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The Giant Spider

This is a prop from our Halloween party when I really went overboard! the spider is really nothing more than cardboard boxes covered with chicken wire and black plastic, added a couple of red light eyes, and 4 inch corrogated pipe for legs. Some string and 'stretchy web'.... Poof! Big spider.
(of course, "Poof!" only took about three days....)

Here's a Picture of the Spider that ate my party!
The couches were under the spider, and a couple of us would squirt silly string occasionally
at our guests just to make them think the spider was doing it!

Yep, that's me, right before the Spider attacked! The spider is attached
to a ceiling fan, minus the blades, of course!

Spider Plans

Here's the quick version of the plans for my giant spider. It was used outside the year before this party during one of the rainest and windy-est Octobers ever....
Here's what I did!

The Body

I used two cardboard boxes for the basic body. One about 2'x2'x3' (the big part), and one about 1.5'x1.5'x2' (for the head part). The boxes were sealed with tape and are attached together with two short pieces of 2x4 on edge (for a basic 'neck'). I used elmer's glue to assemble them. The entire body was covered with chicken wire. The boxes only act as the the basic form for the wire. Once the head is wrapped, I used a piece of wire tightly around the neck to give it shape.
The front pincers were made of foam insulation tubing cut, bent and glued to the front of the head.

The Eyes

To make the eyes, I used two small (5") aluminum pie plates between the chicken wire and the box as reflectors. Then I added two plastic outlets and 25watt red bulbs to act as glowing eyes. The wire was fed out of one of the legs.

The Legs

The legs are made of 4" corrigated plastic drain pipe. Attach the legs to the body using 4" couplings. Wire the couplings to the chicken wire frame. To cover the body, I used plain old black plastic, and just wrapped and taped it up until the entire body was well covered. Cut out holes for the leg couplings. For the eyes, cut out jagged holes.
Use a little black spray paint to texture the pincers, and cover any exposed wire.

Mounting

Attach the body to whatever mount your'e using (ceiling fan, roof, 2x4, etc). Then cut each leg to length and attach it to the body. Tie down the other end of the leg, plug in eye lights!

Adding Motion

Adding a bit of animation can be done by mounting the body on a pivot, then either attach a black string on one end. Pull the string, and the whole body moves. I used a variable speed electric drill that held a 2x4 with a large bolt to put into the drill at one end, and a connector for the black string on the other end. When the drill turned (slowly!), the spider jumped up and down. The drill was triggered by an outdoor motion sensor.
One year, we built supports for the legs using 2x4s inside the pipe, so our guests had to walk under it. The body was supported by a long counterweighted 1" pipe, attached by several bungee cords. When the motion detector started the drill and lit the eyes, it was great!

Time and money

The entire effect cost about $50 (except for the drill), and took about a half day to build - after I had all the parts.

Go for it!

Its a simple project, and a crowd pleaser decoration. Let me know if you like it!

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