Halloween Bloody Brain

Simple Halloween brain prop that can be done fairly quick

Longest part is letting the caulk dry thoroughly

I used this as part of our Mad Scientist Lab for our haunted back yard this year

It was a big hit and got a lot of **eww gross** out of people both kids and parents

This is my first Instructable, so hopefully it's easy to follow

Materials

1. Tin foil
2. Latex paintable caulking ( I used Dynaflex230 in Almond )
3. Black latex paint
4. Reddish tinted wood stain ( I used Varathane in Cabernet color )
5. Cheesecloth
6. Elmers clear school glue
7. Food coloring

Tools

1. Caulk gun
2. Paint brushes
3. Hot glue gun
4. Mixing cups and craft sticks
5. Latex gloves ( if you don't want to get messy )

First off, if you are not up to date on your human anatomy I recommend looking up some pictures of human brains to get familiarized with the basic shape of what's inside your skull. Remembering that it is somewhat football shaped with a flat bottom. Being my prop was going to be in a dark area I wasn't too picky on actual shape.

Crush up a few feet of tinfoil fairly tight and start forming it into the brain shape you desire

Once you get your brain to where you like it for overall shape, take one last sheet and wrap it over the whole thing to make it somewhat smooth ( to cover all the little pits and cracks of the foil )

Make sure to flatten the bottom so that is will sit properly and not fall over or roll

Cut the caulk tube pretty far down from the tip to get the right sized bead to make it look right

See picture of tube of caulk in step 2

Then squeeze a fairly decent sized bead all over the tin foil and smear it around covering the entire surface

I used my fingers, but you can use craft sticks also. Let this base layer set up until it has *skinned over*

Next you can start anywhere, but remember brains have two halves, so work one side at a time and squeeze about a half inch bead and work it back and forth to look like the ripples of a brain. There is no wrong way to do this, it's however you wish it to look. If it doesn't look the way you want it, wet your finger and you can *tap* the caulking and move it around a little bit. Once you finish one side, continue on to the other. Use a piece of scrap so you can turn the project as a whole so you do not have to touch the wet caulking.

After you caulk both sides comes the fun part.... waiting for it to cure.

Setting a fan by it will help some, but the thick bead of caulking will take a couple days to fully set up. You can test it by pressing your finger on it. If it feels squishy let it sit longer. Fully cure it should feel rubbery yet firm.

After the caulk has fully cured it's time to add some color to it.

Base coat is black paint.

I diluted some black latex paint with a little water to thin it out and then brushed it over all the cracks and voids in the caulk bead to give it some depth. If you get some on the top of the bead just wipe it off right away with a damp cloth. Let this dry thoroughly before moving onto the stain.

Top coat is the red tinted wood stain.

This I also brushed on, but did not dilute it at all. Work small areas at a time, brushing it on and then wiping it off right away to the desired color. Let this dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Once the paint and stain are totally dried, it's time to bandage it up and add some blood.

First cut some cheesecloth and dry fit it around the base of the brain. Twisting it and folding it over to desired look. When it is where you like it, pull back certain areas and hotglue it to the brain. I tucked the seam of the cheesecloth around in the back, and added a little extra to the sides to help prevent it from tipping over.

Next it's time to mix up the blood

Add some of the clear Elmer's glue to a mixing cup and drop some red food coloring into it. This is all up to you on how dark you want it to be. I added just a tiny drop of blue to the red to darken it up. If you have never made fake blood this way do some tests before applying it. To apply it to the brain I just used a craft stick and smeared it on the brain a bit, then drizzled some around the cheesecloth to look like it was dripping off it. The clear glue will dry solid, this is a much better way of adding blood to a prop than using fake blood from costume shop. No worries of it sticking to other things once it has dried.

And there you have it, a simple Bloody Brain prop for your Halloween display.

I ran out of time, but was going to add a motor with an offset weight to it so I could push a button and have it vibrate to make it look like it was moving...Maybe next year..

Comment if you have any questions