Tape, packing

From inside the house to out, here’s an easy but slightly more time consuming project to make an awesome and unique ghostly figure for your outdoor Halloween decorations.

Materials: 3 rolls of clear packing tape (give or take depending on size)

You’ll need a dress form, mannequin, or other human-ish shape to form your ghost over. I used a dress form and a wig head.

To start, use decent lengths of packing tape, sticky side out, to wrap your form. Do it in pieces and cover the whole torso. It is okay if the tape sticks to itself in places – the wrinkles will be desirable in the final shape. Make the skirt from long vertical strips, folding the ends over to the length you want. It is okay if there are some gaps in the bottom, but you’ll want to keep these gaps when you do the next layer.

Once you have a complete sticky layer, go back over with the sticky side in (so sticky side to sticky side). Use longer pieces to wrap horizontally, pulling it tighter to your form, creating both better shape and better wrinkles. You’ll want to make sure you cover all sticky places.

If you are doing as I did and using a dress form and a wig head, do it in two parts and combine them after they are done to better match the necks.

When it’s all covered, cut a slit up the back until you can remove your tape construction from the form. Once it’s removed, take the slit back together.

All told, you’ll end up with about three layers of tape. If you have a tall tree, you can hang your ghost. Or, if like me you are putting her in an open yard, pound a piece of PVC pipe into where you want her standing. Use a straight connector for another piece so that the total height is greater than the height of your ghost, making her appear to float. I painted my pipes dark green to better hide in the yard. At night, the pipes will barely be seen.

For the final piece to complete your illusion, buy a small spotlight. I used a blue LED one from Spirit Halloween, but you can use one in whatever color you like. Shine the light up her skirt and it will catch all of the tape wrinkles you created. You now have a creepy, striking figure for your Halloween display.

• Film packing
• Tape Packs
• Tape for packing
• Paper Packaging Box