Halloween is coming, a holiday about spirits, death and spookiness. The festival is currently not only celebrated on the night of October 31, but is prepared well in advance: we buy, make costumes, learn to do makeup, watch movies and series and, most importantly, decorate our homes and gardens.
But not only decoration is important, but also all the crafts that we can learn to do year after year to offer our family, friends and neighbors an unforgettable experience.
That’s why in this article we will teach you how to make a spooky landscape in a paper tube. It is a craft suitable for both adults and children, perfectly customizable, to live Halloween in a different way this year.
Tools and materials needed:
– One or more cardboard tubes (those used for toilet paper rolls will work).
– Flat cardboard.
– Pencil, cutter (or scalpel for crafts) and cutting board (preferably those used for crafts).
– Acrylic paint and brushes. (If you don’t have it, markers will do as well).
– Glue (recommended).
– Semi-transparent craft paper (silk paper, for example).
Instructions:
The idea of this craft is to create fantastic miniature landscapes. The tube will be our canvas on which we will glue figurines inside to create a three-dimensional landscape. When we look through, we will see the characters, a scene, a landscape or the story that you want to tell.
Step 1. Set up the scene
First of all, you will have to be clear about what you want to create and design the elements that will go into it. Take into account the dimensions that each element has to have depending on the position it occupies and its intention into the scene. Search on the internet or in books and magazines for inspiration and patterns for the figures. You can do drawing tests on a draft sheet to see how they look on you or if you like the arrangement of the elements.
To make it for Halloween you can make a witch riding a broom, some bats and pumpkins and some branches. Although you can also make the silhouette of a castle, or a cauldron, etc. Get creative and you’ll be able to come up with tons of spooky landscapes and scenes.
Step 2. Create the elements
The next step is to transfer those drawings onto the cardboard. Keep in mind that the size of the tube will be the maximum size that the figures can have so that they can fit in once they are placed. You will need to trace the drawing in pencil first, and then cut the outline very precisely with a cutter or scalpel.
This step can be dangerous for a child to do, so make sure an adult is with them when cutting. Using scissors will lead to a less accurate result, due to the small size of the items that the tube requires.
Step 3. Prepare the tube
For a Halloween look, you can paint the inside tube black. But that’s optional: you can paint it any color you want or leave it with the natural colors of the cardboard.
The next step is to make small incisions in the cardboard where you want to fit the figures. Remember that if you have a very large character or main element, you will have to make incisions on different sides of the tube so that it fits correctly.
Step 4. Place the figures
Insert the figures into the tube, fitting them into the incisions that you have previously prepared for each of them. You can secure its position with a few drops of glue.
Now if you look through and against the light you will be able to observe the miniature magical landscape that you just created: if you place the elements in different depths you can grant a super special three-dimensional effect.
If you want to give it a personalized touch, with semi-transparent craft paper (for example silk paper) you can cover the bottom of the tube and look against the light. The lights and shadows that will be created will give a magical look to your mini-landscape. Orange and purple colors are usually very typical this time of year.
And so far the Halloween craft. With this you can create a lot of scenes with which to build a story, decorate your house or offer as a spooky experience to your visits this Halloween.
