Air Dry Clay Ghost Lanterns DIY

I decided to whip up a few ghost lanterns to pop over my battery operated votives with Crayola Model Magic or air dry clay.

It was an easy craft and an adorable, budget friendly way to decorate my house for Halloween.

A few weeks ago I was looking for some fall decor and decided to check out the website for JoAnn crafts.

While I didn't find any great decor that afternoon, I did stumble upon the sweetest Halloween craft.

Model Magic Ghost Lanterns.

So stinking cute.

A few years ago, I made ghost lanterns out of some old, frosted glass shades that I’d found in a thrift store.

And they still light up my home every fall. They're quite large though. I thought these mini versions would be an adorable addition to my fall mantel.

And cheap ones, too.

You see, I'd recently come across similarly styled ghost candles online, but they were real candles that melted when you burned them. No thank you.

Model Magic was less than $4 a package and these lanterns would go on and off by themselves. Plus, I could use them year after year.

That's much more my speed.


I also really enjoy crafting, whipping up projects like my fan blade ghost and ghost banner and most recently a wooden ghost sign. 

So that's the route I took.

Mini Air Dry Clay Ghost Lanterns

Now, a quick aside, since I made these guys a few weeks ago, I've seen them pop up on Instagram. There are several tutorials out there, using different supplies to make the body molds or the faces.

I say go with the process you feel suits you.

I myself deviated a bit from the JoAnn tutorial, based on the supplies I had at home.

As a matter of fact, I made these ghosts with my family and we all used a slightly different approach.

We made different faces, and used different balls to shape the heads, making each one uniquely enchanting.

Supplies:

The Process:

I started by tearing the Model Magic (or Air Dry Clay) into 3 equal sized pieces.


Then I rolled one piece into a ball.

I placed it on the table and used a rolling pin to make a circle.

It's easy, just roll one way, then the other, moving the rolling pin around until you get a circular shape.

I’d say mine was about 6 inches in diameter. Large enough to fit a small battery operated votive candle underneath and thin enough that it would drape nicely.


I placed the ball on the mini milk jar I had on hand from another fall craft to make my “ghostly dress form”. Then I draped the Model Magic circle over the top of the ball.

I used my hands to gently flare the bottom of the circle.


I also tried to keep in mind that the ghosts were going to need to sit mostly flat on a table or mantel. That meant I needed to center the ghosts on the ball and not have their backs or fronts too long.

I was going for an even appearance all the way around.

The last touch with to add a face.

We used a straw to make the eyeholes. We just pushed it into the Model Magic, twisted the straw and removed it. The excess Model Magic came out inside the straw. 

Of course, you can make any kind of face you like. I say, have fun, get creative, add your own spin. There are no rules here.

When we were done, I let our little spooky collection dry.


Model Magic will dry in 24 hours, but completely cure in 72.

So I waited a few days before I put them on the mantel, with a battery operated votive underneath each one.

A few notes here:

• They are not safe for use with real candles. 
• You can see cracks, dots and dry spots on my ghosts. That is the nature of Model Magic. 
• I've Googled, asked in forums, read tips online and the consensus is that when it dries, Model Magic can crack. 
• When I used air dry clay to make Gingerbread men ornaments it also cracked. However, I used water to smooth the cracks and paint to cover them.
• I haven't found that water works with Model Magic and while you can paint it, you're painting cracks. 

So if you're looking for perfect, this might not be the craft for you. Or you can try the air dry clay instead.

However, I am not a perfectionist.

And they were truly as darling as I thought they'd be.

They're also just a super fun craft for the whole family, no matter how old your family members happen to be...I mean even my husband enjoyed making a tiny ghost of his own.

Which makes these my favorite type of crafts.

Very inexpensive, very simple, with guaranteed success.


And guaranteed to make you smile.

All spooky season long.

Will you be making some Model Magic ghosts?

Happy Crafting, Friends!