Spooky Spiders!

Some of you may remember I posted my yarn web last week, and now here are the spiders to match!

 

I know technically spiders are supposed to have one web each, but I couldn't resist making two! 

 

I took 2 of the large polystyrene balls (each about the size of a tennis ball) and one smaller one, which I cut in half with an exacto knife.

 

I scooped out a little of the insides of the two halves of the smaller ball, to make them fit a bit more snuggly against the big balls...

Then glued them to the big balls with hot glue.  I then used small pieces of torn kitchen paper and slightly watered down white glue to cover them both - I wanted to do this to hide the polystyrene, add a little bit of extra strength, and give a nice texture.  I find kitchen paper much easier to work with than newspaper on small items, especially those with curves.

While I left those overnight to dry, I took some plastic covered green garden wire, and cut 16 x 9 inch long sections - I wanted the legs to be about 8 inches long and added a little bit extra which would poke into the spider to attach it.

I wrapped them each in masking tape after straightening them out as best I could.

Once the bodies were dry, I began to attach the legs, I liked the look when they were all attached around where the body meets the head.  I poked them carefully into their position, then removed them one at a time and used a little spot of hot glue on the hole before popping them back in.  I twisted masking tape around another small piece of wire and cut it into 4 small sections for the mandibles, which were attached in the same way.

Not looking very scary at this point, but at least a little more like spiders and a little less like tiny snowmen!

Next was bending the legs into shape - the wire bends really easily and holds its shape - I bent each leg in 2 places (resulting in 3 "sections" per leg, if you know what I mean) I bent the 2 front pairs forward, and the 2 back pairs backwards.  Looking a bit more spider-like now!

Then it was on to the painting - it took only one coat of black craft paint with a few minor touch ups once dry - and finally I added 2 small jewel-like red eyes to each spider with a spot of white glue.

My web is on the mirror over my mantle, so that's where my spiders were destined for.  Unfortunately the only colour of sticky tac I had was white, so I tried to limit it to very small pieces - one on the end of each leg.  These spiders are so light weight, I'm hoping there will be no problems with them staying put!

The first has been positioned over the web at the top of the mirror...

 

And the second as though it is climbing from the mantle onto the mirror...

And here's a shot of my whole mantle with the spiders attached - you can also see here my Halloween Countdown Blocks, my Papier Mache Pumpkin, my Lunch Bag Pumpkin and of course my Yarn Spider Web.   I never claimed to be artistic when it came to arranging mantle's, I know it's a little busy and needs some reorganising..!

Nikki x

Linked with

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Spider web from yarn

I really like to make things from stuff I already have around the house wherever possible - so continuing the halloween theme since it's not long until the big day, I decided to make a spider web.  This is something the kids can get involved in too, although be warned - it does get a bit messy...

I have a big box of yarn but for some reason a lot of it is the kind that gets thicker and thinner.  I wanted to use a uniform yarn, so chose this ball which has oranges and yellows.

 

I covered a sheet of cardboard with clingfilm, and also got out my scissors, glue and a yoghurt pot for dipping the yarn.

I first cut three straight pieces, and began dipping and laying them out.  After dipping these three pieces, I discovered the yoghurt pot was way too fiddly, so poured the glue out onto a paper plate instead.  Make sure each piece of yarn is completey covered in glue, then lift it gently (try not to get it knotted, it's really hard to get knots out of a gluey piece!) and run your fingers down to get rid of excess glue - then lay it where you want it.

I would suggest cutting all your pieces before the glueing stage, I was cutting mine one at a time but there was an awful lot of hand washing in between!  Cut longer than you think you will need, the excess can be trimmed away once it's all dry.

I then started to drape the wavy pieces of the spider web - the end pieces can be put off to one side for later trimming, just make sure you keep the shape you want right to the edge.

When I thought I was finished, I set it out in the sunshine to dry - I had to secure the edges of the clingfilm with pegs as the breeze was blowing it over the glue.

At this point I decided it needed a bit more so I added 2 more straight pieces (one on either side at the widest points) and an extra little wavy piece close to the top.  Here it is with the extra pieces, and partially trimmed.

I left it to dry overnight then I carefully peeled it away from the plastic - it is still quite pliable but if you're gentle, it will keep it's shape.

 

Trim the ends as desired.  You will find that some dried glue remains (see below), this can be gottten rid of by snipping it off with scissors.

I had planned to paint this white initially, but actually I quite liked the way it looked - I know it may not be spooky, dark orange, but the colour still fits in with the autumn/halloween season...right?

I put it up on the mirror above my mantle, but it could look nice in the top of a doorway, or in a window.  I tucked the ends between the mirror and the frame, and put a tiny piece of white sticky tac on the back of every other joint to hold it in place.

Watch this space for a spider to go with the web!

Nikki x

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Remodelaholic Link Party 
Momnivore's Dilemma - Halloween Link Party