Witch

In 1985 my Aunt Beth taught my mom how to make a witch like this.  We were talking recently and I mentioned how much I liked that witch.  She told me she still had the directions and would be willing to teach me.  I was excited but knew it may be a challenge to find the witch face needed.  Google to the rescue.  After many different searches, I was able to find the masks.  They are 2-1/2" wide and 3-1/2" long.  The back is open so it is more of a half mask.  The face itself is the same as what they used in 1985 but this one was a harder plastic.  The face they used before was more of a rubber than plastic.

You can see from the next picture a bit more of the mask and how we secured it.  We put 2 styrofoam balls in the back of the mask and taped them with masking tape to secure them.  A 14" (1/4") dowel went through the styrofoam to help support it while we shaped the dress.  

We made a cone shape that would fit over a 2 liter bottle (flush with the top of the bottle) and stapled it to hold its shape.  The dowel will go into the 2 liter bottle to help hold it up while the dress dries.  The dowel and bottle will not be needed once the dress is dried.

Then I cut the black burlap.  The directions say you need 1-1/2 yards for each witch.  I cut 2 - 7x10" pieces for the sleeves.  Then I cut a 15" square, which I cut in half to make 2 triangles.  These were used for the hat and to tie on the head (scarf).  We then trimmed the burlap to length we wanted her dress to be.  My aunt didn't want a flowing dress, you can see a few pictures down that my mom had a lot of material in the front and back.  I had mine shorter in the front and flowing in the back.  A small "+" cut in the material at the neck allowed for the dowel to go through.  (My aunt and mom cut theirs bigger to go over her head but I didn't want any neck showing.)

We dipped the material in fabric stiffener and shaped the dresses how we wanted them.  Super messy job.  Disposable gloves are better to work with because it is hard to clean off of the rubber gloves.

The hands were made by cutting the wire into 8 - 2" strips (fingers) and 2 - 3" strips (thumbs).  I didn't really know what to do with the thumb so I used it to form a palm.  We covered each piece of wire with masking tape, forming a point at one end.  Once we formed a hand and attached them to the arms, we painted the tips with red nail polish. (see next picture for arms)

We made the arms with the remaining wire.  My aunt wrapped her wire around the witches neck (2 pictures above on right side of picture).  I followed my mother and poked a hole in the material and had it a little lower.  Which you would choose would depend on how long you want the arms.  We wrapped the wire with masking tape, which you don't see once the sleeves are on.

Once the dress was done, we dipped the sleeves and placed them on the witch, having a point hang down in the back and fold in on the front.  We then dipped on of the triangles in fabric stiffener and tied it around her head.  This covers her neck so nothing is showing.

Then we cut thin gray yarn and placed it on top of her head.  You could dip it in the fabric stiffener or not.  I like my mom's hair 2 pictures down because she had varying lengths, which seems more witch-like than one that just had her hair cut.

Then we made another cone (10" tall) for the hat and stapled it to hold its cone shape.  We wrapped the black burlap triangle around that and trimmed it.  Once it seemed right, we dipped it in fabric stiffener.  It was much easier to work with at that point (the fabric stiffener kept it from sliding around).  Then we cut a circle out of black felt and cut a "+" in the center and pulled it down over the cone to form a brim.

(All of the white on the dresses is the fabric stiffener.  We let it dry overnight and ended up putting them on a table in the sun the next day so they could finish drying.)

The next day we tied a ribbon and put it through the front of her dress.  Added a felt orange moon to the hat and put in some flowers.  My mom's witch from 1985 had some small wheat-like branch but they didn't have anything like that at the store.  My mom mentioned this looks like fire.  It works.  Flowers just don't seem fitting for a witch.

We got a branch from outside and secured raffia to it to for the broom.

We spent about 7-8 hours total on this.  So worth it!

My aunt's directions:

Materials:

1-1/2 yards black burlap

Fabric Stiffener

Black construction paper

3 - 1-1/2" styrofoam balls (we used 1.8")

1 8" square of black felt (for hat)

orange felt (moon on hat)

3 - 18" wires (may need a 4th)

masking tape

witch's face

yarn or kite string (for hair)

yarn or ribbon (for dress)

flowers (for hat)

red nail polish

stick

raffia

elastic

From construction paper or cardboard, form body to shape of cone.  Staple.  Styrofoam ball for neck.  Secure with masking tape.  Cut material to drape body.  Dip material in  fabric stiffener.  Wring well and drape and form over body.  Fold 2 18" wires in half for the arms.  Wrap the two arms from bend to 1/3 up with masking tape.  Cut 2 pieces of 7" x 10" material for arms and 1 triangle for shawl.  Dip all three pieces in fabric stiffener.  Drape and form arms and tie shawl. Let all the burlap dry.  Put orange yarn through waist and tie.  Cut 8 2" pieces of wire for fingers and cut 2 3" pieces of wire for thumbs.  Wrap all in masking tape.  With masking tape, connect fingers and thumbs to hand and form.  Polish "nails" with red nail polish.  Cut triangle from material and cut the same size from construction paper for hat and glue together.  Form cone to make hat and staple or glue together.  Cut circle from black felt and make "4 witch's points" for brim of hat.  Glue on flowers, etc.  Put styrofoam ball behind face and wire through face and body to secure.  Cut and glue "hair" on and glue hat on head.  Make broom with stick and raffia.