Craft: How to make a Monster Book of Monsters

You never know what you may find at a car boot fair, so my advice would be never to dismiss one if you have a craft project coming up, whether it's making costumes or recovering stools.  You'd be surprised at what goodies can be found.

I came across this unwanted boring old box - it looks like a wine box but what I saw was a future Monster Book of Monsters book and to my delight whilst still at the same car boot I found a brown skirt!  So my total finds for my 'next' project at the car boot cost me £5!

After painting the box sides white to make it look more like a book, I left this project unfinished for quite a few months.  Mainly because I wasn't sure how on earth I was going to transform it into the MBoM, so did what I do best and that was to leave it until the opportunity arose for me to pick up the project again.

 

I finally saw some Dracula Teeth which I felt would make great fangs for my book and so I set about sourcing some fake fingers (which were harder to come by) I ended up getting some from eBay and some modelling clay for the tongue.

Fake fingers for Claws, Dracula Teeth for the mouth and Modelling clay for the tongue

The Claws
I originally painted the fingers grey but I didn't like the look so I painted over them brown.
I cut the length and then split them too to get them to stick onto the box, which I couldn't get to work with the glue gun so I used the staple gun instead!

Turning fingers into claws for my Monster Book of Monsters

The glue gun was not strong enough for these claws - used a staple gun instead

'Skin'
Once I measured out the material I used my glue gun to stick the material around the top edge, leaving it slightly loose for the eyes.  I made slits in the material over each claw and pulled them through the fabric and glued down the remaining material down over the edges.  Fiddly, but I think worth it!

Covering the box with brown material to turn it into the makings of a Monster book of monsters

Eyes
The eyes were purchased from the local toy shop.
I made a slit in the top of the material but kept it small to ensure for a tight fit.
I glued each eyeball to the next and then glued it onto the box before covering it over with the material.

Creating the eyes for my MBoM 

Finishing touches
The mouth was glued on and the tongue was created using modelling clay.
I printed out the wording of the book and stuck this on the front cover to create the finishing touches.

Creating a tongue with the modelling clay and glueing onto the box

A lot of patience was needed for this, but I got there in the end.

What do you think?