How To Make a Shrunken Head

How to make a Jivaro Shrunken Head

Remove head.

Make a slit from the back of the head to the crown of the head.

Separate the fleshy part of the face and the top of the head from the skull. (Skull may be thrown in river to placate Anaconda god.)

Turn face inside out and scrape all fatty tissue off.

Place the head into a pot of simmering water (do not boil, or hair may fall off).

Simmer until head is about two thirds natural size.

Sew back of neck, eyes and lips closed with plant fiber.

Heat small pebbles in fire and place in head, constantly moving.

When head is too small for pebbles use hot sand.

Dye head blue-black with plant dyes.

While heating, continuously mold face to keep the look of its original owner as much as possible.

Use heated knife to dry and shrink lips.

Wear around neck.

IF THE ABOVE IS TO AMBITIOUS THEN YOU CAN GO SMALLER...WE USE TO BUY THE VINCENT PRICE KITS TO DO THESE, BUT MARTHA STEWART BLESS HER HEART AND OTHER CRAFTY TYPES HAVE MADE IT A KITCHEN PROJECT: HERE IT GOES....



Start with an apple. The larger the better. It will shrink quite a bit. Then remove most of the peel using a vegetable peeler. You can leave a little at the top and bottom. Now take a small knife and carve a face. It will take some practice getting it right, but after several attempts you should get a feel for it. Here are some tips:


Make the features (nose, mouth) big. Shrinkage will reduce them more than you will realize.
Use toothpicks for the details.

Round and smooth the surface of the "head" using a rag or paper towel.
Try not to gouge too deeply with the knife as cuts left in the surface may be magnified after shrinking.

Once carved, you must "pickle" your apple/head. Immerse it in a solution of ½ cup of salt mixed with about 4-6 cups of water. Adding 2 or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice will keep it fromoxidizingg. Let it soak for 24 hours. Remove it from the water. Straighten out a paper clip or stiff wire and form a small loop in one end. This will be used to pass a string through. Stick the clip through the top of the apple and down through the bottom. Bend the clip at the bottom to hold it in place. The apple/head is then hung from a string by the clip. You will need to hang it where it will stay dry. After about 2 or 3 weeks, it should be ready.
If you live in a very humid place and your apple shrunken head tends to rot instead of drying, try speeding things up a bit by placing it on the center rack of a warm oven (200 deg. F) until dry.

You can try blackening it with charcoal if you wish. Coat it with a clear matte finish such as polyurethane or shellac to keep moisture from damaging it. If you want it to look more like a "real" Tsantsa, the lips can be sewn with cotton strings, and fake hair can be attached.

You can also decorate with beads, feathers, and other little ' trophies '