You Won't Believe How to Make This Spider Plant

Watch the FULL BUILD VIDEO here!

It's almost unbelievable that this started as foam hair rollers from the dollar store!

Inspired by the staple of the '70s I wanted to make a spookier version of a spider plant to use as Halloween decor. I'm hoping to add to the collection over the next few years so that eventually I can have a haunted indoor garden.

I grabbed the foam hair rollers from the dollar store on a whim a few months ago, thinking that I could probably make something cool with them. They turned out to be the perfect base for this project - it worked up really quickly and the result is really cool! 

In addition to the hair rollers I used a weathered terracotta pot. (You can check out how I added a patina to the pot in this article) I also used a bunch of common craft supplies to make this one, including;  armature wire, yarn, roving, a felting needle, cardboard, acrylic paint, and some plastic flies. If you're missing something from that list, adapt this project to use what you have!

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Step 1: Remove the end caps from the hair rollers.

Step 1:  Prep the Hair Rollers

Start by disassembling the hair rollers. Pull the foam back from the end of the internal wire. Slide the end cap off of the hook. Do this for both ends of each hair roller. You can throw the caps away. We won't need them again.

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Step 2: Add armature wire and taper the opposite ends with yarn

Step 2: Add Armature Wire and Taper the Ends

Hot glue an 8-10 cm (3-4") length of of armature or fencing wire  into one end of each roller.

Tie a bit of scrap yarn to the opposite end. Wrap the yarn to compress the foam at the end, giving each leg a nice taper.

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Step 3: Add a fuzzy skin to the foam legs

Step 3: Make the Legs Fuzzy

I used green roving to give my spider legs a fuzzy skin. (Roving is un-spun, fluffy, combed wool fibre. I got this stuff in a needle-felting kit.) If you can't find any roving, try wrapping your legs in bulky yarn, strips of craft felt or other textiles, or you could even cover them in paper mache!

I used a felting needle to secure the the felt into the foam. I'm not actually felting the roving here, I'm just using the needle to tack the fibre into the foam roller. Fabric glue or hot glue would work here too.

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Step 5: Use a circle of cardboard to arrange the plant's limbs

Step 4: Assemble the Plant

Now it's time to bring in your plant pot. I used a terracotta pot that I aged and weathered with some acrylic paint. If you're interested in that process, I have an article that summarizes it here. 

Cut a cardboard circle to fit inside the pot. Use any pointy tool to poke some holes through the cardboard and slide the wire from each plant leg into the holes.  Arrange the legs how you like, and secure with hot glue.
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Step 5: Use lime green and dark purple craft acrylic to add highlight and lowlights to each plant leg

Step 5: Add Highlights and Lowlights

Use a makeup wedge (great little things to keep in the studio!) too add a lime green highlight to the top of each leg with acrylic paint.

Add a dark purple lowlight to the underside of each leg. I love the extra dimension that the highlight and lowlights add to the sculpture!


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Step 6: I added some cobwebs and plastic flies as a finishing touch.

Step 6: Cover The Cardboard and Add Finishing Touches

Cover the cardboard circle to make it look like soil. You can paint it, glue down some tea leaves or coffee grounds, or cover it with craft moss. Use what you've got!

Add some spider webs, if you'd like. I used cyan-coloured roving. Those creepy cobwebs you can buy for decorating at Halloween would work well too.

I added some plastic flies, but I'm not sure that I like them. One of my Instagram followers suggested that a bit of metallic paint might help the flies look a little less cheap and plastic - and I think that's a great idea!

If you like this spooky plant project, you might be interested in the "Bleeding" String-of-Hearts plant I made with craft foam, or the deadly carnivorous plant that started as a walnut, you can check out the articles at the linked text or watch the build video on my YouTube channel below!

​If you give this project a try, it would make my day if you’d share it with me. I’m @JaneSawyerMakes on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Threads,  and Twitter (X). Please share and pin this article!