POM POM SPIDER TUTORIAL
WHO WOULDN’T FALL IN LOVE WITH THIS CUTE LITTLE POM POM SPIDER? We adore Pom pom makers and they are a great addition to have in your craft stash. Gone are the days when you had to painstakingly wind wool through a cardboard circle. They are super easy to use and such a versatile tool. Although some adult supervision is required, once the pom poms have been made, you can let your kids imagination run wild. This activity will keep them amused for hours. The best thing about this project, is all that you need to make this cute spider, is odd bits of wool, a piece of paper or card and glue. Once they have made a basic spider, they can design all sorts of wacky and wonderful creatures. LET’S GET STARTED. Here’s what you need
A pom pom maker
A4 black card or paper (ideally it needs to be black on both sides)
glue (we used craft glue and a clear all purpose glue)
a ruler
scissors (these need to have a sharp point to cut the wool so adult supervision will be required)
wool (you can use any thickness and it’s a great way to use up all your scraps)
wobbly eyes (if you don’t have them you can use a piece of paper or card to make the eyes)
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO Take the piece of A4 black card. You will see it has a long side and a short side. We will be cutting down the short side. You can make the legs as wide as you like, but we found that 0.5cm strips work best. We want to make 8 legs for the spider and each leg uses 4 strips so cut 32 strips in total, all of them 0.5cm wide. You will get all of the legs out of one piece of A4 card. Try to be fairly accurate with the widths as they are folded together, so need to be the same.
To get the length required for each leg, two strips are glued together lengthwise. Add about 1cm of glue to one of the strip ends and place a second strip on top to make one long strip. It is easier if you glue all the strips first so that they have time to dry.
For the purpose of the tutorial we have used two different colours so that you can see exactly how the leg is made. You will use your chosen colour, but there is nothing to stop you making multi-coloured legs, as it’s your design.
TAKE TWO STRIPS AND GLUE THEM TOGETHER TO FORM A 90 DEGREE ANGLE
To create the leg, lay the strips down so that the vertical strip is under the horizontal one. Now take the vertical strip and fold it up and over the horizontal one. Crease the card so that the fold is nice and crisp.
Yours should look like the picture below. The bottom of the vertical strip is now on top of the horizontal one.
Turn both strips 90 degrees to the left. We now do exactly the same as before. The horizontal strip has now become the vertical and is at the back. Fold it up and over the new horizontal strip and press is down firm to create the crease.
KEEP REPEATING THE PROCESS BY ROTATING THE STRIPS 90 DEGREES AFTER EACH FOLD AND FOLDING THE VERTICAL UP AND ON TOP OF THE HORIZONTAL STRIP.
Once you have done several folds, you may find it easier to hold the strips in your hands. The method is exactly the same. Turn the strips 90 degrees after each fold and remember to fold the vertical up and on top of the horizontal each time.
Keep folding in this way until the remaining piece of one of the strips measures roughly 5cm. Once it is at this length, glue the strips together with a dab of glue and clip them together so that they can dry.
If you don’t have any little clips, pegs will do or you could use a paperclip. Don’t be tempted to rush the drying process or your legs will come undone.
Trim off the end that is under the top strip. YOUR SPIDER LEG IS NOW COMPLETE.
USE THIS METHOD TO MAKE A TOTAL OF 8 LEGS.
To attach the legs to the pom pom we need to join them all together. Take 2 of the legs and glue one of the 5cm strips all along the top. Next, attach it to the 2nd leg and leave to dry.
Make the other 3 pairs of legs in the same way. We now need to join all the 4 pairs together. Glue two of the pairs to form a cross as in the picture below.
Add the other 2 pairs as below. Once they are in the desired position, secure them with a clip and leave them to dry.
LET’S CREATE THE BODY. Using a 9cm pom pom maker, place the two pieces together so that the holes and bumps on the maker line up. This stops the maker sliding about as you are winding the wool. You can see with this maker, there are two white clips. These keep the maker closed, so you can cut the wool without it popping open.
With the correct sides together, wind the wool around the curved part of the maker. The secret to a good pom pom is how you wind the wool onto it. Keep the wool nice and tight and make sure it is wound evenly. Start from one side and wind across to the other side to form an even layer.
THE FIRST LAYER HAS BEEN WOUND.
Continue winding the wool round and round the maker. Work along the maker one way, to the end and then work back the other way. This will give you a neat pom pom. If you wind it haphazardly, your pom pom will be messy and have uneven strands in it. The tighter you wind it, the denser your finished pom pom will be. If you prefer a more floppy pom pom, all you need to do is wrap the wool loosely around the maker.
Keep winding from side to side until you have covered the whole side, and are level with the top of the winder. Don’t overwind or you will struggle to close the winder and could even break it.
Complete the other side in the same way.
WE NOW ADD THE LEGS TO THE POM POM. Place them over one of the sides so that the legs hang down towards the bottom of the maker. You will see that once the pom pom has been secured, the legs will be tucked inside and won’t be able to come out. The reason the legs are glued in this formation is so that it doesn’t affect the way we tie the pom pom together. If we were to lay the legs seperately along the maker, they would all bunch up when we tied the length of securing yarn.
Fold the pom pom maker together, making sure that you close the clips together. This is really important as once you release the tension of the wound wool by cutting it, the maker will pop open and ruin all your hard work.
Ideally, you need to use a sharp ended pair of scissors. If the scissors are too big or the ends are not sharp enough, you will struggle to cut through all the strands. ADULT SUPERVISION IS REQUIRED HERE
One half of the maker has been cut and you can see the pom pom taking shape.
Cut the other side but don’t remove the maker just yet. We need to secure all the strands together first.
We have used a contrasting colour to close our pom pom so that you can see what we have done. A top tip is to use double strands as you can pull it tighter without it breaking. A single strand tends to break easily. Wrap the double strand around the centre of the maker. Pull it as tight as you can and then tie another knot to secure in place.
Make sure you tie that 2nd knot or it will fall apart.
Once the knot is in place and secure, you can remove the maker. Undo the two clips and carefully tease the maker away from the pom pom.
DON’T BE TEMPTED TO YANK IT OUT, TAKE YOUR TIME AND GENTLY EASE IT OUT.
THE SPIDER HAS EMERGED BUT SADLY CAN’T SEE !
Let’s give it some eyes. Wobbly eyes are great for these kind of projects and bring life to them. Using a strong glue, attach them to the front of the spider. Don’t worry if you don’t have any wobbly eyes, you can make some eyes with white card or paper. Then you can make the pupils using a small circle of coloured card or draw them on with a pen.
If you find that the eyes disappear into the pom pom, carefully cut away some of the wool around them. If there are some wayward strands, you can give your spider a quick trim to neaten it up. Be careful not to cut too far into it though or you may cut through the securing strand.
If you want to hang up your spider, thread a length of yarn or elastic up through the bottom of the pom pom to the top of it’s head and tie it in a loop. These would make a great Halloween decoration. You could make lots and thread them on string to make spider bunting. Go on……. let your imagination run wild !
Why not create funky coloured spiders? These are much less scary to look at. When winding the wool on the maker, use two different coloured strands at the same time. To create the legs, you could colour match them to the wool. We used two different colours to make the legs look funky.
This activity is great for hand-eye co-ordination, and your kids will love seeing a spider emerge from some card and wool. The Crafty Co loves seeing all your creations so don’t forget to tag us. Happy Crafting The Crafty Co
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