Here’s another project I neglected to post this summer. I was commissioned to do some artwork to hang on the door of a local repair shop. After some discussion I settled on the image of a hunched-over welder lit with eerie light by the sparks of his welding arc. I painted the image with acrylic paint and enamels on a large sheet of plexiglass. It took me a long time to complete it, but I’m quite satisfied with the end result.
One of the reasons I created pitifully few blog posts this summer was because of my preoccupation with a certain wedding decoration. I discovered this do-it-yourself project (thank you Stumbleupon) just in time to suggest it to my cousin, who was to be married on 9-10-11. She instantly loved it, so my mom and I took it upon ourselves to contribute a bazillion of these things for her wedding. We followed the very basic instructions, which turned out to be not as easy as they sound:
Instructions:
1. Inflate the balloon to a medium size so the shape is a little rounder.
2. If you’re looking to make a lampshade out of the string chandelier, use a sharpie to mark around the knot on the balloon.
3. Before you start working, we recommend using a tarp. Mix corn starch, glue and warm water together until it has a smooth texture.
5. Smear the vaseline all over your balloon until it is completely coated so th twine wet with glue won’t stick on the balloon after dry.
6. You can start a little assembly line with friends by one of you feeding the yarn through the glue mix and giving to another person to wrap it around the balloon.
7. Start wrapping the balloon vertically, slowly changing to wrapping. For a seamless look, tuck the ends of the twine under one of the wrapped strings.
8. Wait 24 hours until the balloon has completely dried before popping the balloon.
9. Spray the string chandeliers with clear fast drying spray paint et voila!
#6 turned out to be one of the most important steps. My cousin and I realized it was much easier to make these spheres with the help of a buddy. We also tried skipping the vaseline, but decided in the end it’s very important to use the nasty stuff. We used a mixture of yarn and embroidery thread, which gave us a variety of thread weights in our selected colors (green, purple, and white).
We also decided to take the spheres a step further in two crucial ways:
#1 We glittered the spheres after they were dry with coordinating colors of glitter, adhering the lovely sparkles with heavy coats of clear lacquer. The glitter really added beauty when the spheres caught the light of the setting sun or the glow of the twinkle lights after dark.
#2 We had the bride order little battery lights, the waterproof kind you see in floral arrangements. These we turned on (with a simple twist) and popped between the threads the day of the wedding, illuminating them from within. It was really magical when dozens of spheres glowed in the air after dark.
As implied on our source blog, we hung the spheres in the air with fishing line, so as to create the illusion of them floating. The day of the wedding we hung the orbs from the branches above the dancefloor. The finished product was truly fantastic, as if from a fairytale.
This project was really fun to do (albeit a little tedious), and I think all our hard work paid off for that extra magical touch the orbs added to a truly beautiful wedding. I’ll conclude with a picture of the bride and groom’s first dance beneath the softly glowing spheres, and then a slideshow of what can only be conveyed with pictures.
