Last month I visited a restaurant that had light shades that looked like giant spheres made of strings of white yarn. A friend that was with me said that she had seen tutorials online of how to make them with a balloon and some glue.
I thought that was a neat idea, and as I began thinking about ways to decorate for parties (we have a birthday coming in our family), I thought it would be fun to do something similar, but with colour. Then I thought it would be fun to try with ribbon. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I thought you’d be interested to see what happened, so I took pictures!
Want to join me on my experimental journey to find out if my “ribbon balloon” idea
could become a reality ?
If you’re giving this a try, you’ll need the following:
– ribbon
– white glue
– inflated balloon
– water
– helper (you can see her arm in the photo ;))
I started by pouring some glue into a bowl, and adding a little bit of water to it. I can’t give you a measurements, because I just aimed for runny, but not totally watery.
Then I started at the end of my spool of ribbon and dipped it in the glue:
After dipping in glue, lay it on your balloon, and continue wrapping your balloon with the glue-y ribbon. This is where a little helper comes in handy. My 3 year old held the balloon for me while I worked (until she got tired of it)
It’s pretty messy & your hands will get very glue-y in the process, so be prepared for that! (I put a piece of cardboard on the table, to catch drips and for easy clean up.) For my balloon, I wanted to use more than one color of ribbon, so I got my little helper to trim the ribbon when needed, since my hands were a mess!
Before hanging the balloon to dry, I added some extra glue. I just got it in my hands & smoothed it over the balloon & ribbon. Do this carefully, or you’ll be rearranging all of your ribbons! I wanted to make sure it was really glue-y, incase I hadn’t put enough on in the first place. I wasn’t sure if it would work with ribbon as well as it does with yarn, since the ribbon wouldn’t be able to soak up the glue.
I’m thinking it may have been better to skip that step because of what happened with the glue that was inbetween ribbons, on the balloon. You’ll see what I mean soon.
Let the balloon dry overnight. In the morning, this is what I found:
Hopeful, I popped the balloon, to see what would happen.
I was hoping for a collapsed balloon and a lovely, stiff “ribbon balloon” in its place.
Instead, this happened:
Aaaaand I was pretty sure I was going to have to come up with another post idea for you for today 😉
Feeling bummed, I pulled the balloon away from the ribbon, and “puffed up” the sad, deflated “ribbon balloon”. To my surprise, it took shape again! But, it had a lot of glue in between ribbons that I didn’t think looked very pretty. (That’s why I’m thinking I could’ve skipped the extra glue step the night before)
So, I looked at that sad ribbon balloon & for a few seconds, I tried to convince myself that it was cute. But I knew it wasn’t 😉 So, I sat down on the couch with my daughter (who was watching a movie) and while watching, I started picking/peeling those bits of glue off. They came off quite easily but there were a lot of them. So, it took a while, but it wasn’t hard work or anything, and it was over pretty quick since I was busy watching a movie at the same time 😉
In this photo, you can still see a few bits of glue. You can decide how picky you want to be (pun intended) about those bits, and stop there, or keep going to make it “perfect”.
So, in the end, I am here to report that yes, you CAN create a ribbon balloon. It won’t be stiff (as I imagined it would be), but it will hold its shape. It might deflate and shrivel up after popping your balloon in the morning, but all is NOT lost! 🙂 It actually turned out to look pretty good, and I think that if you had a lot of time to spend making them, you could totally make some cute decorations out of these!
So, what do you think?
Did it end up looking cute or am I just kidding myself?
Would you make these?
P.S. Come visit me & check out some other party ideas over at my blog, Raising Memories!
Kimberly says
I’m thinking that this would have worked out better with satin ribbon since it would absorb the glue. Just a thought 🙂
Heather says
Good thinking!!!
Sara says
Very cute. You could try spraying it lightly with hairspray. Or maybe starch would even work. But I know that hairspray can stiffen ribbon.
Heather says
Oh, these are great ideas! Thank you!
Alison says
I think that would be fun at my daughters birthday party. Really cute!
Heather says
Thanks Alison! 🙂
Shauna Altman says
I like it! I wonder if fabric ribbon would soak up the glue better and therefore hold shape better? Oh, and I would guess about a 50/50 ratio water:glue. But don’t quote me. LOL!
Shauna
Heather says
That’s a good point about the satin ribbon soaking up the glue better!
Cait says
I’m a nanny to 3 little girls, so this is definitely going to be a part of their Christmas presents! Is it best to use the plastic (?) gift wrapping ribbon or would satin ribbon work, too? If you haven’t tried with the satin ribbon, then I’ll give it a go and let you know what I find out 🙂
Heather says
I have not tried satin ribbon, but I think satin ribbon might even work better, since it’ll be able to soak up more glue. Definitely let us know if you try it, how it went!
Kathy B. (scrapkat) says
I made something similar years ago with string. I used liquid starch and painted in on after the balloon was completely wrapped. I don’t think spray starch would be heavy enough to hold it, but I haven’t tried it.
Heather says
That’s an interesting idea- thanks for sharing that!
Anne V says
Liquid starch or fabric stiffener might work better. Let the ribbon really soak it up, then run the ribbon through your finger and thumb(like a squeegee) to get the excess off. Apply to balloon and continue. Letting the ribbon soak makes sure the liquid penetrates the fibers-giving you a much stiffer finish.
Heather says
When I was younger, my mother would make these every year as a fun craft to do together. We made these at Eastertime and made them egg shaped by blowing the balloon larger and we used string. Then once dry, pop, then should would sit it down and cut open a hole and place that grass in it and we would set them out for the “Easter Bunny” to leave us treats. We looked forward to them every year.
emilia says
i think they are very pretty. it worked fine. not a fail!!
Jessica-Lynn says
Hi Heather!
First I need to tell you how much I adore your blog! I am a blog and tutorial fanatic and of course loving the pinterest thing I am a very crafty and actually quite unique person apparently according to my husband that is lol. But I was searching pinterest one night once the baby was in bed and came across something similar to this but with yarn as you mentioned before! SO go figures I attempted to make this as well and go figures I have no yarn! But I did however have white string and as I attempted to do this (By myself – As my son is only 8 months old lol and my husband was working) it was like you said very messy & actually quite difficult to wrap and hold! So I used one of my sons plastic cups and place the balloon on that but it really just prevented it from touching my table it was still a little helpful though.. Now I used Mod Podge Glossy! & a Paint Brush and as you mentioned as well with your rubbing the glue all over and the ribbon being able to easily move my string was the same especially since I was using a paint brush! & I didn’t soak my string as I didn’t realize that you had too! Ugh bummer! But mine I gave up on because my son started to get cranky after wondering what the heck Mommy was attemping to attach string to a balloon! What an experience! But It will work for sure like yours did mine is hardened but kinda all over the place as I stopped for my son and i’ll admit I was getting frustrated as well lol But I too thought about using ribbon because I thought it would be nice if you blew all different sizes of balloons and used silver, gold, red, and green ribbon for Christmas ornaments! To hang on the tree or in the window or wherever. But I have always wondered how do they make those balls that you often see in a bowl of primitives and such? The ones that seem to have a twig wrapped around it. I wonder would it be the same way or similar? What do you think? Nice work by the way yours looks a million times better than ours does lol!
Yours Truly!
Jessica-Lynn <3
paige dempsey says
So I’ve some similar to this before and used yarn instead. We actually make Easter baskets with it. When your putting the yarn on the balloon make sure you leave a big ova on one of theists in the morning if the glue is dry, pop the balloon then stuff with ester basket grass and whatever else you want.
Christine says
I would try clothing starch instead of glue. the ribbon would be stiff and stay in place and shouldn’t stick to the balloon. You might also have more luck with a slow leak in the balloon.
Mindy says
I’ve made baskets in a similar way, but with yarn and a bowl.
Thalia says
My mom makes these with colored yarn instead. You almost got it right, just change these two things:
– Don’t use any old glue: use HEAVY DUTY wallpaper glue.
aaaand…
– Don’t slather the balloon in glue: soak the strings/ribbons into the glue and THEN apply them to the balloon.
And here’s a really fun tip: try making a valentinesday lampshade with red ribbons and a heartshaped balloon. *insert cheeky creativity-in-the-bedroom joke here*
Natasha Foote says
hi there,This looks gorgeous. I have done this with yarn in my class, we smothered the balloon with vaseline first and then when you pop the balloon it leaves it in the perfect shape and takes the glue-y bits in between with it!
Susan says
I made these as a child in the 60s using a type of ribbon that stuck to itself and got hard when it was wet. It might have been called Tie Tie by Hallmark. I also made them with string and starch in school. Then when my son was in elementary school I made them with his class but I don’t remember just how I did it. It’s a fun project.
Derick Gisselle says
Great tutorial. Actually, I am searching on google for this ideas because Christmas is coming and decorate my house. So your idea is really awesome it’s helpful for me. Thank you provide the information is easy to understand.