OOOH! Creepy!

  Creepy Cloth is the new name given to old-fashioned cheesecloth.  Any of you that are near my age will remember the stuff that was a staple in the kitchens of folks who made a lot of cheese or jelly.  People nowadays have long since forgotten that the fabric was ever used in the kitchen during food processing.  This miracle cloth was also a staple in sheds and workshops at the same time.  It was great to use as a cleaning rag or in applying stains on woodworking projects.  The stuff was just all around useful.  Now, it has seen a rebirth as Creepy Cloth.  Creepy Cloth (aka cheesecloth with a little dye) fills the department stores this time of year.  Halloween decorations just would not be the same without the fabric. I know that my decorations would be lacking if I ever stop using it!

  My whole point of this is to tell of a new use I have found for cheesecloth.  Yep, it is still using it as a Halloween decoration but this time not as curtains or tablecloths.  Elizabeth and I have discovered the stuff is best used as wigs! We had a skeleton that needed dressing for her debut so she now has beautifully coiffed hair...err cheesecloth!  It is amazing how wonderfully this worked!  Elizabeth styled the cloth into an elegant updo for the skeleton and I think the bony lady approved!

  Then I was in dire need of a bit of Spanish moss for an arbor.  The moss I had was old and starting to shed a bit so I used a bit of ingenuity. Cheesecloth!  I dyed cheesecloth in a weird mixture of black paint and stale coffee.  The result was a delightful shade of "old gray".  The panels of cloth were stripped to about three inches wide, looped over the arbor and tied.  Once in place, the cloth was again stripped.  This created long, flowing "moss" trails.  I was pleased with the results but need to dye a bit more to complete the arbor.  A few lights and the walk-through arbor shall be "hauntified"! 

  Cheesecloth still remains a lot cheaper than the same stuff marketed as Creepy Cloth.  With a few things most of us have on hand, the cheaper version can be made look just like the more expensive type.  This will save you a ton of money if you use as much as I do each year.  Even though I carefully recycle the cloth from year to year, I still find the need to have more.  I keep a ready supply of the stuff on hand for decorating but, also, for jelly-making!  Imagine that?  I can use my "creepy cloth" in the kitchen!