Zuni Warrior Doll From Trilogy of Terror

One of the scariest movies I can remember as a kid was actually a T.V. movie of the week titled, "Trilogy of Terror". It stared Karen Black in three 30 minute episodes. While the first two episodes were creepy, the episode I about a small, wooden doll possessed with a demon called "He Who Kills" was terrifying. As the story unfolds, we learn that Karen buys an antique fetish doll for her boyfriend. According to a scroll found in the box with the doll we find out that the only thing keeping the demon in the doll at bay is a small gold amulet wrapped around its waist. Somehow the amulet falls off the doll and it chases Karen around her apartment (and even into the bathtub while she's in it!) trying it's best to kill her. She's able to destroy it in the oven by cooking it. I know it sounds corny but you should check it out on YouTube.

Supplies used for this project include:

• A wire coat hanger used for the armature
• Masking and electrical tape
• Newspaper
• White glue
• A styrofoam egg
• Paperclay or other moldable papier-mâché
• Some faux hair (I used a kids pirate beard I found at Party City)
• Craft paint (umber or dark brown, black, white)
• Paint brushes
• hot glue gun and glue sticks
• 4"X4" wood base
• An old gold-ish necklace and a small gold-ish looking charm

Really, this is your project, make your vision as you see fit. The above listed items are a guide.

I am brand new to sculpting and papier-mâché crafting. I got on the internet and looked up all I could find on making an armature, building up the form and so forth. I decided on going with a coat hanger wire armature with electrical tape bound tightly around the joints to give it stability.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of this process until I had finished getting it together. For an idea on the initial process check out this site: http://creaclic.ch/atives/fichescreatives/fiches20...

Using aluminum foil build up the arms, legs and torso. Using masking tape, cover all of the aluminum foil in layers, building up as you go. If things start to look a little wonky, you can squeeze the parts that are lumpy to get them into shape you want. It should end up looking like the second picture when you're done.

Mix up some white glue and water into a paste with the consistency of milk. Soak strips of newspaper in the paste until saturated then apply to the model. During this time you'll start to find discrepancies in the form of your doll. Don't worry as you will be able to build up what you need, evening things out. Once covered and built up as you like (thins may take a couple of papier-mâché sessions) set it aside to dry. I left the hands a feet without papier-mâché because I was going to sculp them out of Paperclay. Now on to the head!

OK, this project was beginning to really come together as the head began to take shape. Taking the styrofoam egg, I cut off the top third of the egg. Turning it upside down I them formed a jaw out of cardboard taping it in place then applying masking tape all around. I applied papier-mâché strips over the tape to begin to give it the shape I wanted. The second picture was the final result of this step. Next, sculpting!

Getting back into 3 dimensional art after twenty some odd year of not doing any was harder than I thought it would be. It took a few times to get the sculpt the way I wanted. I initially used an air drying clay but once dried the clay had shrunk making the doll head look the puppet from Waylon and Madam (pic 2). I then used a product called Paperclay and to my delight, it worked out perfectly. When I was finished sculpting I used cardstock to make the teeth.

The hands, feet and torso details were sculpted out of the Paperclay. This stuff is great and easy to use. I highly recommend it.

Using umber, black and a little white paint I was able to come up with a skin color I thought gave the doll an eerie look, like the wood it had been carved from contained evil spirits! I think it worked because my wife was not a fan of it perched on top of the fridge.

The eyes were a pair of small buttons I took off an old buttoned down collar shirt. I hot glued them in place, used paper clay to sculpt the eyelids then painted them a dark gray. The final touch was a white pupil. Freaky!

The final steps were a cloth to cover his midsection, hair, a spear and the base to place him on. Oh, I almost forgot the most important part, the amulet...

Using a green bandana, I cut a small section and fashioned a skirt covering his midsection and thighs. I glued this in place with hot glue.

I found a wood base at our local hobby store that was 4 inches square and painted it with black hobby paint. I drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the base where the spear would rest. I hot glued the doll to the base, the spear to is hand and into the hole in the base. This gives the doll stability and is connected to the base in three spots instead of just the feet.

The spear was a 12 inch section of pencil thick dowel rod that I roughed up to look like it had been carved out of wood. The spear tip was cardstock (cereal box) hardened with superglue. The superglue gives the cardstock a rough texture, like stone. I painted the shaft of the spear brown and the tip gray weathered both with black. A small strip of leather (you could use twine) was wrapped around the base of the tip and hot clued in place.

The hair - Hands down, this was the suckiest part of this project. I'd not worked with hair on any project and it was a learning experience. After looking around for different types of hair to use I found a cheap pirate's beard at party city that did the trick. Nothing fancy, I just made strips, twisted them into what looked like strands of black yarn and hot glued the pieces in place.

The amulet was made from a small length of gold necklace chain and a charm from a bracelet. I wrapped the chain around once and glued the charm onto the ends of the chain and on to the center of the doll's chest just under the bottom rib.

This was a blast to make. I made it for my son for Christmas. I know, I know, what kind of father makes his kid a demon doll for Christmas. Well, this one!

Although my version is not an exact replica, I was happy with the results. What do you think?

Cheers!

Cimmbasso