First up are these really fun yarn chandlers. You probably made a few of these growing up, but believe it or not this was my first time. It is very similar to paper mache which I actually did do once in school.
I have been planning on make these for quite some time. I crochet a blanket for J's new room a while back and have not made much progress on her room since. But now that I have these complete, I'm hoping it motivates me to get it finished. Anyways... on to the tutorial.
I actually got the idea from Pintrest (aww... don't you love Pintrest!). It came from the Hostess with the Mostest blog (which I love!). She does a good job of outlining the process. But I thought I would share my photos of the process as well.
What you need:
- yarn (I do not recommend wool... that sucked!)
- glue
- cornstarch
- water
- vasaline
- ballons
Step 1: Gather your materials (sorry that is the science teacher in me... hehe)
Sept 2: Blow up your balloons. This was quite a fun step here. J is really into balloons and coupled with my hubby's sick sense of humor we had balloons being shot across the room for hours. I use 3 different size balloons (punching, 9", and 5") and blew each one up to a slightly different volume to give me a varied look.
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| I don't have any idea why this pic is flipped on it's side... sorry about that. |
Once you have them blown up, hang them over your shower curtain rod in the bathroom.
Step 3: Mix up your glue mixture. It took me a little more than two bottles of glue to do the 8 chandlers that I did. Here's a tip. Empty the glue bottles into your bowl and then pour your water into the glue bottle. Put the cap on and shake. This will get out almost all of the glue from your bottle! I just eye-balled the amount of corn starch. I did about 2 parts glue to 1 part water and 1 part corn starch.
Step 4: Cover your balloons with a thin layer of vasoline. This will keep the yarn from sticking to the balloon when you pop it.
Step 5: Dip your yarn. I suggest working in smaller strips rather than trying to do one big piece. Also use the hand that you will be winding with to dip the yarn instead of the hand you will be holding the balloon with. It will keep things cleaner and keep your hand from sticking to the balloon so much. Make sure you hold on to one end when you dip the yarn. I dipped the yarn and then used my "clean" hand to hold the end while using my "dirty" hand to squeeze off the excess glue mixture. Drape the already squeezed yarn over the outside of your bowl to keep it from falling back into the mixture.
Step 6: Wrap yarn around balloon. When you come to the end of a strip, wrap the end around the nearest previously wrapped yarn. Try to make this look as inconspicuous as possible. This part gets really mess, but that is the beauty of the project. It would be great to let your kids help if they are old enough!
Step 7: Let them dry for 24 hours. Do you self a favor and have patience. You will be really angry at your self if you have to start all over!
Step 8: The best part! Pop your balloons! Of course I was too excited for this part and forgot to take a picture. But here is a shot of the aftermath of my balloon massacre.
Step 9: Hang your chandlers using new yarn. I just wrap the other end of the yarn around a thumb tack and tack it to the ceiling. Easy peasy.
Step 10: Enjoy your handy work!
Next up... I will show you how I made the paper balls!
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