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Make Glowing Ghosts for Halloween Decor

Written by: | Published: October 23, 2014 | Updated: October 25, 2021

Ohhhhhh… Spooky Glowing Ghosts, eek! Do you remember making those cool sugar water and cheesecloth ghosts when you were a kid? Maybe I'm dating myself again, but I loved creating those 3 dimensional ghosts, it was like magic to watch them set up as the sugar dried! Well today I'm taking that childhood memory and showing you how to make your own 3d ghosts that actually glow and all you need is a napkin and some Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark, So super fun and easy… your kids will love it!

 

Make  glowing Ghost with Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark
Make glowing Ghost with Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark

I was sent a whole box of fun goodies from Plaid for this project. In addition to the cool Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark, I received Mod Melts, Mod Molds, a Silicone Mat, Collage Clay and Orange and Black Folkart Multi-surface paint. I played with all of it a little bit. Today I'm focusing on the fun of making Halloween glow, this is the coolest Mod Podge ever!

Fun goodies from Plaid
Fun goodies from Plaid
Gold Spooky Letters made with Gold Mod Melts
Gold Spooky Letters made with Gold Mod Melts
Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark
Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark

Glowing Ghosts Halloween Decor

These glowing ghost crafts would be fun to create at home with the family and easy enough to make as a group or class project. They can be set aside to dry overnight and then are ready to use the very next day, so they are a relatively quick craft to make for Halloween.

 

Make a 3d Ghost with Mod Podge
Make a 3d Ghost with Mod Podge

The beauty of using Mod Podge instead of any other glowing product, the Mod Podge thickness and stickiness allows the napkin to set into a 3D shape that will stand on it's own once it's completely dry, yet it is flexible and easy to work with.

Materials you need:

  • Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark
  • Single ply napkins – the generic brand works great!
  • Paint brush
  • Fine point black Sharpie pen (or other permanent pen)
  • Parchment paper
  • Empty water or soda bottle
  • Plastic wrap

Steps to make your own 3D glowing ghosts

  1. First you need to create your “ghost forms”. These are going to be the foundation to create the shape of your ghosts. Using the plastic wrap, make a small ball, about the size of a ping pong ball. Insert one end of the ball into the opening of the empty plastic bottle.
  2. Unfold the napkin and place on a piece of parchment paper.
  3. Using the paintbrush, coat the napkin with Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark. If you work from the center, out, the coating will appear to fade out at the end of your ghost. The center of the napkin will become the head of your ghost. Do not over-coat napkin, however do coat well so you have a good glow effect. Do not allow to dry between coats as you need to jump to step 4 before the Mod Podge dries.
  4. Carefully remove the napkin from the parchment paper and drape over the plastic bottle. Some of the napkin will overlap and stick to itself. Carefully adjust the draping until it looks how you would like.
  5. Set aside and allow to dry throughly. At least an hour or 2. Overnight is best.
  6. Once dry, use your black, fine point marker to draw a face on the ghost.

Now you can use your glowing ghosts to decor for Halloween! Set them on a table or thread a string through the top and hang.

Make your ghost form with a plastic bottle and plastic wrap
Make your ghost form with a plastic bottle and plastic wrap
Coat a paper napkin with Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark
Coat a paper napkin with Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark
Drape napkin on plastic bottle form and allow to dry
Drape napkin on plastic bottle form and allow to dry
Draw faces on your dry ghosts
Draw faces on your dry ghosts
Turn out the lights and watch the ghosts glow
Turn out the lights and watch the ghosts glow

I didn't realize how difficult it would be to capture how cool these ghosts look when they glow. The Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark glows a bright green and is really awesome to see. Because we used a paint brush on paper for this project, the glow is a little un-even, making it look even more spooky. You could make a whole pile of glowing ghosts and thread them together for a super spooky cool garland… I'd love to see what you create!

If you'd like to use even more Mod Podge products, make ghosts, pumpkins and witch hats using Collage Clay, Mod Melts/Mod Molds and paint them all up with the Glow-in-the-Dark Mod Podge and Folkart Multi-surface paint. You can then string them all up and make a cool necklace or gland!

More Plaid Inspiration:

More fun Mod Podge projects

These glowing ghost crafts would be fun to create at home with the family and easy enough to make as a group or class project. They can be set aside to dry overnight and then are ready to use the very next day, so they are a relatively quick craft to make for Halloween.

Connect with Plaid Crafts

Disclaimer: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

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Jen is Passionate about Creativity. She is the owner and "doodle in charge" of JGoode Designs, a Denver based design studio. She is an illustrator, mixed media artist and creative lifestyle blogger. Jen has been a creative professional since 1998 but says she's been an artist since she was old enough to eat glue.

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1 thought on “Make Glowing Ghosts for Halloween Decor”

  1. What a clever idea to form the ghosts with a plastic bottle, great tip! I love the glow in the dark mod podge and the mod melts!

    Reply

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