34 Bohemian's Yarn: Yarn Balls

I decided to volunteer my efforts (and those of my friend Vickie) in order to decorate for our annual weekend dance held by the Indy Contra group. In about three hours on a Monday night we made ourselves light headed by blowing up 45 balloons. We then proceeded to glue ourselves to the floor as we slung the sopping yarn around scattering glue everywhere. Messy, fun and the results were quite nice, similar to my efforts in baking a cake but I'm glad to say, less tasty.

I'll detail the project with more information then you probably need but perhaps you will glean something from my experience. The entire project was very easy except for the fact that I made the executive decision to not put a release agent on the balloons before they were wrapped in the yarn. This resulted in the balloons crushing a few of the structures as the air leaked out over the next couple of drying days. I ended up salvaging the lot but running my thumb under the yarn... all the yarn... in order to release it from the balloons. Note to self: when you read directions on a blog that says: "...I went ahead and used an oil on the balloons but I didn't think it was necessary..." don't believe it! Moral of the story... use a release agent!

A few of the different blogs I read talked about using only cotton yarn (as this would soak up the glue) then spray painting the finished product. I did find one person who had used colored cotton as to skip the spray painting.

I opted for colored synthetic as that is what I had on hand. My best results were fantastic and came from using worsted weight 100% acrylic I bought on clearance at Meijer. The least desirable (because they crushed) resulted in using Lion Brand Woolease. The Woolease seemed to thin out as it was wrapped. I'm inclined to believe I didn't use nearly enough in the wrapping process.

After extensive research on the subject (reading too many blogs) I cobbled together the following recipe that did great:

2 cups room temp water

2 cups cornstarch, dissolve in water

Stir in 8oz of glue

Or something to this effect, it was by no means precisely measured.

I bought half a gallon of Elmer's All Purpose at Menards for about $13 (I used half the half gallon). Balloons were 15 for $1.50 (3 packs). Yarn used was about $6. Total: about $17.50.

Best technique for handling yarn was to pull from the center of the ball and allow it to fall into the yarn, cut off when you think you have enough in there. Push yarn down into the glue mixture until it was completely covered (hands worked best) pull back out and start wrapping, prepare for a mess. Do not wring out much of the glue. A little is okay but I found it best just to be messy. The balloons will drip off the excess as they dry. I had attempted to wrap yarn around my arm and measure out a bunch of balloons worth. This resulted in knots. If you run out of yarn for the balloon you're wrapping just drop more in the glue and keep wrapping. We didn't bother to join our ends and they held up fine.

We ended up with an assembly line process: two buckets of glue mix. I'd drop the yarn into the glue, Vickie would wrap the balloons, I'd move the balloons out of the way as Vickie wrapped the next balloon and then I'd drop more yarn into the glue... etc.

The wrapping is a knack that you'll develop as you go. Expect to have the balloon slip around a bit before you figure it out. But make sure you have a stable place to hang the project from as you're wrapping and tie good knots. We didn't and the balloon would randomly jump off into the bucket of glue, can you tell we're a bit reckless?

My final technique used for wrapping: Start by wrapping around the stem of the balloon a couple times loosely then wrap from top to bottom around the balloon. Turn the balloon in a 45 degree twist on the vertical axis. Wrap again and again... and again. This turned out a nice looking ball. Sometimes I would wrap this way about 6 times and then begin to tilt back and forth on the horizontal axis as I twisted on the horizontal. This provided a more asymmetrical design. The key with asymmetrical is to ensure you have sufficient crossing points to provide stability when the yarn is dry. Vertical wrapping required less yarn to stay strong and was able to be stretched back out better if there was some crushing that occurred after the ball was dry. At some point we started mixing the colors of yarn on each balloon and those were our favorites.

Due to not using a release agent, (Pam, petroleum jelly, corn oil, mineral oil, baby oil... something, anything!), the "pop party" was dismal. Most of the balloons started to leak as I was running my thumb under the yarn and then it was a mad dash to get the yarn off the balloons before they were crushed beyond repair. We ended up loosing about 8 of the 45 due to this.

Because it was raining a good bit over the week when this project was done I let the balloons dry for two days before I messed with them. Well, I poked at them daily and many times through out the day but it was two days before some started to loose air and it was apparent that an emergency freeing of the balloons was needed. By day two it was a little unnerving to sit by the computer with 45 balloons hanging nearby whose internal pressure was beginning to change. The creaking from the bits of glue popping off the balloon was only drowned out by loud guitar music.

When all was finished and the yarn balls were draped around the dance floor, intermixed with garlands of multi-colored yarn, the effect was pleasant and well worth the effort.

Adding beer to the glue mix was not necessary.
Adding beer to the individuals about to cover themselves in glue was a great help.

These are the wraps of yarn that were my first attempt at sectioning off a bit of yarn to soak in the glue.
We abandoned this mess and just pulled from the ball.