DIY Yarn Light

I am not sure on the source for this photo, sorry!

I love the look of the light fixture in the photo above, but I am pretty sure it would cost me over 3 months of morgage payments! Then I saw this idea over here at Pickles and it has been on my craft list ever since. There are not many ceiling fixtures in our old house and the ones we do have are ceiling fans. One of those ceiling fans is in Gray's room and thought I was out of luck at trying to do anything somewhat cool to it, because the fan is very practical on hot summer days! But then I saw this over at House Tweaking- and immediately thought of the yarn light off my craft to do list- so I combined the two ideas into one!

DIY Yarn Light

What you'll need:

A medium sized beach ball- I found one at Walmart for $3.95

Base to sit the ball on- I used a small bowl

Vaseline

Ball of Yarn

Large bowl

2 bottles of white glue

1 cup of corn starch

1/2 cup of water

Lots of newspaper

Clear spray paint/adhesive

1. Put down lots of newspaper or a tarp-it gets very messy!Set the ball on top of a small bowl. I used this as a guideline for the opening where the light bulb would hang. Coat the ball in Vaseline so the yarn doesn't stick to the ball.  

2. Mix together the glue, water and cornstarch in a large bowl. I originally made half the recipe and then had to make more halfway through. You may have to alter the recipe depending on the size of ball and how much yarn you want to use. Just make sure the mixture is on the thicker side.

3. Coat the yarn in the glue mixture. As a side note- I ended up with clumps and knots of yarn so many times that I was swearing and not having much fun! If I were to do this again, I would only put a few feet of yarn in the bowl at a time and maybe use a spoon to drag over top of the yarn to remove the excess. Or better yet, enroll a friend so you can make an assembly line!

4. I started with wrapping yarn around the bottom of the ball/top of bowl and then went up and down from there. All of the tutorials I read said to start vertically and then end with wrapping around the ball. I just wrapped and moved the yarn around until it looked right. Because I ended up with so many knots, I actually had to cut the yarn and start again. I just made sure to secure all the ends by wrapping the end underneath other pieces of yarn. This is where the photos ended, as it got toooo messy!

5. Set the ball aside for 24 hours. Then prick the ball with pins. I poked about 4 or 5 holes and waited for it to deflate. Remove the ball through the opening at the bottom. Step back and admire your magnificent handywork!

6. Hang the ball outside and spray with clear spray paint. Again, step back and admire your magnificent handywork!

7. To hang from ceiling fan, I removed the original light casing and tied 3 pieces of wire to the screws that held in the light. I attached the wires to the yarn light and voila! Again, step back and admire your magnificent handywork!

Final thoughts- I LOVE how it turned out! I may have been doing it through gritted teeth, but it was totally worth it!

Linking up over here: