Introduction: Lace Balloon Papier-mache

About: I'm an avid crafter who dabbles in just about every medium possible (can you say ADD?). I love inspiring and getting inspired by fellow crafters, and am on a mission to help revive the lost art of handmade liv…

I saw these beautiful papier-mâché lace lamps over at the Dos Family blog and instantly fell in love. With my friend Cassie’s baby shower coming up, I decided to make a pair of my own to decorate the house with. Here's how to make them:

What you will need:

A bag of standard sized balloons
String and tape (to hang your balloons)
Pieces of lace or doilies (I needed about 3 yards for both balloons)
Wallpaper glue (I used Golden Harvest)
A medium sized paint brush
Newspapers (or something else to protect your crafting surface)

Step 1: Prepping Your Supplies

If you aren’t using doilies, cut out pieces of lace – I found half and quarter circles work best.

Mix up your wallpaper glue (you can buy this in any hardware store, I got mine at Ace) according to it’s instructions. The Golden Harvest brand has a specific papier-mâché water to powder mixture, so use that!

Step 2: Covering Your Balloons

Blow up balloons to the size that you want your lanterns, and hang them so that they are suspended in air. Lay a piece of lace down and cover it with a thick layer of wallpaper glue.

Continue doing this, making sure your lace pieces overlap each other, until there is just a small opening left on top. Let it dry for at least half a day.

Step 3: Pop Your Balloons

Once the lantern is completely dry, pop your balloon with a pin! You may need to gently coax the balloon off of your lantern if it doesn’t have one big initial pop (which happened to mine). This may cause the lantern to cave into itself a bit, but don’t worry, once the balloon is fully out you can take a pencil and push the concave parts right back out.

That’s it! Take a bit of wire or string and hang your lace lantern to add a beautiful touch to any room.