Home: 'How to' Halloween, Crafts : Mesmerizing Spider Webs for Your Haunted House

Mesmerizing Spider Webs for Your Haunted House

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Sure, anybody can make paper snowflakes – but how about paper cobwebs for your Halloween decor? Ba ha ha, don’t stare too long at your creations, you may find yourself hypnotized and giving out too much trick or treat candy. Or worse yet- the chocolate trick or treat candy!

Here’s how to cut out your own Halloween cobwebs:

  • 8-1/2 inch paper (or whatever size you have available)
  • Safety scissors for kids
  • Small plastic spiders (from a craft or dollar store)

This project started in white paper, to better see the diagrams in this article – however, cutting up plain white paper makes it look like a snowflake no matter how much of a cobweb it is. The one below is made from muddy purple vellum that was rescued from the scrap booking pile. It has met its glorious Halloween destiny!

Paper cobwebs

Making Paper Spider Webs

Fold a regular 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper like you would for any paper snowflake:

  1. Take your piece of paper and fold in half
  2. Fold in half again
  3. There will be a center point on your paper where it has been folded (unfold to find it, then fold again.) Have that point facing you, and put your thumb over it. Take the right corner and fold over. One small point will stick out.
  4. Take the left corner and fold over the right. You’ll have a weird looking arrowhead
  5. Cut the top off so it looks like an arrowhead pointing at you (“threateningly” pointing at you, ba ha ha!)
  6. Cut a spike so it looks like the third image below. This will be the outer webbing.

In half diagonally

In half diagonally

In thirds

In thirds

In half again

In half again

Begin making curved cuts that echo the curve of the spike.

Cut the bottom point how you would like. I cut a tiny “v”.

Paper Cobwebs - cutting the spider web Finished paper spider web

Just as with a winter snowflake there are bound to be some surprises when you unfold your cobweb. The finished cobweb above is the white version – it still looks like a snowflake, but with a bad attitude.

Iron the cobwebs if you wish them to be more flat; they will come out rather crumpled. If you do iron them put another piece of paper or cloth over them so that the iron does not tear through the cutwork.

Being unhappy with the snowflake-like cobweb lead me to a search through old scrapbook papers, which revealed some muddy purple vellum. Perfect! It had just the right effect in making a spooky/creepy spider’s web. Attach the spider with some glue, and you’re done!

Muddy purple vellum gives this a more silky, spider web look!

Muddy purple vellum gives this a more silky, spider web look!

Honestly, younger children will probably lose interest quickly; but older children will have fun making a garland of them and adding spiders to the webs. Good for a fun afternoon or fantastic and creepy party décor. Vellum papers will offer the most compelling medium for this project, but it was a little more difficult than regular paper to fold and cut. Luckily, there are many colors of copy paper to choose from.

White paper versus muddy vellum

White paper versus muddy vellum

There are a lot of ways to use these fun cobwebs:

  • Doilies for a Halloween buffet.
  • Tape them together (very carefully) for a table cloth or curtains.
  • Coasters. Cut smaller cobwebs (start with a 5” square) and use paper mache to attach them to cardboard coasters. You could make more permanent type coasters by using the same technique to attach them to thin balsa wood and then cover with a sealer.
  • Spread a few up around a candle for a centerpiece.

Let me know how your project worked out by commenting below!




Filed under 'How to' Halloween, Crafts

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5 Responses to “Mesmerizing Spider Webs for Your Haunted House”

  1. elisa Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 6:14 am

    asome realy cool

  2. Crysta Says:
    August 11th, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    Hi! My sister & I are going to make some of these for Halloween! :) This looks so cool. We’ll probably use gray/black paper though! :)

  3. Megan Says:
    October 17th, 2011 at 11:43 am

    I’m a little confused between step 4 and 5. Which corner is considered the “top” that you cut?

  4. Chris Molnar Says:
    October 17th, 2011 at 11:23 pm

    After step 4, you’ll have what looks like a triangle with a point sticking out. Cut off that point so it looks like a triangle (or an arrowhead)

  5. emma Says:
    November 1st, 2011 at 6:57 am

    hm I had to go and search how to make snowflakes before I could follow your instructions, maybe include a link to those instructions up at the top cos I’d no idea what you were talking about at first.. Great instructions otherwise though! thanks!

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