Monster Book of Monsters

Everyone loves my Monster book of monsters so I thought I'd share how I made him! I've also made some mini versions on photo albums and they turned out really cute too. It's the perfect prop for a Harry Potter party, or just as a Halloween decoration!

Step 1: Get Supplies

You need a base to make your book off of - for my main one I used an old looking book I found at a thrift store, for my mini ones I used photo albums. You also need the fur - I haven't tried fake fur yet but I'm sure it would work also but I wanted mine to look as close to the movie prop as possible and fake fur didn't quite fit. I used real fur from an old coat we got at a thrift store and I also used a rabbit fur for one of the mini books. I used some plastic eyes that are used for toys that I found at the thrift store but you can also find them at craft stores, for the smaller books I only used 3 eyes instead of 4. For the eye base and teeth I used Skulpey - clay that you can mold and then bake in the oven. You'll also need some fabric for the tongue, for the big book I used red cotton and for the little books I used red felt. Lastly you need some brown paint and hot glue.

So in short his a list of things needed:
Book or photo album
Piece of fur big enough to go around book
pencil
scissors
skulpey clay (red, white, and black color)
3 to 4 plastic eyes
red fabric
hot glue
brown paint
paint brush

Step 2: Cut Out Fur

Lay fur out with the fur side down. Open up book or photo album and lay on top - trace shape with pencil. Take book away and draw out shape you want to cut out. It's best to have the sides be straight and then to have the short sides be jagged so they will overlap the edge. You want to leave a straight section in the middle where the teeth will be. Then use your scissors to cut the fur - another option is to use a craft knife and only cut through the back and not cut the fur. Also if you want to hollow out the book (fun place to keep stuff) this is the time to do that.

Step 3: Make Teeth

I took theater makeup class in college so I already had some experience in sculpting teeth. The best advice I can give is to make an oval shape with red or brown clay and along one side make a bump for each tooth, pressing a line between each bump. Then take the end of a paintbrush or pencil and push a hole into the bump. Then take a bit of white clay, roll a tiny ball then pinch one end and roll it to make a point. Push the white "tooth" into a hole in the red clay. Put your teeth onto the edge of the book to see how they look and make sure there's a section that overlaps the edge and is flat so you can glue them to the book. For the eye base make an oval ball and flatten the bottom. Push the plastic eyes in and form the top so there's just a bit of clay surrounding the eyes - you just want something the eyes can stay in. Don't leave the plastic eyes in the clay when you bake it! Bake all your pieces according to the directions. When the pieces are cool, glue the plastic eyes into the eye base.

Step 4: Paint and Glue

When you cut the fur, the edge will usually be really white and stand out so if you use some paints that match the fur to paint the edge it doesn't stand out so much. You'll also want to paint the teeth to give them some shading. If you use red clay for the gums, use brown paint to add shadows. If you run out of red and use brown - like I did for the mini books - then you can use black and red to create shadows and highlights. It's also good to do a bit of dry brush painting with brown on the white teeth. Then you can glue the teeth and eyes onto the book. Cut a tongue shape out of two pieces of red cotton and sew them together leaving one end open to turn the seams to the middle or cut out of felt. Paint a line down the middle to add shading and glue to the book.

Step 5: Finish

To finish, glue the fur onto the book. You'll need to use your craft knife to cut slits in the fur for the eyes to poke out. Then you can enjoy your monster book of monsters!