Ghost Lamp

    Last week we organized a last-minute halloween party at our high school. We were reallly exited but we realised we hadn't any decoration. Some of us went to buy some stuff, but the money was so less(1€ per person) that we couldn't buy so many things. Then we started to think in recycling something and we found some decor objects we used for other purposes. Anyway, we hadn't anything for lighting and we couldn't buy anymore. That's how the inspiration come to me!

   Ambient light is a very important detail in halloween. If you haven´t a good lighting, your decoration will look wack. That's why you need something like these awesome paper based ghost lamps.

   Make scary and funny lamps for your indoor or outdoor halloween party.

The stuff you need:

Materials:

• Newspaper
• Condom or balloon
• Tape
• School glue
• Water
• Sheet or white fabric.
• Colored lightbulb
• Wire
• Bulbholder
• Plug
• Tie wire
•  Recipient for the mixture
• Bucket or flowerpot
• Pins

Tools:

• Scissors (cutter or knife if you prefer)
• Pliers
• Brush
• Stick
• Screwdriver

You must be thinking I am some kind of degenerate, but that was the one thing I found in my house it can be blow up. Now I relalise it was a good choise beacuse it has a better shape so as to make a paper ghost. You can allways try with a balloon if you want but I rather use this.

Fist of all, wash the condom, you don´t want to have a slippery balloon when you are covering it with paper. Then you can start to blow. It can be very large beacuse of the materials condoms are made, so don´t be afraid to do it bigger. Finally, tie the condom.

Just do it as I do in the picture bellow.

So as to have a stiff lamp you need to soak the newspaper sheets in glue and water mixture.
The proportion of the mix its about 1/3 of water and 2/3 of school glue. Put All together in a recipient and blend it with a brush.

For this step you have two options:

1. Put the newspaper sheets first and then apply the mixture with the brush.
2. Soak the newspaper sheets in the mixture and cover the condom/balloon with them.

Make sure to cover all over the codom/balloon and make at least two layers. This make the ghost more opaque, something necessary for the scary face effect.

For this step you have to wait around 4 hours if the sun is out. You can always let it dry at night.

Deflate the condom/balloon with the scissors. Afterwards, extract the bucket with a stick, hitting the base of the bucket. For more details, go to the pictures bellow.

You must be aware this step is a bit dangerous. Life threatening voltages and fire danger will be present if not done correctly.

Strip the wire. After that, attach the wire with the wire nuts using a screwdriver. Use this prosess in both sides of the wire.

This step is so confusing to explain. I rather show you by imges, so follow the photos bellow to get the idea.

This is the most important step of the project.
Draw a face over the ghost with the marker (you can try with a pencil and then with the marker). It's a bit hard to draw over it beacuse of its bumpy texture, but it's easy to cut.
When you are sure your face is scary enough, cut it. The easiest way is to make a hole using one blade of the scissors or using the knife or cutter and then start to cut the shapes.

I found some sheets lying around and I decided to use them. They have some spots but there are so small that it doesn´t matter.

First, look for the center of the sheet/white fabric and make a little cut. Then, introduce the plug across the hole and let it fall over the ghost.
Adjust the sheet with pins to make the faces more visible.

Insert the colored lightbulb into the socket, and turn it clockwise until it's snug. Choose the color you prefer or the one that fit with your decor. It can be white light as well, but it isn't the same.

Put it wherever you want, it fit to every halloween ambient. Remember that this is just an ambient light, not a strong light.


I swear you enjoy this instructable. Sorry for post it so late but I had a lot of work this week. Fell free to comment everything you think about it.

The photos bellow had been taken at dark and with flash on/off.