I started this one on Sunday. Super easy because you might already have everything you need right in your house. A balloon, some string, glue and glitter. Bringin back an old Martha Stewart craft, I made snowflake balls.
Start with a balloon, blow it up so it's as close to round as you can get it. Smaller ones obviously work better and if you go to an actual party store you can get *round* balloons. These balloons I purchased 50 to a pack from the dollar tree, in assorted sizes. Dab a spot of glue to get your string started and go to town wrapping every which way. The first balls I completed, I really used a lot of string and they are quite stable. I was surprised when I popped the balloon that there was no hint of them collapsing. So, the more string you use, the more stable this structure will be.
String shot:
Next you coat this baby with glue. Again, the first ones I did I really laid it on them and there are places where it kinda clumped between the strings. I tried to be a little more careful with this next one I did, but I have a feeling since this one is larger and has a smaller string/balloon ratio, I will be doing either a second coat of glue or a coat of white paint.
Glue shot:
Wait for the glue to dry thoroughly. I used cheapy school glue and it took less than a day to dry. I took the end of a paintbrush and kinda pushed on my balloon to make sure the balloon would separate from the string before I popped the balloon and used tweezers to pull it out. I then did a lighter coat of glue and glittered.
Completed balls:
Problems: My completed balls look.... dingy or something to me. I don't know if my glitter has a funny color to it that caused this or if it was the string wasn't completely white or if the glue wasn't completely clear. Either way, I think I'd like for them to be more of a pure snowy white so I may paint this next one with white paint as an additional hardening tool and so I can get that bright white I'm looking for.
Use: Put a hook in the top for an ornament, gift tags, tied around the neck of a wine bottle, put a group of these in a bowl for a cute centerpiece... The larger one, I would love to put a little light in it for my front porch. Once the string is hard, you should be able to cut out sections carefully as needed for projects like that. I would probably recommend using a florescent light since string and heat may not be such a good combo. Or put some borax on it, I've heard that helps with fire retarding. Either way, don't leave this unattended. It would also be nice just as a little festive table lamp. I'll probably come up with 20 more things to use it for before I get these pictures uploaded.
11 years ago
4 equal yet different opinions:
Awesome! I'm totally doing this. If you make small ones and paint them bright colors, they'd probably make good everyday house decorations, too.
Two years ago I decorated our apartment with 3D paper snowflakes. (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake) I used white office paper for big ones, and blue origami paper for smaller ones. I wanted to try other materials to make more permanent pieces, but never got around to it. The effect of the basic paper style was still nice, though, and super cheap!
I'm totally making those snowflakes!!! That is so cool! I wasn't even done posting and you had already left a comment, stalker!
When I was making these, I thought they kinda looked like mummys, so maybe you could paint eyes on one side and turn them around for halloween.
I like the idea of painting them bright colors as well, they would be nice on lights around a deck or patio in the summer. Not too weather resistant though.
Ha - your blog is in my feed reader, so it shows up as soon as you publish. :)
And maybe if you use some sort of carpenter's glue and some deck varnish, they could go outside. Won't be white, but actually they might come out kind of woodsy.
Now I need to go buy some string... and balloons... and glue!
(By the way, I love the word verification on your comments today. My words have been "anderflu" and "bononted." :)
yeah, the more I thought about it, I think maybe I'll coat one in shellack and stick it outside to see what happens.
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