Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Halloween Window Clings Tutorial


I've probably mentioned before that my husband is pretty crafty too.  Well, his craftiness seems to coincide with Halloween big time.  This year he has spent countless hours crafting my sons Proton Pack (more to come later) and he's been working pretty solidly for the past week on his current project: custom window clings.  Where this idea came from I have no idea but I know he's been talking about doing it since last Halloween. This year he finally went to the hardware store and bought a roll of window blackout, which is just a roll of black film to cover your windows in.  Part of his plan involved one of his favorite artists Ed Emberley.  He has loved his simple, quirky Halloween designs ever since he was a kid.  I have to say I'm not a huge fan of window clings in general but these do look really great and he has done a fantastic job putting them together.  I took some pictures while he was working so that you can see the how to.


Gather your supplies.  You will need a roll of window film, a large copy of the image you want to use, a razor blade or exacto knife and a cutting mat.


My husband let our daughter get in on the action with some drawings of her own.


You are going to set your drawing over the window film and cut through.  You want to be cutting out all of the white areas.  The black area of the drawing will be what becomes your window cling. Warning: this can be some tedious work if you use an image with a lot of fine lines and details.


Once you have your image cut out you will need to clean your window and then wet it very lightly with a paper towel that is wet and has a dab of liquid soap on it.  They also sell a product at the Hardware store that is supposed to help the film stick.  Carefully remove the backing from your cling and apply it to the window.  Start at one corner of the design and work your way across to avoid air bubbles.



This is the whole bay window.  It is near impossible to get a good picture of these things.