DIY Mannequin head vase

This is one of those projects which I've had in my head for a couple of years, ever since I stumbled across this on the internet. It was one of those times where your finger goes straight to the buy button and then you realise it's just a concept and therefore not available and you utter an internal scream to the God of retail. You know, those times? Anyway, last week I decided to finally have a go at it and plucked up the courage to order a mannequin. Here is my warning. Having a mannequin in the house, cutting it up and drilling into its head is maybe on of the creepiest things a crafter can do. I hid this down stairs at night before it was painted so I didn't have to see its scary eyes! You have been warned!

You will need:
A head mannequin. I bought this one.
A heavy duty craft knife
A hacksaw
Course sandpaper
An elastic band
A sharpie
White gloss spray paint
A drill
A glue gun
A long thin vase which fits inside the mannequin

1. First asses what you need to do with your mannequin. Everyone will be different (unless you bought the same as me!) and so you'll need to decide yourself but I judged that the whole thing needed to have the bottom lopped off. 

2. Your mannequin will also need to be entirely hollow. Basically you need to have a continuous area between the head (where you're going to put the flowers in) and the body which you will place over a long thin vase. That way the flowers can get water. 

3. Using a craft knife, hollow out the head and neck. The plastic used for this type of thing are usually very easy to cut. 

4. If you need to cut down the body, stretch an elastic band around the body and then draw around the edge with a sharpie.

5. Saw using your hacksaw. 

6. Roughly sand off the base of your vase.

7. Now time to work on the head (shudder). Draw your hairline onto the head, you will use this as a marker for the drilling. 

8. Now drill yourself a tonne of holes. Make sure that the hole is large enough for the average stem.

9. Using a glue gun, attach the head onto the body. 

10. Now time to paint! Make sure to remove any external pieces like false eyelashes first, as these won't paint well. I didn't need to sand beforehand, but if your plastic is very shiny it might be harder for the paint to adhere to. And you're done! After drying time, fill up your tall vase and place the head vase over the top and you're ready to create a flowery hairstyle!