Making a Halloween Bed

When my ten year old grandson, Nathan, told me that he wanted a dollhouse, we were the Denver Doll and Toy Museum's mini show in February, a show where only local vendors and artisans offer their wares for miniaturists. I asked him what kind of house he want and he had to think about it. I helped him along the way by telling him to think of theme or maybe a person who would live in the house. Finally he said he wanted a Halloween house. He found a couple of pumpkins at the show and we were ready to get started.

He comes to stay with me during spring vacation and then the week after school is out, so together we built a bed out of lumber in my stash. A simple bed, easy to build and then we talked about how to customize it. I suggested skulls and he said a canopy, and then it was time for him to go home. I got busy last week with two projects in mind that I wanted to finish in September: The San Franciscan, which I am happy to announce will soon go to it's new home, and to finish Nathan's bed.

He has a house, the Dura-Craft Lafayette. I have one also, so we fit the bed in the upstairs and it will barely fit.

With the bed built, I painted it black then I wanted to add some embellishment. I had this piece that I purchased from Hobby Lobby (two to the package, $1.99). I painted it black first then lightly went over it with gold craft acrylic.

I photographed it with the bed on end since I hadn't painted or glued the headboard in place. Later I would change my mind and move the medallion a bit lower, a decision I regretted after I added the pillows. Oh well.

Next I wanted to create a worn, wispy canopy. I had bolt of cheese cloth in my pantry the I bought when I was making my own yogurt from fresh cow's milk. I'd put the yogurt in cheese cloth so that the liquid (or whey) would drain off. The cows moved to Nebraska, so I have a lot cheese cloth.

Now how to dye it. I purchased this watercolor ink. 

First I added the ink to water and the results were not what I wanted. I wanted black, not purple.

So I wadded up more cheese cloth and put it in a container and kept dripping back ink on it until I had my desired results.

I let it dry.

 While the canopy was drying, I made the mattress. I sort of cheat here. I cut a piece of 1/4 " foam board that fit inside the bed then covered it with wool batting--because that's what I have. I use it when I make rag dolls that need stuffing instead of poly fiberfil, which would work fine. I sort of lay it on the foam board to shape it, layer it to make a nice bumpy, saggy old mattress. When I have the batting shaped, I smear white glue on the mattress and press the batting in place.

When the glue had dried, I simple cut a piece of fabric with enough on the sides to fold it over and glue it in place. I have taken the time in the past to sew fitted sheets, but gluing the sheet on was easy and quick.

Here is the bed next to one I made up the other night from a kit. Don't where I'll use it, but it's a sweet little bed.

Nathan will love the bed. I love it. 

Now for the fun. On reason I had put of this project for so long was that I couldn't find skulls. Factorydirect. com has them, but I didn't want to order them in case they weren't the right size. Then I found these at Michael's by Tim Holtz, twelve to a package with three differed styles. I was thrilled.

I found the skeletons at Michael's, too, on a garland of six.

I made the bedspread and pillows from fabric that I had purchased just for this project. The fabric came in stack of fat quarters that quilters use, color coordinated. Worked perfect.

The jack-o-lanterns and the candelabra also came from Michael's.

It's hard to tell how long the poor fellow has been expired. Did he die in bed? Or was his body moved later? A long time later?

I'm not sure. Maybe Nathan can solve the mystery.

Thanks for visiting. 

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