For those of you who love Halloween and want to liven up your flat for a party or convince your parents its haunted so they’ll finance a fancier pad – here are some tips for making simple homemade decorations.
Now, if you’re anything like me, your abilities lie more with the messy abstract art than the detailed masterpieces. So that is why I am suggesting some straight-forward crafts that don’t require a lot of cost or space to prepare or even display.
The designs are open to creative interpenetration, and please note that you may find alternative materials and methods that work better for you.
If you would like to share your DIY decorations with Brig, then please email them to Caroline at: cam00160@students.stir.ac.uk.
FLOATING CANDLES
(Image from Pinterest)
What you’ll need
Empty toilet rolls or another cylinder shape like a confectionery container.
Something to make the cylinder white. Yo can use paint, paper, toilet roll, kitchen roll and more.
Battery operated tea-light candles.
Scissors, glue, sellotape, drawing pins and string.
How to make it
Well, most of these decorations don’t need to come with a manual, but let’s talk through them anyway.
This is a really easy item to make. To begin with, get your cylinder and cover it with your white-or a different colour if you want-material to make it look like wax. Whenever using paint, make sure it’s the right type to settle on the various items such as paper, cardboard or plastic that you might use when making any decoration.
Next, carefully sellotape your battery candle to the top.
Lastly, get your string-try and use a colour that is as close to your wall shade as you can to add to the illusion-and sellotape or pin the string to the ceiling, to make them look like floating candles.
GHOSTLY BOTTLES
(Image from Pinterest)
What you’ll need
A large white or clear bottle, container or bucket. You can always use paint or something else that works with your given material to make it white.
Some sort of lights; either fairy lights, LED wireless bulbs, or battery operated candles.
Permanent marker pens in the colour(s) you want.
Scissors and a brush.
How to make it
Use a large bottle with the handle cut out, a bucket, or any other item that will give you the ghost body you want, and make it white if it’s not already.
Use a marker pen to give the ghost a face and other personal features you want.
Place your choice of light on the inside to create the luminous, haunting appearance. When using lights, check on them regularly to ensure they’re not heating materials to the extent of a potential fire. Also, refrain from using wax candles unless it’s safe to do so.
SPOOKY CHARACTER JARS
(Image from Monster Mash Halloween Crafts)
What you’ll need
Empty jars and lids.
Paper mache or an alternative type of flexible material.
Paint and paintbrushes.
Black felt.
Some sort of lights; either fairy lights, LED wireless bulbs, or battery operated candles.
Scissors and glue.
How to make it
This item is quite similar to the ghost bottles. You have two main options for giving the jars the colours you want. You can either use paint, and if so-only use one thorough coat of paint, as the thicker the layers, the weaker the light shining through will be. You can alternatively use paper mache, or a different type of material that is easy to bend and manipulate so it can fit inside the jar.
Then cut out any facial aspects or accessorise from felt and stick them on.
Lastly, if you want to use lights, then put them in to make the jars glow.
POTION COCKTAILS
(Image from Dress It Up Crafts)
What you’ll need
Clear bottles.
Colourful liquid.
Marker pens.
Crafts items to stick onto the bottles.
Glue.
How to make it
This is perhaps the easiest decoration to make. You can get your bottles from a variety of places like your own rubbish, homeware departments in shops or online.
When making your colourful content, your liquids can either act as a mere decoration, or a clever party presentation for alcohol and other drinks. By placing the bottles in front of various table lights in a house, you may even get a stronger, richer colour effect.
Using a marker pen, label your bottles with any Halloween message or recipe you want.
And lastly, if you visit any crafts shops, you can find well priced and ready to use items to stick on your bottles to give them a more personal touch.
WITCH TABLE LEGS
(Image from Pinterest)
What you’ll need
A cylinder that can fit the width and circumference of your table leg inside.
A small to medium sized plastic plant pot.
Newspaper.
Coloured paper, wrapping paper or tissue paper.
Scissors, glue and sellotape.
How to make it
This is a decoration that certainly could be made using various types of materials and methods.
The most important thing, is to find a cylinder shape that the leg of your table can fit into and also that it will be tall enough to give you the amount of witch’s leg that you want. You can use a variety of things such as empty toilet roll, kitchen roll or wrapping paper roll tubes, Pringle tubes or cheap drainage pipes to achieve this. You may need to sellotape more than one cylinder together, to give it the height you want.
Once you have your cylinder shape, use whatever material you think best to cover it. Because the cylinders will offer an even and round shape, then wrapping and sticking large sheets of paper to them will give you the look you want. You can use strips of paper to give the stripped design, or use another method to create the style of tights you want.
The hardest part of the witches’s table leg, is the feet. Once again, you can use a variety of techniques to achieve this, but here is a suggestion. First of all, take a small to medium sized plastic plant pot to make the heel of the shoe. Cover it in paper mache and attach it to the end of the cylinder so it can sit on the floor. You may want to put an small extra glass, wood or plastic dish underneath to make sure it’s foundation is steady and even.
Latstly, you want to create the feet. My recommendation, is that you use scrunched up newspaper covered in paper-mache to create these. Alternatively, use tissue paper, although this tends to have less volume. This will give you the chance to manipulate the paper into the shape you want, and it won’t be too heavy, making it easier to attach and work-in with the rest of the design.
DANGLING WITCHES HATS
(Image from Homecrux)
What you’ll need
Witches and/or wizards hats.
Any additional items you might want to include on them such as fake: cobwebs, mice, bats, dust, body parts and so on.
String and any other items such as drawing pins, sellotape, glue or staples, to attach other items to the hats.
How to make it
This item is probably the easiest to make. All you need to do, is buy some witches hats and attach or wrap around any additional Halloween items you want.
Just like the floating candles, add some string to the hats and hang them from your ceiling.
FLYING BATS
(Image from Handy Manny)
What you’ll need
Black or other coloured card.
A template.
Scissors, sellotape or Blu-Tack.
How to make it
There are lots of simple crafts to make or effects you can use, to give a basic but effective spooky atmosphere. You can add fake blood hand prints to mirrors or spray fake blood on shower curtains to freak anyone out who might go to your bathroom. Or you can stick lots of realistic looking plastic or wooden bugs to your wall or floor, making them look like they’re spilling out of air vents or holes in the wall to put a shiver up anyone’s spine.
However, this one is another straight-forward addition to your Halloween home. To begin with, get some card and either using free-hand or a stencil, draw and cut out your bat shapes. You can carefully bend parts of your bats to give them a more 3D look, or you can cut the wings out separately, and glue or staple them to your bat at an angle.
Lastly, use sellotape or Blu-Tack to get your bats on the wall.
PUMPKIN SPIDERS
(Image from Indulgy)
What you’ll need
Small pumpkins.
Candles.
Pipe cleaners.
Scissors and glue.
How to make it
First-get your real or fake pumpkin. The size of the pumpkin doesn’t matter too much, as long as it gives you the spider size you want.
Cut the size of legs you want from pipe cleaners. Glue them to your pumpkin-probably best with super glue-and bend them to give the spidery effect.
Place your candle inside, making sure there is space for the wax to melt and flow down the inside of the pumpkin, to avoid mess and to prevent the flame catching on the pumpkin and causing a fire.
