Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Modern String Pendant: Tuesday Tutorial

I got a couple requests about the string pendants shown in my giveaway photos. They were super easy to make so I thought I'd share how I did it with you.


When I was coming up with the idea for how the photo shoot was going to play out, I knew I wanted to use that Echino print. Problem was-it was such a large print! With the table so low, I needed something to balance the height of the print. I almost went with paper lanterns, but wanted something more colorful. I have a lot of embroidery thread around here and decided that a string pendant, similar to those modern light fixtures would look perfect!

Here's how it's done:
Materials:
15 skeins of DMC embroidery floss (this makes the two balloons shown. I used 6 on the smaller one and about 8 on the larger, but really wanted more--it's really to your liking)
elmer's glue
foam brush
9" balloons
12" balloons


1. Hang your balloon from a string with a paperclip. It is best if it is up in the air so nothing is able to compromise the shape of the finished product.

2. Apply a bit of glue with your brush to the balloon. Place the end of the embroidery thread, and begin to wind around, brushing with glue as you go. Keep adding thread, winding, and brushing glue until it is as full as you like it. Give the ball another good brush of glue (you want the string to be saturated!)

3. Let dry. (make sure to put a paper plate or something underneath to catch the drips of glue!)

Pop the balloon and cut a hole in the top to insert a light fixture or just to tie some string to.

Done! How easy was that?

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful, I'd love to make some of these for our childrens' room. I'll have to add them to my very long craft to-do list :)

    ReplyDelete

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