While we were walking in absolutely beautiful summer weather one evening, hubby tells me he is excited for fall weather! It’s in the upper 70’s in AUGUST and he is talking about fall weather!? While he may be ready for crisper weather, I am not. But I am ready to make some easy DIY ghosts for Halloween!
Last year I saw everyone making the cheesecloth ghosts. Some hang them outside in the trees. Sometimes they are floating on a porch. (you can make them float by hanging them with fishing line) Other times they are sitting around inside! I’ve seen them with and without faces. Some people put tea lights under them. Others make them by mixing in some glow in the dark paint! (they even make glow in the dark spray paint)
So now it’s my turn to experiment! I’m sharing with you how to DIY ghosts and what I learned in the process!
My First Attempt
Supplies
Something to make the ghost: Cheesecloth or other fabric
For my first time making these easy DIY ghosts I used what I had available. Surprisingly I had cheesecloth tucked away in a drawer!! I also had some burlap ribbon that I wanted to experiment with. I also tried making ghosts using an old t shirt!
Something to stiffen the fabric: Mod Podge or glue, starch
Amazingly, I had a brand new unopened bottle of Mod Podge! I don’t know about you, but that usually never happens! More often than not it has sat so long it’s dried out or I can’t get the lid off because it’s glued on!!
Something to mix the stiffener: bowl, pan, spoon, etc.
I dug in the recycling for this! And a spoon from the kitchen to mix the stiffener. They key is to just clean whatever you use immediately, before it dries onto whatever it is you want to keep. That’s the nice thing about using recycling! Just throw it away and don’t worry about cleaning it!
Something to create the form: styrofoam ball, any ball you have laying around the house, balloons
I also used things around the house to make my ghost forms! Glasses, bowls, rose bowls, recycling, etc. As long as you have a rounded top, you can use anything.
Something to cover the form so the stiffener doesn’t stick to your form: Saran wrap, press’n seal, plastic grocery bag
One of the reasons you can use anything for a form is because you are going to cover and protect those items! I only had press’n seal, not saran wrap on hand. I used that and it worked fine.
Steps
Form
First you need to create a form. Do you want small, medium or large ghosts? You can make kid sized ones using a plant stand and a basketball. Or you can make medium sized ones with an old softball or styrofoam ball sitting on a glass or vase. Or smaller ones with wooden beads place on a spice jar. For my round top I used old glass rose bowls. I sat those on glasses, but then decided to make them a little taller and added a bowl underneath.
When you are making your form I would think about how you want to display your ghosts. The general rule is to display things in odd numbers. Maybe you want to set one on the floor going into a bathroom. So, you might want to make a larger one and just one. Maybe you want to put a little grouping together on your kitchen island. For that you might do three smaller ghosts all of different heights and shapes.
I assembled the three pieces a little differently, so that my ghosts would be different heights!
Nonstick Covering
Once you have created the form, you want to cover it with saran wrap or in my case press’n seal. I thought I had saran wrap for projects, but I if I do, I couldn’t locate it. Instead, I got the cling wrap out of the kitchen. It worked just fine! And after a few tries I learned that a plastic grocery bag works well too!
I don’t know about you, but I have a ton of those!!
Just make sure to cover your ghost form with something that you can easily peel away.
I covered my work surface with a towel, but honestly it might have worked fine on my stone countertops or with some more plastic laid down. The towel that I used, had been to dry the dog off when she came in with wet paws, but it is now permanently crusted in spots! So it will probably get cut up into rags!
I’m saying that so you know not to work somewhere you can’t get dirty!
Container For Mixing
Next you need a container to mix your solution in. I dug through my recycling to find a greek yogurt tub. This worked really well, but I think in the future I might work close to the sink OR use a pan or tray. When you wring out the fabric, the mixture seems to splatter everywhere. I think a larger container would help with the mess. Working right in the sink, would also make it easy to clean up any messes! You definitely want to wipe off anything uncovered quickly before it starts to dry.
Stiffener
I did not measure anything. I read a few tutorials and everyone was suggesting twice as much Mod Podge as water. So, I just guessed that I was doing something similar. I couldn’t really see a downside of guessing! Not only can you use the Mod Podge, but you can use regular watered down glue, starch, etc.
I used a regular kitchen spoon to stir the mixture. I just made sure to wash it off well when I was finished.
Sizing the Fabric
At some point you need to figure how much cheesecloth or fabric you will need. Cut yourself some extra because the cheesecloth tends to shrink when wet. It is also necessary to have puddling or at least touching around your ghosts so that once the form is removed your ghosts will actually stand on their own.
Coat Fabric with Stiffener
Be sure to completely submerge and coat your fabric. Squeeze out all of the excess. Then, open up the fabric and drape it over the form. Look at all sides of the fabric to make sure it is hanging how you want it to!
Drying
All of the tutorials I read said to let it sit 2 or 3 days. I’m not sure if I did something different than they did, but mine was hard enough to remove from the form in less than 24 hours. I suggest planning on it taking 3 days, so that you create the DIY ghosts in an out of the way spot! It may be helpful to assemble them on a cookie sheet and then you can move it out of the way as needed.
As the cheesecloth was drying I decided to experiment. On one ghost I added plastic bags around the bottom to make it wider. See that photo above.
What I Learned
Purchasing Cheesecloth
While I had cheesecloth tucked in the drawer, I didn’t have very much. When I went to Walmart to restock I found that cheesecloth is located in THREE or more spots!! In the grocery section, with kitchenware and in the sewing aisles! I also discovered that the most affordable cheesecloth is in the sewing section, but online!!
I ended up purchasing it at customer service so I could get the online price.
Laying Out Your Cheesecloth
If you don’t want your ghosts to stand freely, then you don’t need to have excess cheesecloth touching the surface your form is sitting on. In fact, don’t have ANY of the cheesecloth touching the surface. That will make it look like it is floating; because the cheesecloth will be hanging straight down without puddling.
Then to hang your ghosts will just add fishing line!!
Ghost Size
If you really want the ability to get creative, simply use balloons! You can blow them bigger or smaller to make your own custom ghost family!
Not Just Cheesecloth
First, if you are using cheesecloth I would suggest doing a double layer. This makes your ghost more stiff and it will be easier to work with. The stiffer ghosts are easier to add eyes and mouths to. They are also easier to move around your house and store in the off season because they are more sturdy.
I would suggest using full sizes of cheesecloth. I used some scraps to give me multiple layers on the fatter ghost and it leaves a lot of seems which I personally don’t like.
But, you can make a ghost out of anything! I made one small one from some burlap ribbon I had on hand. The ribbon had thicker edges that I cut off. And then because it wasn’t a very wide section, I wrapped the burlap around my form instead of drapping it over the top.
If you use thicker fabric like a t shirt, it is very important that you let the stiffener soak into the fabric. I did not make sure my fabric was completely coated and now that ghost is different colored with some areas still soft. Despite this the ghost still keeps it’s shape. If you had an old quilt with a bunch of holes/very worn, you could probably soak it in a stiffener and make a full size ghost for your garden! The sky is the limit!!
Add A Face
I took an Instagram poll to see if I should add a face to my ghosts or leave them as is. The majority of you said to give them a face! I decided to try a couple different methods. In my stash I had some black labels/stickers. I cut out round eyes and mouth from those stickers to make a face for one ghost.
On the other ghost I used black scrapbook paper. Again, I cut out circles only this time I had to add glue. I had some gorilla glue on hand, so I used a generous portion to adhere the face. I could see using hot glue for this application as well! Marker, felt, I think anything you have would work well, as long as you have the right proportions for your ghost.
Watch Me On Hello Iowa
For my segment on Hello Iowa this month I shared this project! It happened to be the first day of school AND my hubby’s birthday!! I gave him a Happy Birthday shoutout but we also had some extra laughs on this episode as thing didn’t quite go as planned! See for yourself! Watch HERE.
Like This Tutorial? Don’t Forget to Pin It!
Other Fall DIY Projects
This is one of my most popular fall projects! Get the tutorial HERE.
Watch Another Halloween Decor Tutorial
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