Hack Halloween: Add dread to a space with gauzy cheesecloth shapes

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Do you need a convincingly decrepit room on a budget? Do you want to pull off a haunting Halloween look on the cheap and easy? Are you fed up with polyester spiderwebs that get stuck in everything and are impossible to clean up?

You’ll love today’s halloween hack: cheesecloth.

All you need is a pack of cheesecloth — I get mine at the grocery for about $1.99 — but if you’d like to go extra creepfest, pop your cloth in a pot of tea for a few minutes to get a dirty, time-worn look. Then cut strips in one side of the cloth and rip, pull and tear until it looks appropriately like ethereal leavings, and hang as desired. It’s particularly good for doorways and windows, but it’s pretty versatile stuff — take it outside and suddenly you’ve got a haunted tree. You can even use it to make full-on ghostly figures if you want!

And when you’re done — remember that we all want to see what you’ve made in the Offbeat Home Flickr pool.

Comments on Hack Halloween: Add dread to a space with gauzy cheesecloth shapes

  1. This sounds perfect for our deck. Does anyone know how much cheese cloth is in a pack? I just want a vague idea of how much coverage a pack would give me.

  2. Also, instead of buying those “witches curtains” or whatever they’re packaged as, just dye cheese cloth black with a cheap pack of RIT dye. It’s the same thing! I dye a couple new pieces each year to add to our collection. My favorite Halloween decoration though is cutting black butcher paper into creepy silhouettes and taping them up in the windows. Add a little green cellophane over the eyes and you’re set!

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