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Hanging Ghosts

Hanging Ghosts

Two white ghosts on threads, made from two sheets of office paper. The first has a spiral hanging under its silhouette, cut from a single circle: it turns when the air moves. The second is a “jellyfish”: a semicircle with a fringe of ribbons.

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 3631

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

Steps

Trace

  1. Ghost: outline. Trace the ghost’s silhouette with a solid line — you’ll cut along it. You can trace the waves at the bottom loosely.
  2. Ghost: face. Sketch two oval eyes and a mouth in pencil, with cheeks on the sides. It doesn’t need to be precise: every ghost has its own face.
  3. Circle: outline. Trace the circle, 3½ in across: the whole spiral will come out of it.
  4. Circle: spiral. Draw a spiral from the edge to the center, three turns — that’s the cut line. The band between the turns is about a finger wide; right at the edge it tapers to nothing, and that’s how it should be.
  5. Semicircle: outline. Trace the semicircle — the second ghost’s head. The straight side can be drawn along any straight edge.
  6. Semicircle: face. The face is bigger here: two large ovals and a mouth in the middle, with cheeks on the sides.

Color

  1. Ghost face. Color the eyes and mouth with a black marker. Color the cheeks pink with light strokes; you can skip them.
  2. Face on the semicircle. Same here: eyes and mouth in black, cheeks in pink.

Cut

  1. Cut out: ghost. Cut out the ghost along the solid line. Cut into the notches between the waves with the scissor tips, coming from both sides.
  2. Cut out: circle. Cut out the circle along the outer line. Leave the spiral inside alone for now.
  3. Cut out: semicircle. Cut out the semicircle along the solid line: the straight edge first, then the arc.
  4. Cut the circle along the spiral. Cut along the spiral from the edge to the center, turning the circle, not the scissors. Stop where the line ends: the center stays whole — the thread will be taped to it.

Spiral

  1. Thread — along the back. Turn the ghost face down and lay the thread along the back, down the middle: leave a ¾ in tail at the bottom. Tape it down in two places — near the top of the head and near the bottom edge.
  2. Spiral — onto the thread. Put the ghost on the circle without flipping it over: the end of the thread goes in the middle of the circle. Tape the end down with a piece of tape the size of a fingernail — only on the center, don’t go past the cut line.
  3. Lift by the thread. Lift the ghost by the thread: the circle will stretch into a spiral beneath it. Tape the thread to the edge of a table or shelf — let it hang while you make the second ghost.

Jellyfish

  1. Second sheet — in quarters. Take a whole sheet. Fold it in half and in half again, edge to edge; crease both folds with your fingernail.
  2. Cut along the folds. Unfold the sheet and cut along both folds: you’ll get four quarter sheets. You need one for the ribbons.
  3. Cut the ribbons. Cut the quarter sheet from the short edge every ⅜ in, stopping ⅝ in short of the other edge — you get about ten ribbons. Lightly curl each one around a pencil or pull it between your fingers: that makes them fan out.
  4. Ribbons — onto the semicircle. Turn the semicircle face down. Apply a strip of glue along the straight edge and press the uncut edge onto it: the ribbons hang past the edge of the semicircle.
  5. Second thread. Tape the thread to the back near the top of the semicircle, exactly in the middle — otherwise the ghost will hang crooked.

Hang

  1. Hang them up. Move the ghosts to where they’ll hang: tape the ends of the threads to a shelf, a curtain rod or a doorway. Leave the threads different lengths — the ghosts will hang at different heights.

Done. The ghosts are done. Hang them where people walk by or a window is open: the spiral turns at the slightest draft.

Make it with your phone camera

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