Halloween- Snake Skins

Snake skins make super creepy additions to your Halloween decor. I have several pet cornsnakes so this is an easy one for me and anyone else who owns a snake. You just collect the shed skins and stick them in a jar or drape them over your furniture.

But I realise most people don't have a bunch of shed skins hanging about the place so I've done a tutorial below on how to make your own substitutes.

Things you will need-

• Clingfilm or similar plastic material
• PVA glue
• Acrylic paint (pale yellow/grey/brown and white)
• Scissors
• Paintbrush
• Fine detail brush

Lay out your clingfilm or plastic sheeting, I used some old packaging material. You can either cut your plastic into strips first and then paint it or paint the sheet first and then cut it up after. Which way round you do it is just a matter of personal preference. 

Before you apply any paint you first need to cover the plastic in a layer of PVA glue to give the material 'tooth'. Paint cannot stick to plastic in the same way glue can and will chip off without an undercoat of glue. 

Once the glue is dry paint your plastic with slightly watered down acrylic. I used a pale brown but pale grey and pale yellow will also give good results. Don't worry about the colour being completely even either, patchy paint will give a more natural look. 

Once that layer of paint is dry trim the plastic at each end to look like a head and tail shape. Then take your fine detail brush and start painting on scales with watered down white acrylic. Be warned! This part may take a while. If you get fed up of lots of tiny scales try painting numerous straight lines across the 'skins' to look like the under belly of a snake instead. 

And here is a side by side comparison. Fake snake skins on the left and real snake skins on the right. Up close the fake skins are clearly fake but from a few feet away they look really great. 

If you want to add an extra touch you can make a label for your jar. I used a pen and permanent ink for the writing and used some brown watercolour paint to colour the paper. I also ripped the edges of the paper for that organic look.