Tube Buddy: Ghost Girl

A cute ghost 3⅛ in tall, made from a single paper tube: a girl in a white kimono with long black hair and a white triangle on her forehead. Wide sleeves hang down, and two light blue wisps with little faces rise at her sides. The face and kimono stay white paper: you only color the hair, the sash, and small details.

• Easy
• 1 tube
• 4 small pieces
• 2 Letter sheets

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 7895

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

• 2 Letter sheets — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
• Markers
• Pencil — and eraser
• Scissors — small
• Glue stick — or PVA glue
• Glass — phone stand

Steps

Trace

1. Sturdy sheet from two. Apply glue stick over the whole surface of a sheet of printer paper, press a second sheet onto it, and smooth with your palm from the middle to the edges. You'll get a thick sheet — work on that one. Put it back in the same spot, edge to edge; don't move the phone.
2. Strip: outline. Trace the strip with the tab above the middle and the two small notches at the top, with rounded bottoms, in a solid line — you’ll cut along it.
3. Strip: arcs. The dashed arcs at the top are the folds of the top of the head. Trace them pressing hard: the top will then fold evenly along the scored line. Don’t cut along them.
4. Strip: drawing. Trace in thin lines: the face, the straight bangs and the side locks by the cheeks, the triangle on the forehead, the eyes, the smile, the hairline with locks and the highlights, the kimono overlap, the sash with a bow at the back, and the wavy edge at the bottom. Don’t draw on the white margin at the left — it goes under the seam.
5. Small parts: outlines. Trace the solid line around the two sleeves with hands and the two wisps with tabs — they're mirror images.
6. Small parts: fold lines. The fold lines are dash-dot lines: these are valley folds. Don’t cut along them.
7. Small parts: drawing. On the sleeves — the shoulder line, the edge of the lining, and the fingers. On the wisps — a light center, eyes, a smile, and blush.

Color

8. Color: strip. Hair — black, leave the highlights white; above the arcs, all the way to the top edge: that’s the crown, and it shows from above. The triangle, face, and kimono stay white. Eyes — lilac, sash and bow — light blue, mouth and blush — pink. Leave a narrow white stripe along the dashed arcs, and outline the contours, pupils, and lashes in black.
9. Color: small parts. Sleeve linings and the wisps around the centers — light blue, the wisps’ blush — pink. The sleeves, palms, and centers stay white; don’t color the tabs: they’ll lie on the white kimono. Outlines — black.

Cut

10. Cut out: strip. Cut out the strip along with the tab above the face. Each corner has a small notch: cut down from the top edge, around the round tip, and back up.
11. Cut out: small pieces — 4 pcs. Cut out the two sleeves and the two wisps — the wisps along with their tabs.
12. Backs. Flip the wisps and color the backs light blue: they show from both sides. Flip the strip: under each notch at the top, color a fingernail-sized spot black — you can see it from above in the gap at the crown.

Roll

13. Roll the tube. Apply glue to the white area on the left. Roll the strip with the drawing facing out and lay the right edge over that area, up to the line. Press the seam for 10 seconds.

Fold

14. Crown: back. Turn the tube with the seam facing you. Press your finger on the top edge above the seam: it will dent inward along the scored arc, and two rounded corners will stand up at the sides — fluffy hair.
15. Crown: front. Turn the girl to face you. Apply glue to the underside of the tab above the face, from inside the tube, and press in the front of the top the same way: the tab will lie on top of the back half.

Assemble

16. Sleeves. Apply glue to the back of the sleeve above the shoulder line, and leave the rest bare. Glue the sleeves to the sides, on the shoulders, slanting forward: they hang down, and the hands dangle in front, like a ghost's.
17. Wisps. Fold the wisp tabs toward you along the dash-dot line, apply glue to their backs, and glue them to the sides, right above the sash, faces forward. The wisps rise at her shoulders.

Check

18. Stand it on the table. Set the girl on the table — she stands by herself. Turn her all the way around: the sleeves hang down, the wisps stand at the sides, and the seam and bow are at the back.

Done. Ghost Girl is done. Let the glue dry for 10 minutes — then you can put her on a shelf.

Make it with your phone camera

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