CheesCloth Ghost Craft

Ok, with Halloween speedily approaching and not much time left on my Calender, I decided that I was going to do something that I have wanted to do for a number of years. Years ago, my mom had made a ghost out of cheesecloth that was just freakin cool to a 7 year old. Anyways, I was reminded of this craft when I was visiting Roberts and they had a small one out on display that I suppose one of the workers had made. Well I decided that mine was going to be big and kinda scary (or at least cool).

So I bought the necessary supplies.

4 Sheets of Cheesecloth (1yd square each).
A bottle of Fabric stiffiner (its pretty much like glue).
A big foam ball (for the head of my ghost)
Toilet paper or Paper towel rings (the cardboard inside roll)
2 or however many metal hangers you think you need
Hairdryer
Construction paper or some sort of thicker paper
Pencil
Permanent marker

With these supplies I went over to my mothers house to enlist some more hands. Muahahahahaaaa!! I took two metal hangers and made a metal figure out of it to support my ghost head and the arms. We used the cardboard Paper towel rolls to cover the arms so they looked a little more proportionate.

We dumped the entire bottle of fabric stiffener into a bowl and then filled the empty bottle about 1/3 to 1/2 full or water and added that to make it easier to work with (trust me you will want to do that, I tried it the other way and it didn't work worth JACK!).

So as my mom soaked the cheesecloth in the watered down fabric stiffener and then squeezed it out (not hard because the fragile cloth will tear). My brother Eric and I (wearing disposable latex gloves, I did mention that we all wore them right?) and we draped the sheets of cheesecloth over the Foam ball and metal frame we made and positioned the cloth the way we wanted it to fall. We continued to do this until all four sheets of cheesecloth were draped over the figure and it looked awesome!!

We supported the outstretched arm with something underneath, since the wet cheesecloth was heavy, and we got a hairdryer out to help speed up a few crucial spots that support the entire figure. Then we left it to sit for about 12 hours and VIOLA! it was stiff (it can take up to 24 hrs to dry). Once the Ghost is dry simply remove / take out the wireframe and foam ball so the ghost is ... well... a ghost! It will now, with the cheesecloth dry stand on its own. Pretty cool hu?


So then I just drew the shape of eyes I wanted on some cardboard and cut them out and then traced both eyes and then filled them in with permanent marker right on the cheese cloth.


The ghost turned out really good in the end, I look forward to displaying it on Halloween, or helping somebody else with theirs! Pretty neet. I encourage you to try it. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Here you can see the overall form of the Ghost. The outstretched arm was a little tricky but we got it!



Here you can see that we mostly let the cheesecloth fall where it wanted to, except for a few effects we wanted. You have to remember that this base will support your ghost so it has to be strong. Feel free to fold or overlap some cloth, just remember that it has to look natural and ghoolish!



This is the cool part. The ghost when dried and finished weighs close to nothing. It is empty inside and partly see-through depending on how much cheesecloth you have.