How to Make "Shrunken Head" decorations for Halloween

Nothing says Halloween quite like a string of Shrunken Heads. Hang them like garland at your Halloween party and really spark up the ghoul factor.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• apples (any kind will do)
• paring knife
• lemon juice
• salt
• bowl
• oven (with rack)
• string
• "stuff" for eyes/teeth/hair etc. accoutrements
• glue gun/glue sticks

1. Using your paring knife, peel the skin from an apple leaving a small patch around the stem and the base of the apple.

2. Tie a short (maybe 3 inches) string to the apple stem.

3. Mix about a cup of lemon juice with a tablespoon of salt in your bowl.

4. Dunk an apple in the lemon/salt mixture. Make sure the whole apple gets some juice on it.

5. Using the tip of your paring knife, carve a face into the apple. Get creative, individualized heads are much more impressive.

6. Dunk the carved apple into the juice again.

7. Tie the apple on the string to the oven rack so that it can hang freely.

8. Repeat steps 1-7 for each apple.

9. Turn the oven to 250 and slide the rack into the oven high enough so that the apples don't touch the oven.

10. Heat the apples for 3-4 minutes.

11. Turn off the oven, but leave the apples in overnight.

12. The next morning remove the apples and place them somewhere where they can continue to dry for a week or so (depending on how humid it is where you live).

13. When they are nice and wrinkled, get your glue gun, eyes, teeth, hair etc and go to town.

14. Hang the apples using the string already attached or for a sturdier hang take a string of burned out twinkle lights and poke the bulbs into the apples.

Tips & Warnings

• You can get googly eyes at craft stores, but making eyes from felt, beads, nails, other dried fruit adds more character.