How To / Trimaco SuperTuff Easy Halloween Cheesecloth ghosts

October 1, 2020

DIY Halloween craft with Trimaco: How to make cheesecloth ghosts

As we gear up for Halloween, what better way than to create your own DIY Halloween decorations. These home-made cheesecloth ghosts are simple, yet cute additions for your home, entryway or front porch for trick-or-treaters and Halloween party guests to enjoy! Follow these easy steps, to create a spooky, cute, and life-like cheesecloth ghost:

Step One

Gather your materials, and lay down a Trimaco Stay Plus Canvas Plus to contain mess, and provide an easy clean up!

Materials needed:

• Trimaco SuperTuff Cheesecloth (We recommend 2 bags per desired ghost)
• Scissors
• Glass bottle or cardboard cylinder (paper-towel tube, toilet paper tube). These will support the cheesecloth body
• Trimaco LowTack Painting Tape
• 22-gauge floral wire
• Aluminum foil or styrofoam ball
• Trimaco Blue Nitrile Gloves
• Liquid Starch
• Black felt
• Glue
• Trimaco bucket for mixing
• Trimaco 4×4 Stay Put Canvas Plus

Note: You may want to check out our tips at the bottom of the page before starting.

Step Two

• If using a cardboard cylinder, make 4 slits and tape doe to secure
• If using a glass bottle, you can still tape down the mold to keep it in place, but it is not necessary

Step Three

• If using a carboard cylinder, carefully create a hole to thread the floral wire through
• Next, Cut roughly 2 feet of the 22-gauge floral wire. Fold in half for extra support. Loop the wire around your glass object, or through the holes just created. Tape in place if needed. These will act as the ghost’s “arms” while we drape the cheesecloth, so bend however you please.

Step Four

Crumble up a piece of aluminum foil or styrofoam ball, and tape on top of glass bottle or cylinder.

Step Five

Cut the Trimaco SuperTuff Cheesecloth into strands, long enough drape on both sides of the mold (for paper-towel sized-molds this is roughly 2 feet) *For best results drape dry cheesecloth to ensure strands are long enough!

Step Six

Pour the Liquid Starch into a Trimaco bucket ,and dip the cut Trimaco SuperTuff Cheesecloth into the Liquid Starch. Let excess Liquid Starch dip.

Step Seven

Simply drape over the mold in all directions until completely covered. If mold begins to fall, use materials to hold the base in place.

Step Eight

Let the cheesecloth dry overnight. Once dry, remove the cheesecloth ghost off the mold.

Step Nine

Create eyes and/or mouth for your ghost’s face with the black felt. You may want to create a stencil if you are going to make several ghosts. When dry, glue the pieces to create your ghost’s face.

Display your ghost made of cheese cloth, give him a name, and repeat to make him/her some friends!

A few tips we learned along the way:

• Cardboard cylinders, did just fine. But if we were to do this again, we would choose a sturdier mold – such as a water bottle, glass jar, mason jar or wine bottle.
• We recommend using the Stay Put Canvas Drop Cloth. It will not only give you leak proof protection, but we learned that the liquid starch can absorbed the tan coloring of traditional canvas drop cloths.
• Make sure you really let the liquid starch drip before placing the soaked cheesecloth onto the mold. Trust us – the assembly, dry time and cleanup will be much faster.
• Leave your ghost standing or add a hole in the top of the head, thread a piece of clear thread or twine (roughly 3-4 feet), and fly your ghost from a tree limb!

Be sure to check out these step-by-step instructions, in this DIY video:

Other spooktacular Halloween decor ideas

Need other easy Halloween decorating projects to accompany your cheesecloth ghosts? Here are a few other spooktacular Halloween decor ideas to consider.

• Jack-O’-Lantern
• Spider webs
• Plastic Spiders
• Halloween Wreath
• Halloween Printables

Have simple Halloween decorating ideas of your own? Feel free to share your DIY projects below!