DIY Primitive Halloween Rag Ghost

I typically craft and decorate with more cutesy than spooky stuff for Halloween, but this DIY Primitive Rag Ghost is a bit of an exception. This one is what I call “spooky cute”, and it was made on a budget. I’m totally here for it!

DIY Primitive Halloween Rag Ghost made with creepy cheese cloth and muslin that is stained with antique wax to look grungy with a hangtag around his neck that says "BOO".

I am not typically a neutral type of gal when it comes to my crafting and decorating. In fact, I am rainbow color obsessed and even did an entire rainbow Halloween theme a couple years back!

But I am still a sucker for the grungy primitive type look, especially for Halloween. So I took it and ran with it, as you can see from my adorable Cheesecloth Mummy and my Rustic Leopard Pumpkin Patch we made to go along with this here Primitive Ghost.

Cheesecloth mummy, rustic leopard pumpkin patch and the primitive halloween ghost, staged together as decoration on a bookshelf.

Oh, did I mention that when I craft with neutral colors, there is usually leopard print involved. What can I say, I’m extra!

This DIY Primitive Halloween Ghost definitely leans more on the side of spooky than it does cutesy, which is against my typical Halloween style. But I’ll let is slide since I’m loving how he turned out. We’ll call it spooktesy LOL.

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Supplies Needed to Make a Primitive Halloween Rag Ghost

Small wooden block (About 4″x3″)
Muslin fabric
Cheese cloth
Antique Wax (Or you can stain fabric with coffee)
Kraft Paper
Saran wrap (You could use a Styrofoam ball)
Black Sharpie
Acrylic Alphabet Stamp Set with Tim Holtz Ink (or any kind of ink!)
Wooden dowel
Hot glue gun

How to Make a Primitive Ghost for Halloween

I made this Primitive Halloween Rag Ghost on video, so you can WATCH it or click on the picture right below.

Amanda holding the completed project on a Facebook live thumbnail.

Watch the video here

To start this Primitive Halloween Ghost off, you need something round for the head. Now a Styrofoam ball would have worked perfectly, but since I didn’t have one I balled up some Kraft paper and then wrapped it in saran wrap to hold it together. Not the most fancy or professional way to go, but hey, I’m no professional and it worked!

Next, rip up a bunch of the Muslin, and cut strips of the cheesecloth. I just guesstimated how much I needed and then trimmed it up after. If you want the old grungy look that you see here than you will need to either coffee stain your fabric, or you can take a damp sponge with Waverly Antique Wax and dirty it up, which is what I did.

Take a wooden dowel and and stuff it up inside the Primitive Ghosts head, adding a bit of hot glue to the end of the dowel to make sure his head stays on. Then, glue the dowel to a block of wood to act as the base.

Right now you would have a wood base with a dowel and a saran wrap ball head (now that’s an interesting visual- Sorry I don’t have in between pics since this was made live, but you can watch the replay to see how I made it)

Hands lifting up the muslin and cheesecloth to see the wooden block that is the base of the ghost project with a wooden dowel glued to it.

Next, I draped the grungy muslin and cheese cloth over the ghosts saran wrap ball head, layering them on top of each other, and then tied a small piece of fabric around his neck.

Primitive halloween ghost on a white riser next to a leopard pumpkin.

I decided to make a simple little hang tag from a piece of ripped Kraft paper and my acrylic stamp set…..BOO!

A ripped piece of Kraft paper tied around the ghosts neck with the word BOO in blank ink.

Take a black Sharpie and draw spooky oval eyes. Don’t worry about them being perfect! You could draw a mouth as well, but I thought it looked more primitive to give him just the eyes.

Close up of the ghosts face with 2 oval eyes drawn with black sharpie.

Trim up the bottom of the cloth and fabric as needed, but make sure to keep it long enough so that it gives the appearance that he’s floating in air.

DIT Primitive Halloween Rag Ghost sitting on a farmhouse white riser large half wood beads and a leopard print bow.

I’m so in love with how this Primitive Halloween Ghost turned out! I think he looks just fabulous with the Cheesecloth Mummy!

The completed primitive ghost project on a decorative riser next to a cheesecloth Mummy.

Are you going to make a Primitive Ghost for Halloween? Shoot…are you gonna make anything for Halloween?! If you do, I’d love to see it! Pop on over to our free Craftspiration Facebook group, and join in on the fun by posting a pic of your Tiered Trays, DIY’s and crafts. I just love to see all your creative and crafty creations.

If you’ve got a million projects on your crafting ‘to-do’ list like I do, than you need my FREE Craft Project Planner so you can plan to make *all the things*! When you sign up for the craft planner, I’ll also send you lot’s of fun, easy, and budget friendly ideas for you to fill it up with!