DIY Yarn Lantern and Votive Holders

Hi there....Today's post is about yarn lanterns which is a rage right now....
As promised in my earlier post Diwali 2014 , I am now explaining you the procedure of how to make a round yarn lantern....Plus, there is a bonus ahead...so, continue reading....
Let me first show you a picture of the yarn lantern I made....

Yarn Lantern

The materials used were:

• Yarn- I used wool, but cotton works best
• White PVA glue- Fevicol/ Elmers
• Cornstarch
• Water
• Plastic cup/ bowl (preferably disposable)- to make the mixture
• Candy stick/ skewer- to stir the mixture
• Inflatable ball/ balloon
• Oil - any cooking oil

Materials

Let me walk you through the process.... The quantity of the mixture required depends on the size of the ball/ balloon you are using..... I used a small ball for which I'll tell you the quantity..... You can increase the quantity as per your requirement....

You can use a balloon if you don't have a ball...However, use a good quality thick balloon, as it holds shape better, and so will your lantern.....

First of all prep your surface by laying a lot of newspapers, as this project can get messy...

Also, wear an apron or garbage bag to cover yourself....I learnt it the hard way....

Now, for making the mixture, I used five teaspoons of glue, five teaspoons of water and five heaped teaspoons of cornstarch. I poured each of these ingredients in a disposable glass....Then, I took the help of a skewer stick to stir the mixture well.....The mixture should have the consistency of pancake batter, not too thick and not too runny.....Then I soaked my yarn ball in the glass for 20 mins.......Before soaking, I rolled the yarn in a loose ball, so as to allow the mixture to reach to its center....That way, I made sure that every inch was soaked in the mixture......Meanwhile, I inflated my sons plastic ball and lubricated it by rubbing a few drops of oil on it with my fingers....This was to ensure easy removal of the ball after the lantern dried.

Now, comes the fun part....I used a disposable salad container for the base...you can use any bowl or cup you have on hand.....This is just to rest the ball for drying.....I slowly unravelled the yarn and removing the excess mixture, I started rolling the yarn around the ball.... I am sorry I don't have the pictures while doing the process as my hands were too messy to take any pictures.....I rolled the yarn all over the ball in a criss cross pattern till most of the ball was covered....I rolled the yarn in such a way that the top white circle of the ball was not covered....I needed that space to put the light in....I left the ball on the tray to dry for 24 hours....When it was completely dry, I opened the ball's air lock and deflated it....The ball left the sides easily due to the oil coat I applied to it in the beginning.....I slowly pulled out the ball from the top.....It looked like this....

Ball Lantern

Since I used a small ball I could not fit in a bulb, so I put battery operated string lights instead....

It looked like this when lit.....

Yarn Lantern

Inspired by my success, my little sis also tried it out...She used a bigger size ball...This is how her yarn lantern turned out......

Fancy Yarn Lantern

She pepped it up by using contrast color wool to glue some flowers.... I justloved it....

It looks better than mine!!!!

Since it was of bigger size, she ued a low watt bulb and put it up as a lantern for Diwali.....

This is how it looks lit up......

Ball Lantern

Hope I succeeded in explaining the procedure....Do try it out....its pretty easy....

Now, let me show you the bonus I talked about earlier....Yarn Votive Holders!!!!

I told you about them too in my post Diwali 2014

When I made my lantern, I had some leftover mixture....Instead of throwing it away I decided to do something different....I took a square shaped glass bottle and the water bottle shown in the pic above, and used them to make my votive holders.....

Just like I did for the ball, I oiled the bottle to make the votive holder easier to remove.....

I soaked orange yarn (wool) in the mixture and rolled it in a criss cross pattern on the bottle just like I did for the balloon and left it to dry for 24 hours....For the plastic bottle too, I did the same.....After it dried completely, I slid the square votive holder off the bottle.....But for the plastic bottle, I used a slightly different approach....I cut the plastic bottle with the yarn at the top level of the yarn and left the bottle inside the yarn as it is....Its a good way to upcycle used water bottles.....

This is how they looked.....

Yarn Votive Holders

I used LED votives inside them to avoid the risk of fire...This is how they look when lit....

Yarn Votive Holders

I hope you enjoyed the post...I loved to share the process with you as I had a lot of fun making them....Go ahead and make some, and share the pics with me in the comment box too.....

Thanks for visiting and comment below to let me know you were here...See you soon with more!!!

Art on a Bottle- 2

Hello again :)
This is another Art on a bottle I did this week......
You might remember the earlier DIY Art on a bottle post with the tutorial, that I 
uploaded a few months back......
The process is similar but the design....way different!!!
Here's the bottle for you to see.....

Art on a Bottle

So, getting back to the basics.....

This was a beer bottle, that I painted gold......

Gold painted Bottle

Then, I did some One- stroke painting on it.....

You can see some in my earlier post One Stroke Painting on Totes....

I also embellished the design a bit, with 3D Outliners (puffy paint)......

Here are some photos for you, to show the details.....

Art on a Bottle

Bottle Art

Recycled Art

Bottle Art

Finally, I capped the bottle with an acrylic crystal Hibiscus.....

Hibiscus Flower on a Bottle Art

I am planning to make more of these.....
This not just recycling....
For me, its a process where something beautiful is born out of junk.....
Sorta like the Ugly Duckling ;)
Hope you enjoyed it....
Thanks for visiting and keep coming for more......

DIY Instant Wall Art- 2

Hello and welcome to view my Instant Wall Art-2....

I call it so because a few days back, I uploaded a post on Instant Wall art- Shoebox Lid Upcycling.....You can see the post by clicking here.

I made this wall art in a similar fashion using a shoe box lid and a scrapbook paper.

Instant Wall Art- Shoe box Lid Upcycling

This is the shoe box Lid I used for this wall art....

Shoe box Lid

This wall art is little different by accident!!! Funny Story :)....

Let me tell you.....

The scrapbook paper comes in a specific size and it fit my earlier shoebox lid perfectly....

However, this lid belonged to my beloved hubby's shoebox......it was a huge box!!!

It had to be....These were the shoes!!!!

So imagine my despair when the paper kept falling short from all sides......

After racking my brains for quite some time, I still couldn't make it fit.....I thought of using two pieces of scrapbook paper, but I wasn't feeling very happy about the idea...... But, I was not ready to give up.....

And then, out of nowhere an idea struck!!!

I decided to give the frame a boxed look.....( a box for a box....lol)......

I cut the paper in a way that it fit on the box, leaving an uniform border all around.....

Scrapbooking Paper

Then I painted the border with black color.......

See how it looks here......

When the color dried completely, I glued the paper on to the box lid........

It turned out like this!!!

Shoe box Upcycling

Here's how it looks on the wall :)

The black border gives it a look of certain depth, which is what I like about this wall art....

Instant Wall Art

The beauty of this wall art is in its uniform design.....which gives me the flexibility to hang it any way I like.....It looks good horizontally, and equally good vertically!!! Ain't that awesome???It is, right???

I used scrapbook paper here, but you can use any gift wrapping paper with a uniform design too!!!
Hope you liked this......
You can also view my earlier Post on DIY Instant Wall Art here.....
I will be posting more stuff soon, so do keep coming back.....
Thanks for visiting and comment below to let me know you were here.....

DIY Instant Wall Art- Shoe Box Lid Upcycling

Hi....

Good to see you.....

This is an Instant Wall Art that I made......

They say, "Necessity is the mother of Invention".....

Wow, thats so true!!!!

I had guests coming over to our house in which we moved recently.....

So, my house isn't done sprucing up (read putting artwork) yet :)

And, I did not have time to go buy any.....so I made this!!!!!

This wall art is made from an old shoebox lid, I had lying around....

So, its a shoe box upcycling of sorts!!!

Instant Wall Art

Here's what I did....

I dusted up the cardboard box lid and then cut a scrapbook paper according to the box's 

dimensions.....

The picture shows the paper cut to size....

Shoebox Lid Upcycling

Then I glued the paper to the box using regular PVA glue......

I had to take care to align the edges properly......

I let the lid dry for around 30 minutes.......

Shoebox Upcycling

After the paper dried, I colored the edges of the lid black......

The black color gives the lid a solid framed look.....

You can see it for yourself here......

Shoebox Lid Wall Art

This is how the artwork looks on the wall.....
Cool....isn't it....
Very easy to make and much easier on the pocket too ;)

Instant Wall Art

Hope you found it interesting......

You can also visit my post on DIY Instant Wall Art-2 here.....

Let me know through your comments.....

Thanks for visiting and come back soon for more!!!