With today’s Halloween creatures plush tutorial, learn how to make an adorable 3D Halloween bat using pipe cleaners. Makes Halloween hanging ornaments, spooky party centerpieces, bag charms, whimsical desk toys, or festive gifts. This is a part of our “Halloween pipe cleaner buddies” plushie series!
Black pipe cleaners are coiled around a marker, threaded together, and compacted into dense spheres to form the head and body.
Make Purple and Black Googly Bat Plushie
Triangular ears with purple inner liners, googly eyes, and tiny white fangs are hot-glued onto the face.
Intricate wings are built by bending a ribbed frame, weaving purple chenille stems to fill the wing membranes, and adding black ribbed outlines. Finally, two folded claw feet are attached beneath the body.
Difficulty Level
Level: Intermediate
Why: Unlike simple twisted crafts, this project requires advanced chenille stem techniques: coiling and shaping hollow stems into firm 3D spheres without an internal armature, weaving dense flat membranes across wing ribs, and precise hot gluing of miniature facial details (like tiny trimmed fangs).
Materials
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Black pipe cleaners (chenille stems)
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Purple pipe cleaners
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White pipe cleaner (scrap piece for fangs)
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Round marker or pen (used as a coiling mandrel)
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Small googly eyes (2 pcs)
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Hot glue gun and glue sticks
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Scissors/craft snips
Folds, Bends & Techniques Used
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Mandrel Coiling: Winding pipe cleaners around a pen to create spring-like coils.
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Spherical Compacting: Threading straight stems through multiple coils and compressing them into solid round head and body balls.
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Triangular Ear Bending: Folding purple stems into triangles and wrapping black borders around them.
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Scalloped Rib Bending: Bending purple stems into a multi-pointed framework representing bat wing finger bones.
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Weave-Fill (Membrane Weaving): Weaving purple stems back and forth across the wing ribs to create solid, plush wing webbing.
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Contour Outlining: Bending and gluing black pipe cleaners along the wing perimeter and ribs for contrast.
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Claw Looping: Bending tiny loops at the ends of a short stem to form three-toed feet.
Make the Halloween Googly-Eyed Bat Plushie
Quick Frame-by-Frame Guide
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Coil the Stems (00:00–00:15): Wrap black pipe cleaners tightly around a marker to make multiple tight coils, then slide them off.
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Form Head & Body (00:16–01:39): Thread a straight black stem through several coils, squash them together into a compact round ball for the head, and repeat to make the body. Bind and trim excess wire.
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Make Ears & Eyes (01:40–02:24): Fold small purple triangles, wrap them in black borders to create ears, and hot-glue them atop the head. Adhere two googly eyes onto the face.
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Attach Fangs (02:25–03:09): Trim small white pipe cleaner fluff into sharp fangs, glue them below the eyes, and trim a tiny chin accent.
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Construct the Wings (03:10–05:32): Bend purple stems into a three-ribbed wing frame. Weave purple pipe cleaners tightly across the ribs to fill the wing membrane. Outline the upper edge and ribs with a black pipe cleaner and hot glue. Repeat to make two wings.
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Mount Wings & Add Feet (05:33–06:29): Hot-glue both wings symmetrically to the sides of the body. Fold a short black stem into tiny clawed feet, glue them underneath the base, and pose the bat.