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Ghost House Project

by Ginger Wyatt

I purchased a $30-$40 dollhouse kit, skeleton earrings, a bat pencil, a box, pumpkins, Halloween cutouts, paint, muslin, hot glue, and elmers glue.

I put the house together without the windows, shingles, steps, doors, or gingerbread trim. Once dry I painted the inside black and the outside with a dry brushed black-blue-green technique. I put the tip of the brush in the blue or green and brushed it vertically. If I had wanted ivy I could have laid the front flat, then added foam and pressed it into the still wet paint with rubber gloves. Let that dry. Make the box for the skeleton, and the tombstone (out of balsa wood) painted grey.

Make the ghosts out of 3" x 3" pieces of muslin, place a small wad of muslin inside the middle of the piece for the head, dip in dilute white glue and squeeze the glue out of the material. Wrap a white thread around the base of the head to form the neck. Lay on a piece of Reynolds wrap to allow to dry in the position you are interested in, flying, dancing, holding the broken brush broom at the front door. Allow to dry overnight. Hang with a black thread. Paint black eyes and mouth on the face, hot glue the pumpkins. boxwood (to scale for rhodendron) put any old furniture you have in the rooms. You could back light it with a 25W to 40W bulb.

Be creative! A ghost house doesn't require a staircase, baby ghosts playpen is upside-down, the kitchen table doesn't need chairs.

Have fun with this project!