To kick off the month of September and the beginning of our Halloween projects I decided it would be fun to make a ghost. I made mine the size of an adult in the dollhouse but you can easily make yours whatever size you desire.
To begin lets look at the items we will need for the project:
1 bamboo skewer
1 base- I used a wooden wheel but you can use whatever is in your stash that will form the base
2 white chenille stems
1 bead about ¾” in diameter.
1
12” square of lightweight white fabric (preferably 100% cotton) - not pictured
Start by cutting the skewer to about 5” to 5 ½” long. Always use the correct tool to cut these pieces, don’t take chances. Then wrap one of the chenille stems around it in a spiral and add glue to secure. Then use more glue to attach the wrapped skewer into the base and allow to dry.
Now we can add the bead that will be the head of our ghost. Use plenty of glue to help it stay in place. Then trim the extra chenille stem with a pair of wire cutters. Allow the glue to set up again.
Make a placement mark on the skewer about 4 ½” from the bottom and glue the 2nd chenille stem at this point. Center the stem and wrap it around the skewer a few times to help it stay in place and allow to dry again.
Now we can fold the ends of the chenille stems to the center and twist them to form the arms of the ghost.
This is also a good time to paint the bead/head if needed. If your bead is a lighter color and won’t show through the fabric later this step is not necessary. If you want you could also paint the base at this time. Allow the paint to dry.
Get your ghost’s arms into the position you wish them to be. Then take a 12” by 12” piece of lightweight fabric. I used some bleached muslin which is a cheap fabric that can be found in most stores that have fabrics for quilting. It is 100% cotton which I feel makes it a little easier to work with. Fold the square and trim the edge to make a roundish shape. We aren’t looking for perfect here wavy edges are encouraged.
Next in a small bowl mix some Mod Podge or thin white glue into some water. Add the fabric we just trimmed into it and get it saturated with the mixture and allow to sit for just a minute to soak into the fabric. Meanwhile I do recommend covering your work surface with a bit of wax paper or something similar because this is going to be messy.
Now squeeze out as much of the liquid from the cloth as possible and drape it centered over the ghost armature we made. Help the fabric to the shape you want it to have. Whatever you picture as your ghost. You can get some personality going here. When you are happy allow the fabric to dry completely. We had a very humid day when I was making this and it took overnight to get all the way dry.
Once dry add the facial features you want your ghost to have. I went with a simple face using 3 black dots to represent the eyes and mouth. Then allow to dry and your ghost is ready to take his/her place in your mini Halloween display.
As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment