Lo and I celebrated 15 years of togetherness last Monday. My heart feels like it's been kissed by the sun since I've known him. I dedicate this post, the result, and my very heart to him.
This wreath is inspired by those beautiful string wedding balloon displays, like
THIS one, for example.
Tutorial ♥ A Sunkissed Heart Wreath
You will need:
- 2 long skinny balloons (the type used to make balloon animals)
- balloon pump (unless you have gorilla lungs)
- white (PVA) glue
- water
- container for glue
- yarn
- pair of scissors
- pin or sharp thing
- length of ribbon (optional)
- drop cloth or newspaper
Step 1. Using the pump, blow up the two skinny balloons. Try making them of equal size or as close to it as possible leaving tails a few inches long. Knot them.
Step 2. Gently tie the knotted end to the tail end to create two loopy balloons as shown.
Step 3. Cut up your yarn into several 2-3 ft (60-90 cm) lengths. Pour some glue out into the container. Add a little water to the glue to make it a little runnier than normal. Say 4:1 glue to water.
Step 4. Now to the messy part. One at a time, drop your yarn pieces into the glue, coating them fully and removing any excess dripping glue. Wrap your gluey yarn around a balloon. Continue in this way, wrapping your balloons with gluey yarn, criss-crossing over lower layers and building up a web of yarn around each balloon. Note that in photo 4, my balloons still require more yarn as they would NOT be strong enough to hold the shape if left as shown. However you do not want to fully cover the balloons either. You want the sun to shine through your heart (words of wisdom my friend)... Let these dry overnight on clean glass or plastic. Do not dry it on paper or you'll wind up with gobs of paper permanently attached to your heart. No no.
Step 5. The next day: Prick the balloons with a pin (or sharp thing) and gently pull out the balloon carcasses. It's cool how hard your pieces are, once dry. Now, you want to place your balloons side by side to see if they need to be trimmed or not, and to figure out the best way to join them into a heart shape.
Here's what I did:
Step 6. I started with the bottom joint. I butted the two ends together as shown. No glue yet.
Step 7. And for the top joint, I cut away half the cylinder (equal in length to the diameter of the cylinder).
Step 8. This made a recess into which the other end fit nicely. Now I checked to be sure that with both sides butted together my heart was actually heart-shaped. I had to trim a little off the bottom of one side so it all looked hunky dory.
Step 9. I then strengthened both joints with several lengths of gluey yarn. Notice the many overlaps. Once dry, these joints are strong like bull. At this point, I also added a few lengths of yarn over the rest of the heart to make it extra robust. Allow your heart to dry out overnight on glass or plastic.
The next morning, find your heart ready to be hung up and admired!
String it up with a ribbon, place it in a window and let the sun beam through it. Just LOVE-ly!...
Happy anniversary Lo. My heart is yours. Let's keep up the good work, okay?
♥M
Oh! And speaking of wreaths, check out my latest project. It's a blog! I call it:
