Introduction: String Light Fitting

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We moved into our apartment nearly a year ago but we never got around to choosing light fittings for every room. Now that our baby boy is on the way, I wanted to try and make something different for his room. This is what I came up with. The inspiration came from some light fittings I saw that were made of doilies. I thought I would use similar techniques to make my own unique light fitting.

My materials
Ball of wool
PVA / white glue
Balloon

Step 1: Mixing the Glue

First, I chose some cream wool from my craft box which had an organic look to it. I then mixed some white/PVA glue with water to make my adhesive mixture. The glue I used is quite thick, like yoghurt so I mixed 1:1 ratio of glue to water. I would mix less water if the glue was thinner.

Keeping the wool as a ball, I squeezed the glue mixture through it so that it was soaked fully. Keeping it in a ball means that I can unravel it easier later.

Step 2: Creating the Shape

I used an oversized balloon to create the shape that I wanted. Next time, I would choose a plain balloon as some of the decorative print came off on my final creation.

I started to go around the balloon with the glue soaked wool. I created a circle at the top that I thought would allow a conventional light fitting to thread through and then I made my way down the balloon until I reached the desired length. Then, I just continued winding the wool back up and down, creating the look I wanted but also making sure there were lots of crossing over of wool so that it would stick to itself and create a "net". 

Step 3: Drying and Finishing

Once I achieved the look I wanted, I just let the wool dry.  Once it was completely dry, I carefully pierced the top of the balloon so that it would let the air our slowly and not just burst. I did this so that the fitting would not collapse with the balloon as some of it was slightly adhering to the balloon itself. As the balloon slowly deflated, I carefully pulled the wool away from the balloon.

As the wool was quite fibrous, I then used some scissors to cut any fuzzy bits to neaten it up. To attach the fitting to the light, we used some cord tidies (not shown) to clip it onto the existing fitting.

Step 4: Finished!

And this is the finished product! It is quite simple but decorates the light enough so that it is not boring. I am thinking about hanging some small paper planes off it later...we'll see.