DIY Your Life

I made a balloon sculpture to make a giant number 16 for my brothers 16^th birthday.

Here is a short tutorial of how I made it and how you can make your own.

The number 1 is made of 72 balloons while the 6 is made from 85 balloons. 157 balloons in total.

To make the numbers I used a stand that usually use from my lighting set up. You just need a long straight pole to wrap the balloons around.

Blow up four balloons

Tie two together by their necks then the other two.

Twist the two lots of balloons together to make a bunch of four balloons.

This is one layer of the balloon sculpture.

Place the balloons to the bottom of the pole and push the pole between two of the balloons. The balloons should stay on the pole.

Build another layer of balloons in the same way. Place the next layers of balloons on the pole between the gaps of the last layer of balloons.

Continue this until you reach the top of the pole.

Now you have made a balloon column.

To make the top of the one, I simply made three layers of balloons which were threaded through a piece of string instead of the pole.  The string was then attached to the top of the pole.

To make the six, I made a balloon column first. Then I made the circle of the six out of wire and twisted the balloons around it.

I only used three balloons in the balloon layer around the sixes circle. This stoped the balloons from getting to wide, and it left a bigger hole in the middle.

Now you have a completed Balloon Number 16. If you want other numbers you will have to change it slightly to make the correct shape.

My younger brother celebrated his 16^th birthday this week. I wanted to share the balloons, cake and a present that I made him this year.

I first made the number 16 from individual party balloons.

I will be posting a tutorial on how I made the balloon sculpture soon.

For the cake a made him this three layered 

And for a present, well he is always saying make it rain so I took it to the next level. He has mentioned before that he wanted a black umbrella and well who doesn’t love cash.

To make this I bought an umbrella and tied string to the spokes. I  then hot glued to a mini peg to the string. Then simple pegged the money to the end and closed the umbrella.

I also wasn’t sure whether he would open the umbrella straight away to I added am open me sign on the outside so as soon as he unwrapped it he would know there was still more to it.

And that was a few of the things we did for his birthday. I will be posting a tutorial on how I made the giant 16 balloon sculpture soon.

Its September already, the first day of spring here in Australia. It’s rainy and still a little bit cold but the weather will be warming up soon and I can’t wait.

This month I have a few events going on.

First, my brother’s birthday is this Thursday. Presents have to be bought/made, decorations to create, and cakes to cook.  I will be sharing some pictures of the decorations, cake and a present.

Also this week it is Father’s Day for us Australians. In Australia Father’s day is always on the first Sunday of September, the 6th this year.

I volunteer at a few local theatre companies in my area making props and sets, doing make up, helping with costumes and any other areas they need a hand with. This year one of the companies had been nominated for three awards in the amateur division at the states theatre guide. I will be attending the awards night gala will be held later this month.

Last but definitely not least there are now only two months until Halloween, so we better get cracking with those Halloween themed crafts.