15. Chicken Wire Garden Ghosts
Add a haunting, poetic presence to your backyard or garden with life-sized, sculptural ghosts made entirely out of galvanized chicken wire. These translucent, glowing figures look incredibly realistic from a distance, appearing as though Victorian spirits are wandering through your flowerbeds or floating across your lawn. Because the wire is open and airy, the ghosts are nearly invisible during the day, but they catch the light beautifully at night, creating a subtle, glowing, and sophisticated outdoor scare that is both artistic and eerie.
To create a garden ghost, you will need a roll of flexible, silver chicken wire, wire cutters, and protective work gloves. Begin by wrapping the wire around a volunteer or a dress mannequin to form the shape of a torso and head, pinching and twisting the wire mesh together to hold the shape. For a female spirit, create a long, flowing skirt by flare-shaping a large cylinder of chicken wire, crimping the bottom edges to look like rippling fabric. Connect the torso to the skirt, smoothing out any sharp wire ends. Once the sculpture is complete, place it in your yard and drape a thin string of battery-operated, cool-white LED fairy lights inside the hollow form. At night, the wire mesh will catch the light, making the hollow, translucent figure glow with an ethereal, otherworldly energy.