I love Halloween! The autumny time of year, the costumes, pumpkins! I also especially love getting crafty (in every sense of the word) and what better time to make some spooky decorations.
I’ve decided to make some floating ghosts to hang from the ceiling (or any overhanging area I can find) and here’s how I did it.
Getting crafty
What you will need:
PVA glue, Balloons, White dishcloth/thin white material (cheesecloth is good but I couldn’t find any!) bowl, water, gloves (if you don’t like getting sticky) wire, sticky/masking tape, string (preferably fishing line but other string is fine too)
Step 1:
Set up a support structure for your balloon/ghost – it will need somewhere to sit while it dries. I’ve used a large jar and propped it up on a tin so the cloth won’t trail too much (you’ll see what I mean) Also, put down some newspaper to catch any glue drips!
Step 2:
Blow up your balloon to the required size. The size of the balloon will correspond with the size of the ‘head’ of the ghost, so this can be whatever size you want (depending on how much material you have) I’m aiming for a ghost that is no bigger than a foot/30cm long so my balloon is no bigger than my hand (and I have small hands!)
Step 3:
Set up your balloon on it’s stand! You can have just a ‘floating-head’ type ghost or if you prefer, you can make some ‘arms’. To create arms, cut two lengths of wire, bend them into an ‘S’ type shape and hook onto your jar and secure with some tape. You can also tape these to the balloon itself if your support doesn’t have a lip, just be careful not to pop the balloon!
Getting messy
Step 4:
Now for the messy part! Mix 1 part water with 1 part PVA glue in a bowl. Make sure you mix enough to completely cover your piece of material but not too much, you can always make more – waste not!
Step 5:
Place your piece of material/cloth into the glue-mix bowl, making sure the whole cloth is lightly covered. Squeeze off any excess glue (it doesn’t need to be drippy!) Now, drape the cloth over your balloon and arrange it over the arms (if you have them) and leave to dry overnight.
Step 6:
Once dry, thread the fishing line/string through the top of the ghost’s ‘head’ and tie off aprox 2 inches above the head. You can also add eyes if you like – I used black felt and a glue gun to attach. Now hang them around your house for spooky/cute floaty vibes!
Tips
My ghost turned out a little flat headed as my balloon began to deflate overnight so make sure you have a good balloon! Also, the cloth I used was a little thick, it held a lot of glue so took quite a long time to dry but otherwise I was happy with the results!
Let us know how you get on in the comments and send us some pics of your spooky ghosts on Twitter or Instagram!
