DIY

I’m going to preface this by saying I did not come up with this idea. I copied it from someone else who is obviously way more creative and you can see the video here. I am not creative enough to come up with ideas, but I can copy fairly well…..sometimes. Sometimes it turns out really, really bad. Like pretend it never happened bad. This inability applies to all areas of creativity with me. In school when given creative writing papers to do I always drew a blank, but I kicked ass at research papers. In art when told to create something I never could, but put up something on the overhead (dating myself?) and tell me to replicate, I’d do my best (which often wasn’t a bad imitation depending). It is what it is, and I am aware of that weakness which makes me thankful for the Internet because there are all kinds of things I can try to reproduce. This is one.

Merle is going to be Wednesday Addams for Halloween and while I think she is going to look super cute, I think this bucket is the perfect way to make it obvious who she is. I also am bad at photography an obviously timing because a) it’s pushing it for Halloween DIY’s, and b) I decided to do this project on a Saturday evening on my balcony when the sun was starting to go down. I also had to make an emergency run to Walmart to get another ball of wool* because I needed two.

*I’m going to note that I think my issue with needing another ball of yarn was because the type I got was really thin and he looked like he was balding. If you get an average thickness of yarn you probably will be okay with one ball.

These were the supplies I used:

• one trick or treat bucket pumpkin or cauldron.
• top hat (found one at the costume store for a couple of dollars)
• Tan colour yarn – one ball. Maybe two if thin.
• Duct tape. I had one light colour roll and one black.
• Cheap black sunglasses (dollar store)
• glue gun
• scissors 

These were the steps:

1. Cut the top off of the top hat but leave a small border along the edges.
2. Cut the plastic handle off of the bucket.
3. Braid a length of yarn that will be long enough to use as a handle for the bucket.
4. After braided feed the ends through where the handle was and knot off to make secure.
5. Wrap yarn looped from elbow over hand (like you are winding rope) 50 times and set aside.
6. You are going to repeat this until you have 6-8 of these bunches of 50 loops. You may need a couple of extra if it seems like the hair isn’t thick enough.
7. Take one loop at a time and cut one end.
8. Then lay out cut length flat and organize and straighten the yarn into a neat line. Take a piece of light colour duct tape long enough to lay over the ends of the row of yarn and press yarn on to it to make secure.
9. Take the strip of duct tape with yarn and wrap it around one side of the bucket about halfway down. Repeat that step with a second strip of duct tape and yarn, and place on opposite side so they slightly overlap at sides to make sure bucket is covered.
10. Turn bucket upside down and cover with pieces of duct tape to hide the orange so you can’t see it through the yarn.
11. Repeat steps 7-9 placing the yarn higher up the bucket each time so that it overlaps the previous row. I did this a 3rd time as well and placed it around the top edge of the bucket.
12. Decide how the hat will look best and use the glue gun to attach. Make sure that the handle is hanging out the top. My glue gun wasn’t working very well so I also used black duct tape along the inside edge of the hat to attach it firmly to the bucket and yarn.
13. Close the arms on the glasses and place it on the from where you want them to be. Use a pen to mark the tape where the arms are on the glasses. Cut a small hole on each side of the bucket where you marked the tape and slide the arms through the plastic.
14. Trim the length of the hair (I still need to do this) and he is good to go.

I think this is the perfect addition for Merle’s costume and if you are a super creative person (unlike me) you probably can come up with some other good character bucket options. I’ll post an updated picture of her when she is in full costume with the bucket. Have a great weekend!

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