I found a picture of a ball constructed with yarn, using a balloon and glue. I liked it!
I had the image but no real instructions.
I have recorded my events for those of you who wish to make this fun project too.
I am not the first and will certainly not be the last to create one of these beauties :)
Materials needed:
Yarn of your choice, clear drying glue and a balloon.
This is how I first visualized how the yarn should be attached to the balloon. I cut lengths of yarn, put them into the container of glue, then pulled them out 1 by 1, ran my fingers down the piece of yarn getting out the excess glue, then roughly placed the strand of yarn around the balloon, piece by piece.
This was a slow and messy process, I also realized that I would not be able to turn the balloon over to do the bottom until the top dried as the yarn would slide off the balloon :(
So here is the balloon, sitting on my sink to dry, it is on a plastic lid so it will not stick to that and the excess glue is running freely onto my sink, more mess. I also tried using doilies, but I scrapped that very quickly, the doily medium was heavy and it slipped off. I had also made my glue too thin :(
The balloon took a couple of days to dry enough for me to be able to turn it to finish off the bottom part, too slow.
I had to rethink my approach, so I blew up a couple of more balloons in different sizes, BUT, this time I simply wrapped the balloon with the yarn, then brushed on the glue (which I had made stronger this time). The first one I wrapped was the little one and I wrapped far too much yarn on it, so the second one was the medium size and I took more care to wrap it thinner. After they were brushed with the glue on all sides and bottoms (yes the entire balloon in one go) I placed them in a sunny place to dry.
This is my experience with the popping of the balloons.
These are the balls almost dried.
This is how I hung my yarn balls as a decorative piece in my sun room.
This project is only limited by one's imagination, I see so much more that can be done with this technique, such as:
Make a ball for your garden, place small scraps of yarn into it, the birds can pull out the scrap yarn and use it to make their nest with.
Make small balls and allow an opening to insert a small led light into it and place these around your out door seating area.
By using sausage shape balloons you can make a plastic bag storage/dispenser.
Wrap only half the balloon for a decorative plate.
The list goes on and on.
I have mentioned in my video about using these for light shades or candles, I am not sure if these will be fire resistant, it could come down to your choice of fiber that is used, more research is needed here if I am going to do that.
This is my next project for xmas, small decorations for my xmas get together, I am using cotton until I run out of that, then I will just use scrap yarn in xmas colors.
Home made glue to use:
Combine ½ cup flour and 2 cups cold water in a bowl.
Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and add the flour and cold water mixture.
Bring to a boil again.
Remove from heat and add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Let cool. The paste will thicken as it cools.
Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and add the flour and cold water mixture.
Bring to a boil again.
Remove from heat and add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Let cool. The paste will thicken as it cools.
