Give Your Hanging Halloween Decorations a Body

Intro:
I recently moved to a new house and while setting up my Halloween decorations this year I noticed something about my yard...No trees! I wondered what to do with my many hanging ghosts and gouls. Finally I came up with a rather simple solution, create a body for my hanging figures so i can stick them into the ground! Today, I am going to show you just that, how to make a body for your hanging decorations.

You Need:

• Something to make a stake out of
• Old T-Shirt
• Rubber bands and/or old shoelaces
• Newspaper/scrap paper
• Hanging Halloween decoration

Choosing Your Material:

For the base we will need an old broom stick, piece of wood, or anything you can make a stake out of. I used a scrap piece of wood from an old project.


Things to consider:

• Your stake needs to fit inside your figure's head (A hallow head is common in hanging figures)
• Make sure you have some way of cutting your stake
• Keep the length of the stake proportional to the size of your figure

Creating the stake:

Once you've chosen your material it is time to make your stake. If the stake length is not proportional to your figure, cut it so it is. We need a way to stick the stake in the ground, so cut it at an angle like picture #1 and 2, below. After you've completed this step, stick the stake in the ground and test it by putting your figure on the stake. If you think this looks fine, you can stop at this step or you can continue and add a body to your figure.

Adding a body:

Now that your figure has a stake to sit on, you need to rubber band the two arm holes closed and place the stake through the waist and head holes like picture #2. After doing this you need to tie the waist area of the shirt on to the stake with a shoelace or something like it. (Seen in picture #3) Once completed check to make sure all holes, besides the head hole, are closed. Now, begin filling the shirt with scrap paper until it reaches the top, or you feel it has enough mass. Close the head hole to ensure the paper will not escape. Your finished product should look a lot like the last picture

Assembly:

After completing all of the previous steps you should have, basically a stake with a shirt full of paper attached to it. Now all you have to do is put the figure on the stake and you should have a product similar to the last three pictures below. Now...You're done!

If you liked this instructable please "vote" for it in the Halloween challenge, Thanks!