We may be in the depths of summer right now, but it won't be long before abandoned storefronts across America start magically transforming into Spirit Halloweens, and my annual struggle will begin. I always hit up Spirit Halloween to stock up on costume makeup and campy gothic home decor, but I always end up battling the impulse to go home with those giant, over-the-top Halloween yard decorations that I have neither the budget nor the storage space for.
In times like these, it's always worth remembering that you don't need to blow your budget on mass-produced decorations in order to impress your trick-or-treaters - you just need a little DIY know-how. Propmaster Brandon Hardy is here to inspire with his hauntingly helpful how-to guide for building chicken wire ghosts, just in time for early Halloween prep!
Replying to @PocketSnax Dancing Chicken Wire Ghost Tutorial! This is abbreviated to fit in a Reel - I have a half hour long video tutorial on my P^tre0n that explains the ins and outs of every step! Supporting my Pa+re0n helps me rebuild after losing everything in a fire, so please consider checking it out! The music in this video is also an original track I wrote called “A Forgotten Waltz” - I taught myself to write music to underscore my P^tre0n show, and now have 2 hours worth of spooky original music available to download! The $3 Pa+re0n Tier grants access to all episodes (This one is Episode 7!) and the $7 Tier adds the music downloads - Check the L!nk in my B!0! Feel free to ask any questions, I can’t wait to see what everyone makes! 🎃👻🎃 #Halloween #HalloweenDIY #ChickenWireGhost #Ghost #Summerween #Artist #HalloweenDecor
Brandon Hardy ( @brandon.hardy.art ) has made a name for himself creating puppets, props, and setpieces for the Broadway stage and the silver screen. If anybody knows how to create impressive and haunting illusions from scratch, it's this guy, and he's willing to share his secrets, as he did here with this amazing chicken wire ghost tutorial!
Brandon's impressive pair of ballroom-dancing ghosts would look right at home on the dance floor of Disney World's Haunted Mansion , but they're surprisingly easy to make at home. All you need is a handful of craft supplies, a little know-how, and a bit of patience!
Crafting a Chicken Wire Ghost
As the name implies, the primary material used for this crafting project is chicken wire , which you can buy from Amazon or your local hardware store. A 25-foot-long roll typically costs about $15-20, so it's not pricey. It is pokey, however, which is why Brandon stresses wearing protective eyewear, work gloves, and long sleeves when you're molding it.
As Brandon demonstrated, you need to bend your chicken wire into several differently-sized tubes for the body's base, the torso, the arms, and the head, then crimp and fit them together until they resemble "a dumb scarecrow." After the "scarecrow" base is assembled, you just have to mold and squeeze the chicken wire tubes into shape until they resemble the outline of a human.
Once the figure is molded, the hard part's over. However, if you want to fully bring your ghostly illusion to life, you need to create a gradient effect. Brandon does this by adding black matte spray paint to the base of the figurine, then using silver spray paint for the highlights.
If you're just making an individual chicken wire ghost, your work is done. Now you just have to hang it to a tree with a thin, non-reflective string (Brandon recommends heavyweight black Dacron) and up-light it (again, Brandon gives Spirit Halloween their due by recommending their Fire and Ice lights ). If you want to recreate Brandon's pair of ghostly dancers, though, all you've gotta do is make another figure (just remember to loop their torsos together with silver wire so they don't separate).
Trying This at Home
If you still feel a little lost, Brandon's full-length tutorial is available for paying members on his Patreon page . There are also other online DIY chicken wire ghost tutorials you can consult for smart sculpting advice and enhancement ideas (Instructables' version recommends using a foam mannequin head to sculpt the wire head, which I think is a great tip if you're not so artistically inclined).
Once you've got the basic technique down, there's no end to what you can create. For all its stabbiness, the beauty of chicken wire is that it's easy to mold and reshape, allowing for trial and error and a lot of experimentation. Imagine all the scary shapes you can create, the lighting effects you can play with... I'm getting chills just thinking about it. I'll still stop into Spirit Halloween for my annual essentials, but when it comes to big Halloween decorations , I'm custom-making mine!
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