The Walking Dead was my inspiration for these Barbie Zombies. All I needed was the unsuspecting Barbie dolls to create my own walkers!
Age Group: Adult Crafts
Project Type: Halloween
Author: Amanda Formaro
Supplies
Yucky Barbies
Gray and white spray paint
Dyepowdered or liquid: brown if you have it, or a mixture of colors
Craft paint: brownblack, white, red, reddish brown
Paint pens: yellow and gray
Instructions
You’ll need a large tub with enough water to cover all the clothes from the dolls. I used some leftover Rit dye in orange and blue. That gave me an army green, so I squirted in some red dye leftover from a tie dye project. That turned it brown and I thought it would be enough so I dumped in the clothes and stirred with a paint stick.
The color was okay, but I wanted them darker and dirtier looking. So I squirted in what was left of my “walnut” gel stain, but brown paint would have been fine too. After stirring that around I added some black and some white paint. Now I was getting somewhere! The color was good and muddy!
After stirring the clothes around some more, I dipped each of the dolls’ heads into the dye mixture and placed them on a towel to drain.
Next I removed all the clothes to a separate towel and drained the dye tub.
Because these are teeny tiny Barbie clothes they don’t take long to dry. Mine weren’t completely dry when I started painting. I used a mixture of black and brown, and red and brown, and whatever looked good. I dabbed my brush into the paint and dabbed off the excess onto a paper towel. Then I dabbed and rubbed the clothes to make them look dirty and blood stained. I did a little blood splatter too using a paint brush dipped in watered down red paint and flicked it with my finger against the bristles.
Now I was ready to work on the dolls, so I gave their hair a little squeeze with the towel to get any excess water out then I took them all outside. I sprayed each one with gray primer (gray spray paint will work too, doesn’t matter), including their hair. After the gray I sprayed with white and dabbed with a piece of paper towel. I just kept doing that here and there to make the skin look nasty. :)
Just like I did with the clothes, I decorated the dolls using red and black, and I used a yellow and gray paint pen to do the eyes. I finished the eyes using a small paintbrush with black, removing the excess on a paper towel first. I also used a toothpick to add red paint to the mouths.