Milk Carton Tomato Cage Witch Craft: its Bewitched with Cuteness

Milk carton tomato cage witch: I was very pleased with this new tomato cage craft project for the fall. I wanted to create a new tomato cage Halloween character this year. My new milk carton tomato cage witch is part of my growing collection of tomato cage projects. I found a picture of a witch windsock a couple weeks ago and it stirred my imagination to come up with this not so scary milk carton tomato cage witch.

What you will need to make your own milk carton tomato cage witch:

1. tomato cage, medium size
2. two large black garbage bags with pull ties
3. one gallon milk jug cleaned out and sticker removed
4. wire coat hanger and wire cutters
5. sharpie makers to use for facial features
6. witch hat, homemade or purchased ( I purchased mine at the dollar tree)
7. wired ribbon for neck decoration
8.  black electrical tape
9. any decoration for her hands ( I used a basket with apples, but a small broom, or sunflower would have also worked)
10. scissors

Directions to make the milk carton tomato cage witch:

My first step was to spray paint the milk jug. I used a sage green I had on hand and let it dry 24 hours mainly because it has been so humid here, I wanted to make sure it was dry.  When the milk jug is turned upside down, you can almost see the witches face appear, indentation for eyes pronounced nose and cheeks.  I then used a pencil to sketch out the eyebrows that followed the lines of the jug, and the eyes.  I then went over the pencil with the black sharpie marker to outline the brows and eyes.  The whites of her eyes are white-out and the rest is the sharpie.

The body (tomato cage) was next.  Turn the tomato cage upside down, the prongs that are now sticking up are gathered together and rubberband in place.  In the center of these I stuck a dowel rod to help keep her head upright.  Otherwise she tends to droop.  If the prongs are long enough on the tomato cage you may not need it.  This is when you want to slide her head on to see how it sits.  Do not attach yet.  Cut the hook end of the wire coat hanger off and bend the remaining hanger in half, with original bend sections straightened out.  I now twist this wire around the rubberband twice to creat her arms.  I also fold back the ends to create small hooks to use later for holding a basket or broom. The first large garbage bag is folded in half sideways with the pull ties at the bottom and the sealed edge on the top. Cut a small triangle at the top center fold this will slide over the prongs and rest on her arms.  Work the garbage bag down to the bottom of the cage and start to pull the ties to anchor it at the bottom.  Tie in knot and ease the plastic around the bottom so it is even.  That should finish the body part.  With the second garbage bag I cut off the pull tie section at the second fold in the bag to use as a sort of cape.  Just pull the tie closed and slip over the prongs before finished tying tight, knot and cut off exccess pull tie.

I used about a twelve inch lenght of the remainder of the second bag to cut into strips to about an inch from the top. This will be her stringy hair.  This I taped in place around her head with the black electrical tape.  Once this is done it is time to tape her head to her body.  My advice is tie her hair out of the way first, the tape sticks to it otherwise, and place the neck of the jug over the prongs and tape as securely as you can.  You are now ready to place the witches hat on her head.  I stuffed mine with some old grocery bags and I also use the black electrical tape to tape the hat on to the jug .  I would also suggest you may want to hot glue the hat on if it is not secure enough.  I would use a low temp glue gun to avoid melting the milk jug.

Your final finishes would be the wired  ribbon bow at her neck and to attach the decor of choice to her hands.  You will have to shape them to you liking or leave them outstretched , it is up to you.

This project took about two hours to complete aside from painting the milk jug. Hope you enjoyed it!

Would love to see some of your creations of this witch!  Hope you give a try.

Here is the 2017 version of the same  basic witch, only on the large tomato cage, and used construction garbage bag for the body.  She stands about 5 feet tall and is weather proof!