DIY Decor: Sandworm Picks

One of my favorite movies to watch this time of year is Beetlejuice! Both movies are fabulous, but the original will always be my favorite. One of the things I love the most is the claymation special effects and the sandworm effects. A few years ago, I created these fun Beetlejuice garlands for Blogtober and when I was planning my projects for this year, I knew I wanted to create another Beetlejuice-inspired decoration. These sandworm picks turned out so cute, and I am excited to share them with you today!

This was the first time I have ever used oven-bake clay, and I will definitely be using it more for future projects. I love how easy it is to work with, and it really is the only material that would work to make these! I would recommend rolling these out on a silicone mat of some sort to prevent marks in the clay, but they are easily rubbed out if you don’t have one. The rest of the materials are pretty basic as well, and once you get the hang of rolling out each sandworm tail, it goes pretty quickly. The most fun part was creating the shapes of each tail!

Supplies:

White Oven Bake Clay (I got mine here)
Bamboo Skewers
White and Black Acrylic Paint
Hot glue gun and hot glue
Small paintbrush

Method:

Divide your oven bake clay into however many tails you want to make. I recommend different amounts for each tail so you can make some longer and some shorter.
Roll each piece of clay out into long strips. Make one end more narrow for the tip of the tail and the other end more thick to make the base.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, lay out each tail in twisted patterns making sure to keep the bottom 1″ – 1 1/2″ straight.
Prior to baking, take a bamboo skewer and poke a hole into the base of each sandworm tail. I would push the skewer in at least an inch for stability. Do not leave the skewer in when you bake.
Bake your sandworms according to the package instructions. For these, since one end is thicker than the other, I doubled the time and just checked them halfway through. Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Paint a basecoat of white acrylic paint on each tail. I did two coats for each. Let dry completely.
Paint black stripes on each tail. I was not precise with this. I like the individuality of each tail. Some black stripes are thicker than others, and they are not the same distance apart. Let dry completely.
Once the stripes are dry, stick the tip of your hot glue gun into the hole at the base of each tail and fill the hole you made with hot glue. Then, stick a bamboo skewer into the hole and lay flat until the glue cools.
Trim the skewer so that you have enough that you can push into the soil of your plant pot but it will still support the length of the tail above the soil.
Stick your picks into any of your plant pots for a fun spooky season decoration!