 |
| |
Decorate with a jaunty Halloween Chenille
Figure - or a few! Stand them upright, hang them from your
Halloween
tree, or wear them as lapel pins!
Ever since we made one of these fluffy characters with a 4th of July
theme, we've thought about other holiday guises. Our first are these
Halloween chenille figures - the princely black cat and his
melon-headed sidekick, Jack.
These couldn't be easier: Two bump chenille rods per figure, a cut-out
vintage image head, and some flashy embellishments. We particularly
like the glitter encrusted candy-corn scepter.
These guys are based on our Patriotic Chenille Doll, where
you'll find more tips and ideas. They also serve as decoration
for the paper Halloween
Treat Basket craft, so be sure to check that out!
The friendly gargoyle in our photo was a souvenir from England, home
to many of his kith and kin.
Materials
- Vintage images,
(Free Adobe PDF
download) printed on heavy matte photo paper.
-
Bump chenille rods, 1
1/2 rods for each
doll. (Black for the cat and orange for the Jack O'Lantern)(See Tips).
- Green construction paper (see Tips).
- Silver tinsel chenille rod (see Tips).
- Candy corn.
- Ultra-fine clear glitter.
- Tacky craft glue (like Aleen's) or hot
glue gun.
- Gold or silver lamè braid or ribbon (optional).
- Lapel pin back (optional).
- Large sewing needle.
- Scissors (small, for cutting detail).
- Pliers.
Instructions for Halloween Chenille
Figure
- Cut
two 12" bump chenille rods into four 6" pieces. You will need three
pieces to make one doll.
 Bend
two of the chenille pieces in the center into a "V" shape.
These
are the legs and the arms. To form the body, bend the center
of
the third chenille piece around a pen (or your little finger) and twist
the ends twice. This loop is the figure's head.
Connect
the arms and legs by linking the pieces in the center and
twisting
them together two or three times. In this photo, the head and body are
at the
top, and the arms and legs are below.
 Place
the arms and legs on the center of the body (with the head at the top).
Bend the ends at the bottom of the body between the legs and
up over the shoulders, pinching firmly to attach. You should
have a cute little figure with a hole for a head.
 Cut
out the heads from the vintage images with small scissors. For the
black cat, cut around
the collar on the red line. Edge the cat's collar with glue and a
dusting of ultra-fine glitter.- Trace the Jack O'Lantern's collar template to
green paper (or
print directly on green paper), and cut out the collar. Outline the
leaves with glue and dust with glitter. Glue the Jack O'Lantern head to
the collar and let dry.
- To make a hanging ornament, tie a loop of gold
cord through the
chenille head loop. To make a lapel pin, glue a pin back to the back of
the figure with a hot glue gun.
- Glue the heads to the chenille bodies.
Clamp with clothes pins over a small piece of wax
paper until the glue is
dry.
- For the cat's scepter: Cut out the small
pumpkin head as the topper
for the cat's scepter. Wrap a tinsel rod in a spiral around a
bamboo skewer or thin dowel. Carefully pull the skewer out without
crushing the spiral.
Glue the pumpkin to the top end (add some glitter if you wish). Place
the scepter in
the cat's hand, trim the bottom so it supports the cat in a
standing position,
and pinch the cat's hand around it.
- For Jack
O'Lantern's scepter: Melt a 1/16"-deep hole in the large end of a piece
of candy corn with a red-hot sewing needle (See Tips).
Put
a drop of tacky craft glue on the end of a tinsel rod, insert it into
the hole in the candy corn, and let the glue dry. Brush a thin
coat of glue on the candy corn (don't over-brush because the candy
color will run) and dust with ultra-fine glitter. Place the scepter in
the Jack O'Lantern's hand, trim the bottom so it supports the
figure in a standing position, and bend the hand around it.
- Bend the other hand and the tips of
the legs to form feet. Now bend his little arms and legs the
way you
like!
Tips
- Standard chenille rods are 12" long. "Bump"
chenille rods are chenille rods with fluffy "bumps" every 3", or four
bumps per rod.
- Silver tinsel chenille rods are not actually
chenille, but a metallic or Mylar tinsel. We chose
silver, but gold would be a striking option. If you can't
find tinsel rods, you can use regular chenille rods.
- We used plain green construction paper
for Jack O'Lantern's collar, edged with ultra-fine
glitter.
You might prefer to use green glitter paper, crepe paper, or
whatever will give you a leaf-like effect.
- To
heat the needle point, hold the needle with pliers in a stove burner
flame. Hold the candy corn in a pot holder or dish towel in
your
other hand. Quickly press
the needle point into the end of the candy corn. Any blackened
sugar residue
should come off the candy easily when it is cool - but it's not so
easy getting the residue off of the needle so be prepared to
throw
it
away.
 Here's some ideas: Attach your Halloween
chenille figure to the handle of a small Halloween
treat basket. These make
great table favors, or doorknob gifts from the Office Fairy.
Leave your Halloween chenille figure flat and attach him to the
front of a Halloween greeting card. Hang him on your "Halloween Tree" -
a spooky dead
branch painted black and potted with some gravel or plaster of Paris.
Decorate a grapevine wreath with chenille figures and black
paper bats for your front door. Or, add a pin and wear him
for Halloween!
Easy crafts like these Halloween chenille figures can
be fun for
children, to work that excess sugar out of their systems. These are
pretty
easy for kids with cutting and gluing skills. You might also try our
Halloween card crafts, like the Padded
Pumpkin Card, the 3-D
Halloween
Card, and the Halloween
Pop Up Card.
See how this Halloween chenille figure craft adapts to the 4th of July
with a Patriotic
Chenille Doll!
Return
from Halloween Chenille
Figure to the Main
Craft Page
|
|
