Subject: Spooky Cloth
Content: spooky cloth preparation Section 1 Cloth is one of the most versatile materials we use for haunting. This how-to applies to beef cloth, which is mostly used for that cob-webby feel, and cheesecloth, which is used for practically everything else. While there are differences between the two, which will be noted when appropriate, for the most part they can be treated the same until used. What I won't do is give detailed instructions on how to make cheesecloth glow under UV light, because there's several how-to's out there already, and all you really have to do is wash it. First, decide what color you want, and get the appropriate dye or whatnot. For grey and black, I used black Rit dye. When I wanted tan, I used saved up tea bags, which worked great. To lighten the color of beef cloth, which comes from the vendor with a brownish tinge, I tried bleach and Rit whitener, neither of which worked very well, but there's another way. The instructions from Rit say your supposed to dye cloth in your washing machine. They evidently never met my wife. I went a safer route, using a metal bucket, water, and my BBQ. This is the hard part. This amount of water takes a long time to heat up. You need to hang around and watch it. Don't set it up, turn on the heat, and walk away. Read a book, work on another project close by, meditate, or have a cigar, but don't go away! If you forget this, the water will boil out, and you'll start a fire. A bad fire. Get a paint stick or some other disposable object and gently stir every few minutes, and if you have a bunch of cloth stuffed in like I do, poke it down into the water. The idea here is to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the bucket and melting to it. You also want to circulate the water a bit. Don't try to stir it like your making pancake batter, just spin everything around a few times. Bring the water to boil for a minute or so, allow to cool all the way, then drain. Don't boil the stuff for longer than a couple minutes, and for goodness sakes don't boil the water out. You WILL start a fire. Notice how I crammed a bunch of cloth into the bucket. This will result in uneven shades, which is what I was after. If you want a pretty, even shade, dye a lot less cloth at one time. Since that will make it easier to fish out of the bucket (as opposed to draining the water each time), you can reuse the water a few times. I used various things for drying racks, one of which was part of a Halloween trellis. You also need to rinse the cloth, and rinse it VERY WELL, otherwise you'll stain whatever this stuff touches. I used a pool pole hung from the corner of a cinderblock wall. A wall I didn't care about too much. Hose it off, let dry, repeat. To be honest, I can't say for sure if this is enough. It may still stain certain surfaces, so use a little caution when using this stuff until it's been rained on a few times. Still, I saw no staining on the wall, which got a healthy dose of dyed water many times over. I suppose you could go to the laundromat and use their machines. It would be easier. It would also be Not Cool. Other folks need to wash their stuff in there too, and ruining other people's property isn't how we haunters do things. On the other hand, if, after completing the rinsing described above, you were to use a laundromat machine to give things a final rinse, it probably wouldn't do any harm. Personally, I would only do this if I were using the cloth in places where it might stain, and I ran a load of old towels and rags in the same machine after the dyed cloth, just to make sure the machine was clean for the next guy. Note that if you do this, use a front loading machine, not a top loader. The agitator, otherwise known as the Middle Stick Thingy, can tear up your cloth, and will certainly tangle it into horrible knots. I know the front loaders are a little more expensive, but they're worth it. So, now the cloth is dyed and dried. It's ready for use, right? If your happy with it, yes. If it's October and you want to use it right away, yes. However, if you have a few months, you have more options. There are ways to get interesting effects, but they take time to do them easily. If you want your beef cloth white, lay it down outside on a sidewalk, secure it with bricks or rocks, and let it sit for, well, I don't know how long. I'll find out this summer. Still, exposure to the elements will bleach out the off-white tinge, especially if the sun is out in full force. This is time consuming, but cheaper than repeated washings in bleach and/or Rit whitener. Also, this is a more accurate way to lighten up dyed cloth that came out too dark, since you can check it weekly or daily and bring it inside when the color suits you. That of course answers the next issue. This stuff will fade if left out in the sun. The picture on the left is freshly dyed cloth, the one on the right is the same cloth with two months exposure (the month of October over two years). Personally, I like the look of the aged cloth. If you don't, you can always dye it again. It's kind of a hassle, but that's the price we pay for keeping stuff outside for a whole month. Another thing you can do is make some ghostly shading on the cloth itself, something like the Shroud of Turin . First make some cardboard cutouts in shapes of skulls, bones, or anything else that suits your fancy. Using a stapler or staple gun, secure the cloth to a flat board outside, secure the cardboard cutouts where you want the shapes, and let sit for a couple weeks or so, depending on the season and weather. You'll end up with subtle dark spots on the cloth for that added effect. Unfortunately I haven't got pics of this yet. When I do I'll edit this article. Section 2 Now it's time for safety. Beef cloth and cheesecloth are flammable. Very flammable. I tested a few samples with fire and cigarettes. The material used for these tests was unused and untreated with any chemical or fire retardant. First the cigarette. If your running a haunted house or other walk-through type haunt, you probably forbid smoking already. If you don't, you should, even if you don't use beef cloth, even if most folks show common courtesy and snuff out before entering. Still, you aren't there 24/7, and there's always a chance someone will get careless. A cigarette 'cherry' is roughly 400 F degrees, which is plenty hot enough to start fires in most materials. I tested the material four ways. One where a cigarette is dropped on the tubing lying on a flat surface, one stretched tight and suspended, one where the cigarette gets 'stuck' in a fold, and one where a jerk would poke the tubing with a cigarette. Here are the results: I had no 'luck' getting the cloth to catch fire from a cigarette, however, it did melt and smolder. It's quite possible, under the right conditions, that an actual fire could result. That would be a bad thing, as you'll see later. Here's some close ups: Last I did the cigarette poke test. Turns out this stuff readily melts when exposed to a burning cigarette. I managed to make a smiley face. Please keep in mind my test was anything but scientific. Do NOT rely on this believing a cigarette will not start a fire with this stuff. There are a lot of variables I simply don't have the knowledge or resources to test for. Factors that could drastically change things are temps, wind, age of materials, dyes or other chemicals, lint, and goodness knows what else. This was a demonstration. Please, by All Means, use caution, and err on the side of safety! Because... Next is fire. I simply took a lighter in one hand, the (pretty fast) camera in the other, and managed to get three pictures taken before dropping the burning mess. Folks, this stuff burns FAST. According to the manufacturer, it's 50% cotton and 50% polyester. It's thin, light, and has a lot of air gaps, making it very vulnerable to flame. Once it starts burning, the rest is quickly engulfed in flame. This is by no means a manufacturing defect. Remember, this stuff was designed to hold dead meat, not to suffer our abominations. heh Anyway, the vendor does say this stuff can be treated with fire retardant. Still, I felt I should drive the point home, so I took some video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DwrudGiZW0 The video stops about three seconds before most of the fire burns itself out, and about ten seconds before all flame is gone. It smolders for quite some time after that. As you can see, it's somewhat surprising just how fast fire engulfs this material. Keep this in mind. Unless treated with fire retardant, I would NOT use this around any structure in any great quantity, nor would I use it around any open flame, hot lamps or motors, or wherever something gets really hot. The polyester doesn't quite burn, it melts. An important consideration if using this stuff for a costume. Use fire retardant, use a layer of heavy cotton clothing under, and try to make the costume easy to get out of. I hope this was helpful.
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