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This
week I wanted to start making some Halloween decorations for the
dollhouse so I spent some time looking at images of real size houses
decorated fro the holiday. I kept seeing these huge spiders and I
knew the dolls had to have one. I am in love with how he (she??) came
out. I am sure after the dolls get past the nightmare view of the
spider right outside their bedroom window they will love it too.

The
body of the spider is simply half of a styrofoam ball. Mine was about
1 ½” in diameter and since we only need half the ball you could
make a pair of spiders really easily at the same time. The other main
component of the spider is just some chenille stems. I used white
stems since I wanted to coat them with the same paint I am going to
use on the body both so they match in color and to give a good
“spider leg” texture to them I cut my legs to about 4” long so
I got 3 pegs per stem so I only needed 3 stems (with a bit leftover)

When
I cut my ball in half one side of it kind of flattened a bit so I
decided to use this as the spider’s face. I used a bamboo skewer to
poke four holes on each side of the spider body and dipped the ends
of the legs into some tacky glue and inserted them into those holes.
Allow this glue to dry.

Next
we are going to disguise the texture of the foam ball by covering it
with a layer of wrapping tissue. To do this tear some pieces of the
tissue paper then brush some Mod Podge onto a small area of the ball
add a small piece of the paper and brush more of the Mod Podge over
it. You want to really soak the paper with the Mod Podge. Make sure
to cover the top of the spider’s body. If you miss some of the flat
bottom that is not so important but the part that will show needs a
good coat of it. Also be sure to work some around each leg where it
is attached to the body. This will blend the legs into the body and
also help to hold them into the body. (we don’t want to have our
spider loosing a leg at some point) Allow this to dry completely.

Once
dry it is time to paint the spider. I just used some black craft
paint for this. I was able to use a brush on the body but I did find
that it was easiest (although very messy) to use my index finger and
thumb to apply the paint to the legs. Just dip your finger/thumb in
the paint and run the leg between them, much faster and I got really
coverage with one coat of paint that way. Allow to dry completely.

I
wanted to add a bit of bling to my spider so I used some purple
glitter paint on the legs. It is very subtle and I might go back
later and add another coat but I didn’t want to add too much. Just
enough to catch the light from time to time. Allow to dry.

Next
it was time to add the eyes to his face. I simply used some dots of
red 3-D paint for this. I had debated trying to add glitter but in
the end like the plain eyes better. Allow to dry (this type of paint
takes a while to dry so let it sit at least overnight before you
touch the area where his eyes are painted on.

Now
it was just a matter of bending the legs and setting him place, I
think he really likes the roof of the dollhouse but you could put him
anywhere. And since his legs are so flexible you can use those to
help anchor him in place.

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