Giant DIY Spiders Are Our New Favorite Halloween Decor
Foam and fabric never seem so frightening as when our spiders strut their stuff down the stairway, over the mantel or up the side of your home. Hot-glue faux fur on floral forms, cover wire legs with foam tubes, and bend them into synchronized action. It's so easy that your colony may quickly get out of hand. We'll show you how to make this spooky DIY Halloween craft—and how to easily hang these creepy crawlers inside your home or on top of it. Make a 2-foot spider, 4-foot spider or a 7-foot spider—or one of each! We'll show you how to make them and show you how we styled them to create the ultimate spooky Halloween decor.
How to Make the 2-Foot Spider
Supplies Needed
Faux fur fabric
16-gauge stem wire
6 ft by 1 inch foam tube
2-inch foam half ball
4-inch foam half ball
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Awl
Step 1: Prep Foam Balls
To make the smallest of the giant spiders, you'll need two foam balls—one should be half as wide in diameter as the other. We used a 2-inch foam half ball for the head and a 4-inch foam half ball for the body. You can purchase foam half balls at a crafts store, or use a crafts knife to cut whole ball in half.
Step 2: Build the Spider Body
Make a head and body for your spiders by hot-gluing a 2-inch foam half ball to a 4-inch foam half ball so the sides touch, as shown. Cut a piece of faux fur that's large enough to cover the foam shape. Pull faux fur around the curved sides of the glued shapes and hot-glue on the underside. Working with one leg at a time, use an awl to poke a hole through the fur and into the foam. Place a dab of hot glue on one end of a 12-inch length wire piece and push it about 1 inch into the hole. Repeat for all eight legs.
Step 3: Make Foam Legs
Bend a loop at the end of each leg. Cut foam tubing into 9-inch pieces and slip each piece over a leg, pushing it close to the body. Bend the looped end of the wire back over the tube to secure, then hot-glue tube to the fur. Bend the wire to shape the legs as desired. We suggest using adhesive strips or hooks to secure the spiders to your stairs, mantle, or the outside of your home.
How to Make the 4-Foot Spider
This spider is perfect for decorating large spaces like a fireplace or a set of double doors. You'll need a foam ball and a half-sphere wire globe for these spiders; we used a 4-inch foam half ball and 8-inch half-sphere wire globe.
Supplies Needed:
faux fur fabric
4-inch foam half-ball
8-inch half-sphere wire globe
16-gauge stem wire
6 ft by 1 inch foam tube
hot glue and sticks
awl
Step 1: Build the Spider Form
Make the head and body form by hot-gluing the foam half ball to be touching the wire half globe. Cut faux fur pieces to cover the shape and pull the faux fur around the curved sides of the glued shapes. Use hot glue to secure the fabric on the underside of the shape. Working with one leg at a time, use an awl to poke a hole through the fur on both sides of the body. Thread a piece of wire through, distributing the length equally on each side. Repeat four times to make eight pairs of legs. Hot glue the wires on the underside to secure.
Step 2: Add the legs
Bend the wire into a loop at the end of each leg. Cut foam tube into 18-inch pieces and slip each piece over a leg, pushing it close to the body, then bend the looped end of the wire back over the tube to secure. Hot-glue the tube to the fur and bend the wire to shape the legs as desired.
How to Make the 7-Foot Spider
We're totally obsessed with this outdoor Halloween decorating look. To make spiders large enough to cover an entire house, ditch the foam balls and grab two half-sphere wire globes. They're large enough to make the spiders, and weigh next to nothing—which makes these huge spiders super easy to hang. We used an 8-inch half-sphere wire globe and a 16-inch half-sphere wire globe. Instead of hot glue, use zip ties to join the wire globes together to make a head and body form.
Supplies Needed:
faux fur fabric
8-inch half-sphere wire globe
16-inch half-sphere wire globe
16-gauge stem wire
6 ft by 1 inch foam tube
awl
zip ties
Step 1: Build the Spider Body
For this spider, you'll use two separate pieces of faux fur to cover the body. Cut a piece large enough to cover the head and pull the faux fur around the curved sides of the head globe and hot-glue the material on the underside. Starting where the head and body join, weave a piece of wire through the body globe, distributing the length equally on each side. Loop around the frame on each side to secure. Repeat four times to make eight pairs of legs. When the wire legs are attached, cut a piece of faux fur large enough to cover the body and pull the material around the curved sides of the body globe and hot-glue on the underside—make sure the exposed leg wires are still easily reachable.
Step 2: Attach Foam Legs
Bend a loop at the end of each of the wire pieces, then cut foam tubing into 36-inch pieces and slip each piece over a leg, pushing it close to the body. Bend the looped end of the wire back over the tube to secure. Hot-glue tube to the fur then bend the wire to shape the legs as desired. Use twine, wire, adhesive strips or hooks to suspend these giant spiders from the sides and roof of your home.