions going across the entire length of the project.

Make sure to not stay in one spot too long or you will cook right through the plastics.

Keep your head back! You are dealing with a material that will degas so don't breath it in. if you have a ventilator, great, put it on. If you have a small fan that you can turn on to blow the fumes away, even better.

Your project shouldn't smoke but a slight smell is enough to tell you to take precaution.***

The heat will start to have a shrink wrap effect on the table cloth. The plastic will pull and pucker and suction around the ping Pong balls and edges of the bowls. You can hit certain areas with more heat to get a meltier look or to make it bubble a bit.

Now take another piece of the table cloth and wrap and heat the head again so that the plastic table cloth is nice and thick.

It should look a bit like gross skin after you are done.

Take a razor blade and carefully cut open the raised bumps where the ping Pong balls are. Slow and delicate cuts are best so that you don't puncture the balls or cut too much of the table cloth away. You want to reveal about the top half of the bump.

After exposing all of the white "spores" go ahead and take your heat gun to the cut up red plastic to make it melt down around the ping pong balls.

Take the leaves and stems from the silks and glue them randomly all over the top 3/4 of the pole that you painted green. Don't worry too much about the bottom because that will be in the planter pot and you won't really see it.

Attach the pole to the planter in which ever way you would like.

I put the pole through the hole in the bottom of the planter, then flattened the last 6 inches of the Pole and bent it at a 45 degree angle. This way the weight of the pot keep the pole pretty upright...I will probably add some rocks in there for extra stabilization.

you could also

Position the pole in the pot and fill the planter with sand

Stab the pole into the ground through the hole in the middle of the planter pot.

You are done!

Place this gross guy somewhere fun like the front yard or in a planter.

I am going to scatter bones around mine. There should be enough room in the mouth to add a glow stick or light element to make it glow red at night which is also a nice touch.

Who knew that a creature from one of our favorite video games could be so gross and creepy.

I hope you liked this tutorial!