Cleopatra Addams Family Show 1964 African Strangler Plant

Cleopatra from the original Addams Family 1964 TV show is one of my favorite characters. This is my interpretation of the plant. Made from a Movin' Groovin' Flower" is a type of decorative, dancing flower speaker toy that moves to music. These toys typically have a built-in speaker and can be connected to an external music source like an iPod, MP3 player, or computer. When music plays, the flower-shaped toy moves its petals or other parts in time with the rhythm. It worked on my iphone 8 and 13 plus my ipad 9.

Cleopatra is an African Strangler plant whose main diet is chunks of red, fleshy meat (Cleo's favorite food was zebra burgers and yak meatballs). Morticia grew Cleopatra from a seed and says she is young but not very smart.

My son and I watched this when he was little. We started watching it again about a year ago and we couldn't stop laughing. That is when the idea struck me that I could make my own Cleopatra Plant! Thus Cleopatra 2.0 was born.

Copy & paste to see Cleopatra dancing to music: https://youtu.be/0A7XZtF4K-k?si=JQct3D9Ol2KeQUpA

Cutting mat

scissors

craft knife

sturdy wire cutter

E6000 glue

Glue gun

Gorilla glue sticks (highly recommended)

Movin Groovin Flower (Dancing cactus or flowers from Amazon substitute if unavailable)

Various acrylic paints

Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer

artificial air plants or succulents (small,medium,large

sand (opt)

plaster of Paris (opt)

Brown Sharpie Marker

Pentart moss & grass effect (opt)

Lady Bug (opt)

Remove Flower head, leaves, accessories and cover on pot.

Use the brown Sharpie marker to tone done the bright green body stem. Don't overdo it just a light streaky coat, keeps the fabric flexible. Also the dirt in the pot is a terry cloth material so I shaded that a little for a more realistic look.

Gather artificial air plants you want to use. Medium for main body, small for filler. Several large ones to use on the mouth. Mine were purchased from Michaels and Hobby Lobby and I try to get them when on sale. Best price is to buy a stem or branch with multiple plants. Note: I could not find any color photos of the actual plant so just used my imagination. I used red and green for the larger plants.

If you are unable to find the Movin & Groovin Flower there are several items on Amazon that could be used in place with a little adjustment. Search for dancing cactus, singing dancing sunflower and saxophone flower. There are several videos on youtube how to remove the outside. I want to try the Cactus one and you would need to add a strip of thin felt to the stem. A tan or brown color would be perfect. Attach it at an angle like what you see in my picture. Use just enough hot glue so that it attaches. Too much glue and it will not dance.

Add batteries for testing as you go.

Cut air plants from stem close to base. Add a large pea size of hot glue (Gorilla Hot glue is best for this project). Starting at bottom glue one ring of 3-4 medium sized plants to stem body. DO NOT try to cram in a lot but leave it kind of airy almost scraggly looking. You can add in the smaller ones later. This keeps it from seizing up. Let the glue cool and test (Try me button) for movement. If it sticks give a little push until it moves

Note: I added a small red plant at the bottom to look like a baby bud was forming. You can see it in the second pot image.

Start a second row above and alternating them over the bottom ones. Example like a wall of bricks. Let cool and test again. Continue like that until the top leaving 1 1/2 inches bare.

Copy & paste to see Cleopatra dancing to music: https://youtu.be/0A7XZtF4K-k?si=JQct3D9Ol2KeQUpA

This mouth was 3D printed (fdm or resin) or it can be done with air dry clay if you don't have access to a printer. You can find the 3D file on Thingiverse Cleopatra Mouth Instructables. Copy and paste link https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7121820

For air dry clay mouth pat out a 3 inch circle 1/4 inch thick. Do not roll it out you want it lumpy looking. You can see the dents in photo. Cut edges of clay to make a seven-sided polygon is called a heptagon. You can make more or less is you want. Don't try to make it even plants are not perfect so makes it more realistic. It should measure 2 1/2 inches across at the points.

Take a skew, toothpick or handle of skinny paintbrush, start in center and pull a squiggly line to the outer edge tapering to a point. Work a small opening in the center for a mouth part.

Should kind of look like a candy bar with peanuts. LOL Let dry before painting.

Use whatever colors you like, this is what I used. It was airbrushed but you can dry brush it just as well. Paint the entire mouth a creamy yellow color leaving a 1 inch circle bare on the back of mouth for glueing. Then add a layer of green (air or dry brushed) around the edge a good 1/4 inch. You can paint the back (leaving a 1 inch circle bare) the solid green color.

Using a mix of burgundy and small amount of brown to paint the creases. Then using a toothbrush or paint brush flick speckles in the center of the mouth.

Seal with a clear spray sealer.

Take the large air plants and remove the leaves separately. On the back use the long leaves and glue a single row about 1/4 inch in from the outside edge. Take the longest ones and glue a second row on the back of the first row staggering them moving in another 1/4 inch. Again like bricks in a wall. then if you have some small ones glue them randomly on the front. I had to cut some so they were shorter about a third of the size of the front petals.

Copy & paste to see Cleopatra dancing to music: https://youtu.be/0A7XZtF4K-k?si=JQct3D9Ol2KeQUpA

On the back of mouth part put a glob of E6000 glue then go around that with the Gorilla Hot Glue. Look at image make sure both glues will make contact with body stem top. You don't need a lot of glue just enough for now. Set aside and let glue cool and dry overnight.

Test to make sure that it still dances. Then you can add more E6000 to fill in around the hot glue. Don't go crazy so that it will still dance. Let dry overnight again. Test. Now you can touch up with the matching green paint. Let dry.

At this point you can fill in any bald spots with the small air plants. Remember don't overdo it. You can see I found some small crinkly brown ones that worked great for this (Hobby Lobby). Test as you add them. It stuck a little at first, but I kept nudging it till it moved smoothly. I had to give a few of the plants a haircut to achieve it.

Before painting scuff up the pot with sandpaper. I used sand paint for the pot and Pentart Moss & Grass Effect (Etsy). It is not necessary you can use whatever color you want. I used Deidre's sand paint recipe from Our Upcycled Life see recipe. Used a gray paint for the sand paint and gave it a thin black wash after drying. NOTE: If you use the moss effect I would put some pva glue in the paint mix. The sand paint did not like the heat needed to puff the moss. It kept coming off in chunks. Just glued them back on but it was annoying. Maybe even paint a layer of glue on the pot before the sand paint. Follow their directions for the Pentart Moss & Grass. If I do another one think I will just use a mix of static grass.

I added a lady bug to cover the test sticker.

Also I always add a bee to my projects! This is a vintage Midewest Bee!

Copy & paste to see Cleopatra dancing to music: https://youtu.be/0A7XZtF4K-k?si=JQct3D9Ol2KeQUpA

Hope you enjoyed this Instructables. This is my first so not too sure what I was doing. These are a couple of the photos I based my project on. Thanks & hugs. If you make yourself one please do not over feed her she burps ALOT! Ewwwww/

Copy & paste to see Cleopatra dancing to music: https://youtu.be/0A7XZtF4K-k?si=JQct3D9Ol2KeQUpA

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in comments