Embrace the tangle and explore fiber art with your kids using this Halloween-ish yarn spider web mobile-making project…
October is a month with its own very distinctive mood, isn’t it? Here in the north, our October days tend to rise up out of a chilly fog and end in long, orangey-bronze-tinted shadows, blurring the lines between the imaginary and real.
On our evening walks, I frequently find myself thinking of the song lyrics, “When there’s hardly no day, nor hardly no night, there’s things half in shadow and halfway in light.”
With its honking geese, buttery dry cornstalks, and inky night skies, October is a soulful favorite of mine. And maybe that’s why this project – an artful web of curious scraps and objects, feels like it perfectly captures the season.
More than any of the Halloween projects we’ve made so far, this one seems to express the mystery, magic, and sense of “hidden histories” I love most about this month.
Adding to the mood is the slightly chaotic look of our woven strings and scraps. Inspired by the natural order of DISorder (and influenced by artist Eva Hesse), this yarn spider web craft provides a fabulous invitation to crawl into a fiber art corner and explore the process of weaving your own tangled web.
Better yet, this fiber web can be made as a wall-hanging (great flat work for younger kids) or mobile for those who want to explore looping and knotting in mid-air.
You don’t need handfuls of fancy yarns to spin a stunning spider web. I created loads of different textures by cutting up scraps of felt and patterned fabrics I could tie together to create long strips. You can braid, twist, make tassels, or use supplies like leather roping or steel ball chains.
So give yourself up to the moody October atmosphere and let its many spirits guide you, as you weave your own evocative webs, exploring intention, disorder, supplies, and soulfulness in art along the way.
Save all the fabric and yarn scraps you may not have used – you can use them to decorate a unique and artful soft sculpture creature or gradient leaf banners! Or conjure up a different kind of process art magic with our paint potions or October blind drawing ideas.
To make your own DIY yarn spider web mobile, you’ll need:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
BASIC SUPPLIES:
- 16-24 Guage craft or floral wire (I used this kind), a stick, or an embroidery hoop
- Scissors
- Yarn, twine, roping, or similar (we used a variety of thicknesses and textures)
- Scrap fabric (we used scrap pieces of felt and cotton fabric – here are some of my favorite scrap yarn and fabric bundles on Etsy)
OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:
- Fake spiders (we made simple pom pom spiders from yarn)
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Clear tape
How to Make a Yarn Spider Web Mobile – DIY Instructions:
Bend wire into a circle or use an embroidery hoop for the mobile frame.
Using a thin copper craft wire (anywhere from 16-24 gauge is easy to bend with your hands but will hold its shape), create a circle – twisting the ends to join.
If you happen to have one around, you can use an embroidery hoop instead. It creates a perfect instant base for your mobile.
OR: Find a twig full of personality to use as a base for a wall hanging.
Don’t have a great space to hang a mobile, or looking for a method that’s a little simpler? Use a stick or branch to create the base for a stick spider web wall hanging instead. All the steps for your spider web fiber art can be done on a flat surface, which makes this variation a little easier for younger kids. Finding a good-looking stick is a great excuse to get out for a bit of fresh air!
You can use it as is or wrap a piece of copper wire around it at the center to create a simple hanger as we did.
Gather yarns and scrap fabrics to use for the strings of your spider web craft.
In addition to a couple of types of inexpensive yarns, I gathered up some felt, leather roping, and fabric scraps. You can turn awkwardly-sized scrap pieces into long strips by cutting the fabric into thin strips and tying the strips together.
To create different thicknesses and textures from one ball of yarn, you can also braid it, twist it, or make it into tassels of varying lengths.
Start tying your yarn web together.
And now let the knotting fun begin…! Although we decided to forgo a plan and see where this project took us, tying 2-3 pieces of yarn or fabric onto your stick/wire base is an easy place to start.
Once you have a few strings started, start tying them together, loop pieces of yarn over them, and twist fabric strips around them, building up the layers of your “web.”
You don’t need bunches of yarn or fabric to see amazing results – this is all about creating a rich tapestry of fall texture.
Finish by adding details and embellishments.
A pom-pom spider and brightly colored paper leaves add the special little touches that give our wall-hanging personality and make it come alive.
You can add anything you like to make your own spider webs feel like YOURS.
For a mobile, hang with twine.
I found it was much easier to hang up the frame of our mobile FIRST, then start tying on strings, weaving our “web,” and adding small details along the way.
I cut four long pieces of twine (same length), then tied each end onto the wireframe – evenly spacing them around the diameter of the wire circle.
Tie the four strings together at the top and gently pull up the mobile frame by the twine knot, ensuring that your frame hangs flat across.
Hang and begin making your “web”. For younger kids, hanging over a doorknob is a good way to keep the work at their eye level. They can sit on the floor or drag over a chair and tie away!
Because I find nature endlessly inspiring, a gorgeous feather found on the beach up north, and some bursts of concentrated color courtesy of cut-out paper Aspen leaves gave our mobile its finishing touches.
A piece of clear tape attaches the paper leaves to a piece of thin copper wire, making them incredibly easy to add anywhere (or move around!).
The little bits of wound copper wire remind me of the twisty tendrils you see so often at this time of year on pumpkins and vines.
For our wall-hanging, a pom pom spider felt ESSENTIAL, and it couldn’t have been simpler. We used what we had – leftover yarn, copper wire, and scissors.
My friend Maggy made this video tutorial for easy DIY fork-wrap pom poms (I tend to prefer the imperfect, floofy look over a stick spider!) that worked perfectly for this little arachnid!
Once the pom pom is finished, cut 3 pieces of copper wire and bend the ends into tiny little “claw tufts”. Tie the cut copper wire pieces together with black yarn, then tie them onto your pom pom. Bend and shape the legs.
And of course, a pair of googley eyes can go a long way when creating yarn minibeasts.
When it comes to decorating your own DIY spider web, use whatever inspires you this time of year. What will be caught in YOUR web? Witches hats or flying bats? Maybe you have the urge to make a GIANT yarn spider web (wouldn’t that make the coolest Halloween front porch decor).
More Halloween Crafts for Kids
For another fabric scrap Halloween activity, try making your own DIY Dracula puppet!
Or celebrate October’s natural art supplies with a Halloween nature collage.
For instant printable activities that conjure the same sense of mystery, download and use our printable DIY tarot cards or potion and spell recipe card creative prompts.
And be sure to queue up our kid-friendly trick-or-treat playlist while you scare up your favorite Halloween crafts – monster-recommended,kid-approved jams!
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
GETTING READY TO TRY this?
I love seeing all the ways people make these ideas their own! If you're sharing the results of one of our projects, mention or tag me with @barleyandbirch, or share it in the comments of one of our Pinterest project pins.
