Yarn Pumpkin Craft

Yarn Pumpkin

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Supplies

Yarn

Round Balloon
Plastic Wrap

white glue

Black Foam, Felt or wood pieces for face (optional)

water
Bowl

Paper or foam plate

newspaper

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Directions

*I made a yellow one first until I could get to the store for some orange yarn
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 Blow up the balloon to the size you like and tie it off. Wrap plastic wrap around the balloon. I wrapped a piece straight around the balloon from one side of the tied off  stem to the other, then wrapped a second piece the same way, leaving the stem sticking out to hold onto and hang the balloon to dry.

Pour the white glue into the bowl and add a small amount of water to thin it just a bit. Don't add to much or the yarn won't stiffen as well. You may want to lay out some newspaper on your workspace to catch any drips or spatters. You can use a paper or foam plate to set the balloon on as you wrap the yarn so it doesn't get dirty from the newspaper. I used a plastic bag.

I pulled the yarn directly from the skein, putting several yards into the glue at once, then pulled it between my thumb and forefinger as I wrapped the balloon. When I used the yarn that was in the glue, I would pull out several more yards and put it in the glue. I just repeated this until the balloon was covered to my satisfaction.

Once you have the balloon wrapped as much as you like, find a place to clip and hang it to dry. For the yellow one, I clipped it to an outdoor chair. It was too cold the next day when I did the orange one so I used a kitchen clip and a flyswatter :) I put the clip over the loop of the flyswatter handle and clipped the balloon stem. I laid the flyswatter on a chair and put some stuff on the swatter end to weight it and hold it still. This suspended the balloon so it wasn't touching anything. I put a bowl on the floor under the suspended balloon to catch any glue run off. It will take several hours for it to dry completely. 

Once dry, use scissors to snip the balloon just below the knot at the tie off. I used a pencil to poke the plastic as the balloon deflated and once it was all loose from the yarn, I found one of the larger holes and began to SLOWLY pull it out. Use your fingers to twist the plastic wrap to make it smaller as you pull it out, being careful not to pull on the yarn to hard.

Once you have the plastic and balloon out, you can use any number of materials to decorate it. Felt, cardstock, colored tape, painted wood pieces, yarn. I wanted to use felt to make the face, but didn't have any black on hand so I used some black duct tape instead. I then inserted a battery operated tea light to light my pumpkin up!