How to Make Pipe Cleaner Spiders

It's officially October and I have no more restraint when it comes to Halloween crafts. The inspiration for this how-to comes from the Wired How-To Wiki on building a giant spider web. I followed Wired's instructions but made a few modifications.

For this project, all you will need is a pack of black pipe cleaners. Michaels sells a pack of 100 for a just a few dollars.

Make a bundle of five pipe cleaners for each spider. Hold the bundle and try to eyeball the center. Twist the bundle together until it is secure.

To create the spider's abdomen, fold the twisted bundle and cross the ends to create a tear drop shape. 

Here is where I changed the original Wired instructions. I wanted to add a touch of color and mystery to my spiders. I chose a few large glass beads to attach to the abdomen of the spiders. My idea is that they would represent the spider's venom, or perhaps the remnants of its last meal. I got the beads from a bin of assorted glass beads that Michaels sells for a few dollars.

For my how-to spider I chose a long red glass bead. Thread the glass bead onto one of the pipe cleaners and pull it down to about an inch above where you twisted them together.

Twist the pipe cleaners together at the top of the tear drop shape so that there are 6 ends on each side. Fold the sides down so they stick out perpendicular to the abdomen.

To create the thorax and pincers, separate two pipe cleaners ends, one from each bundle, and twist them around the bundles. Stop winding when there is about an inch left.

Bend each of the 8 legs to make them resemble a spider's.

And finally, a bunch of fuzzy sticks have become your own little creepy crawly. It only takes a few minutes to make a spider, and they're a great un-messy craft if you're like me and like having your hands busy while you catch up on your favorite shows. Before you know it, you'll have more spiders than you know what to do with.