Introduction: Make Halloween Boo Ghost With Self Waving Streamers
Hello readers here iam with one more interesting instructable specially made for this Halloween.
Halloween is around the corner and most people will be thinking of doing cool things in their homes, This DIY project that you will search for online is most often recycled, meaning it's already done by people multiple times.
I wanted to make something unique this Halloween and I came across this idea! This is a Halloween Boo Ghost with Self Waving Streamers
With the touch of crafty and implementation of a few basic electronic components, we have this super friendly Boo Ghost
What's special in these Boo Ghost?
This Boo ghost can be called pure decor for your living room or can also be your handy friend if your cosplay matches with some spooky theme.
This Ghost has streamers that always keep waving giving it the effect of flying/hovering in the air, the thin strings from the fish wire make it almost impossible for a viewer to figure out if it is hung on something.
This has a very large capacity battery that can run for very long periods of time supplying continuous power to the PC fan, As we know PC fans are purely designed for long periods of running, and the combination of these both makes our project run day and night.
I have given a working video in the end, don't miss to check that also, Now lets build this project.
Supplies
- Corrugated cardboard sheet layer
- PC fan
- Popsicle sticks
- 2 x lithium ion battery with holder
- White paint
- Black color paper
- Hot glue and super glue
- Sheet of paper with less thickness
- Thread and needle
- 3D printer (optional)
Step 1: 3D Printed Frame
I designed the circular frame on the Tinkercad application and later exported it to Cura, you can use my design from the file given below.
When slicing the model make sure you are using infill more than 30% since we require the frame to be stronger.
I used PLA filament to print the part and it took me less than an hour to get the final print without any flaws.
There is no need to post-process the model as we are not using any kind of rafts or supports.
You require 2 frames for this project, also you can add more frames but from my point of view, 2 is more than enough in this project.
Note: You can also make these frames out of MDF wood or strong cardboard but for me this was very easy as I had access to a 3D printer, if you have difficulty in availing 3D printing you can use alternate sources as I mentioned
Step 2: Making the Cylinder
In the sheet of corrugated cardboard, the strength is very low and if I roll it to the shape of a cylinder it might not look like a cylinder.
So the frames should be a proper circle, I added tiny amounts of hot glue at the end of the cardboard and started to add the circular frames.
In some cases you can also use superglue, make sure the frame and cardboard are coupled well.
End of this step we have a cylinder with the other end left pending for reinforcing that will be done in the next step
Step 3: Finishing the Cylinder
After you add that one frame on one end of the cylinder the other side needs the same work to be done.
I inserted the second frame to the other side and sealed it with hot glue, keep in mind that the hot glue should be mild hot if it's fully hot it might disfigure the 3D printed frame.
After we have both the frames inserted, we can work on finishing, For some reason I had a very small gap left between the two joining ends of the cylinder.
I sealed it with a small strip of cardboard and hot glue, now our cylinder is ready for use all it needs is coloring
Step 4: Coloring
Not most but almost every Boo Ghost is of white color, so my choice of color to paint this cardboard was white.
I chose to paint the cardboard with swabs of ear cleaning buds, yes those buds were super useful in painting this making the workflow easier.
Dip the swab to the fabric paint and start painting, it took me quite a while to finish this painting job but the end result was totally amazing.
Check the paint finish I achieved on this cardboard, if you are using ear swabs like i did let me know in the comments how amazed were you by the quality of the finishing.
Step 5: Supports to Hold the Components
Inside the cylinder, we don't have any supports and it's completely hollow.
To keep the components inside we need some sort of support but it should not disturb the performance(air flow) of the Fan.
To achieve this I used popsicle sticks, that were cut in size so as to fit the inside of the cylinder, I made use of the hot glue to couple this inside, and I repeated the same steps for the other popsicle sticks as well.
End of this step we will have inner supports ready to hold some components.
Step 6: Adding Fan and Control Circuit
The circuit used in this project is very basic, we have a PC fan connected to the battery via a battery holder which is controlled by a simple on-and-off switch.
The selection of this components is based on the fact that all those should fit inside the frame thus making the project look more appealing.
I will use the hot glue to hold all the components inside in its place, make sure you are using the right amount of glue for more adhesive strength.
Start by gluing the PC fan followed by the battery and finally the switch.
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Step 7: Adding the Boo Ghost Face
As I could not find any black color paper in my house i used the black marker to draw shapes of eyes and mouths on a white sheet of paper, later I cut those shapes using scissors.
With the tiny amount of hot glue, you can stick these parts on the main part of the boo ghost.
To make this hangable on the ceiling or the rods of the curtain I will add a thread, making sure to take care of the center point.
I used fish wire, To add this wire I inserted the wire on a needle later attached to the frame by taking account of the center of gravity of this entire project.
Now for the final touch, we need those long tails known as streamers, Let's make those.
Step 8: Making Paper Streamers
These are the ones that make this Boo ghost soo special, with the streamers this project gets that spooky look.
To make the streamers all you need is a thin-thickness paper, Fold the paper and cut it into strips as in the first and second images of this step.
Since we require the streamers to be long I will stick one paper strip below the other using paper glue.
Now stick all those finished streamers around the ring using hot glue, refer to the images if any doubts.
Now our project is complete and ready to use, just hang the cute ghost boo anywhere you like and switch on the power.
The PC fan will start blowing the air making the streamers wave, that's impressive, right?
Thank you for reading this project, hope you will build it for your home decor this Halloween, Have a great Halloween :)
Step 9: Working Video
Watch this amazing video that shows the working of this project, you will definitely love the Boo ghost while the streamers are waving in its own air that is being blown by a fan.
Also, the video has detailed instructions on the build, Thank you for your interest in this project.
This is an entry in the
Halloween Contest
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