Last year for Halloween I made a Halloween mirror using waterslide paper to create the effect of a skull looking out of a mirror. It was very popular as well a creepy some said.  One comment that I got stuck with me. The comment was, that it would have looked better if the skull  looked like it was coming out of the mirror.

I took that comment on board and this year I tried to make the mirror 3D. Here is the link to last years version. I used the same mirror this year for the upgraded version.

How to make a 3D Halloween Mirror

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Find a mirror

Any mirror will work for this project, but if you can get your hands on an older looking one it will look better.  I am reusing the one I used for Halloween last year.  I painted the frame black with Gesso and highlighted the black paint with bronze wax paste.

To apply the Metallic wax paste you just dip the tip of your finger into the wax and rub it over the raised surfaces.

Making the skull

To make the skull I used a skull-shaped jelly mould that I bought form a party shop and some epoxy resin.

I had this idea in my head that the skull would look really creepy at night if it would light up as well.  I had some battery-operated lights at home and thought I would try and add them to the resin.

Add the lights to the inside of the mould and try and spread them around the whole skull. I made the mistake of not leaving enough wire left out to hide the batteries, so be aware of this before you pour the resin.  The idea was to have the box tucked behind the mirror.

Adding the resin

Because I was making this project up as I went along, I had no idea if it was going to work or not.  I was not sure if the lights would still work once, they were inside the resin.  So as a backup I added some glow in the dark powder and red colour pigment to the resin.

The mould said it would hold 800 ml of fluid, so I mixed 600. I have used resin before in my wooden suncatcher and found that the thinner the resin the better the light will shine through.

My resin was 2:1 mixing ratio but check your instructions and mix accordingly.  One tip I can offer when using resin is to mix it very well.  Most say to mix it for 5 minutes, so make sure you do.  If the resin is not mixed correctly, it will not dry, and your surface will remain sticky. Once the resin is poured into the mould it will start forming white bubbles on the surface like the image below. You can remove all the bubbles using a creme Brule blow torch or any flame. Just wave to blow torch over the surface and the bubbles will disappear.

My resin takes 12 hours to set, so follow the instruction for your resin.  Once set you can remove it from the mould. To remove all the rough edges around the sides you can use a fine sanding block. You can either leave the skull red or paint it black like mine.  I went for black because I thought it would look better during the day.

How to make the 3D hood

To make the hood you need some scrap fabric and some fabric stiffener.  If you don’t have fabric stiffener don’t worry craft glue works just as good.  Last year I made a Halloween bottle which I covered in fabric using craft glue and it worked just as good.  The only difference I found was the fabric stiffener sets a lot harder than the craft glue.

You will need a small bowel to mix you stiffener in.  I added a small amount of water and mixed it well.  Push the fabric down into the mixture and cover all the fabric with the stiffener.

To protect the skull and the mirror surface, I used some saran wrap.  This will save you lots of time trying to clean up later.

Next, you can shape the hood around the skull. The fabric is still a little soft at this stage.  As the stiffener dries you can reshape as desired.

I had to go out but the shape was not yet how I wanted it, so I had to improvise. I used bit and bobs I found on my craft table to shape the hood and to hold it in place while it dried.

Decorating the mirror

Once the fabric is stiff you can remove the saran wrap.  I used hot glue to attach the skull and hood to the mirror. Using the bronze wax past again I randomly added some colour to the hood and skull.

I used some skeleton hands from my bag of bones that I bought a few years ago. You can paint the hands black and highlight them with the bronze wax paste.

I mentioned before that I did not leave enough wire to hide the batteries.  To solve this issue, I covered the box with some black fabric and stuck a spider on the box to “hide” it.

This mirror can be put outside on your porch on Halloween night to offer a spooky atmosphere. The second mistake I made was not checking that I had the right colour lights.  I added the blue instead of the red. oops.

Some up-close images of the 3D Halloween mirror

More Halloween projects for you

This Flashing Halloween lightbox can be put on your porch to attract the trick or treaters.

These cute Halloween skull men were made using liquor shot glasses.

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