Name: Jill
Original Inspiration: http://pinterest.com/pin/495396027731290259/, via http://blogs.homelife.com.au/insideout/article/january-february-2013-inside-out/
What I Did: Wanted to do fabric cover balloons for my sister’s shower. These balloons were filled 5 minutes earlier and did not float even with the lightest tulle. They must have used some kind of “Special” balloons?
My Result:
maybe it was taken upside down?
Looks can be deceiving, the balloons in that original photo are about the size of yoga balls. They appear to cost $100 each from that Bespoke Balloon company.
In reading the article… they’re using “giant balloons” which run about $55 a piece, so I’m guessing they’re made out of possibly a different material and (obviously) hold more helium so they’ll have more floating power.
Maybe you good have pulled some clear wire through top of ballon & hung from the celing
That is exactly at all the Pinterest ones did,- I sure wish it had been clearly stated b4 I bought tulle for 20! I am going to try balloon sticks. Even a tulle bow is too heavy. I tried 11, 12 and even 34″ .
I meant thread clear wire through top of fabric and taped to celing
The picture of what the balloons were supposed to look like was very cool. If you Google: “sheer joy upholstered balloons jessica hanson” you’ll find a facebook album with pictures from the photo shoot (in the search results, look for Sheer Joy - Behind the Scenes with style editor Jessica Hansone). The balloons are huge! 🙂
i don’t if its me but it kind of looks like you didn’t even try.
Yeah, the balloons are cute but some things are just a criminal waste. I looked it up, and those balloons in the original pic are as expensive as some of you suggest, converts to about 50 USD for unadorned balloons and 92 USD for dressed up balloons. That’s over $600 worth of balloons they’ve got there and that shouldn’t be acceptable both from a dollar value perspective and from a “this is what people in this world spend their money on?” perspective.
@blah: I don’t think the balloons were finished. I think the point of showing that photo was to show that even with just the lightweight netting, the balloons were already too weighted down.
@pam: Looks like at least one of the balloons in the original photo may have been suspended in the manner you suggest, particularly, the yellow one at the top of the frame.
Although this is a fail for the fabric balloon look in the photo, this does give me some ideas for halloween and making ghosts!
They kind of look like they could have tissue paper wrapped around them- I wonder if that would work
if you look at the orig pic closely, you can see the fabric ‘pricked’ up a little bit right at the top of several of the balloons. im sure that they hung them with fishing line, and they did not float of their own volition.
These balloons were doing with 36″ giant balloons. My local party store sells them for $24.99 each filled. But since this is too pricy for my budget, I attempted this with a 16″ balloon (slightly larger than the standard 12″ balloons) at $2.49 each (filled) and was able to do it without any kind of extra decorations on it. It floated for about 3 hrs then started to sag a tiny bit (hardly noticeable). I trimmed a little of the extra at the base off and it floated up again. So it definitely requires pulling the tulle tightly, cutting off most of the excess (you can leave a little bit of a tail to hide the balloon tie off), and using a skinny lightweight ribbon (like a curling ribbon) to tie it off. The tulle I used was long enough to tie off but was not wide enough to meet at the base on both sides, so I gathered it to hide what was not covered on the sides (which wasn’t that much). I also found that I had to cut the rectangle of tulle to have rounded off edges to cut out some of the extra fabric. With standard lightweight tulle this would cost a little under $5 each. I used a glitter tulle which was about $9 each. Each one takes about 1 yard of tulle.
Also, Someone sells these on Etsy in the 36″ size for $45 each. http://www.etsy.com/listing/169877332/champagne-tulle-pearl-pink-wedding?ref=market
You can get a package of 6 - 36″ for $11.99 from PartyCity.com or pick them up right at the store. I ordered twelve 24″ for $24 (includes shipping) at BaloonsFast.com. They also have 36″ for $3.85 each or $4.25 each for pearlized. They have more colors to choose from than PartyCity. However, it is good to know that if the 24″ do not work out with the touelle, I can run up to Party City and grab some 36″. They have pink in stock, which is what I need for a baby shower.
Just saw this on pinterest and was googling the how to… My idea is to tie ribbon to the balloons, wrap regular balloons in fabric and or tulle, then string the ribbon with decorative beads, tie the end so the cant fall off, then hang balloons upside down decoratively from tree branches in the backyard? In my case its a backyard wedding.
From what I`ve been told you have to use a 30″ balloon but inflated only to 19″ for a nice round look and no helium.
In the photo it looks like a heavy fabric was used on a couple of the balloons again I was told to use only tulle or organza .
They won`t float anyway so you have to hang them no matter which of the two materials you use. Either one adds weight to prevent them from floating.
Is there another way to make them look like if they are floating, but without using shreds and tape? I am having my wedding in a public space, so I cannot use those materials. (Plus, the ceiling is super tall).
Another alternative is something like the custom REUSABLE! decor balloon ball garland from PostalThreads shop on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/PostalThreads?ref=shop_sugg It comes out to be about $10/ball but when you consider they are reusable, to me it makes it worth it. PostalThreads will work with you to choose the colors and they provide you with 2 latex balloons for each fabric balloon ball. (One is sufficient, but it is nice to have an extra just in case). You just have to make sure you fully inflate the latex balloon until the fabric balloon ball cover fills out, and then tie off or twist the balloon end. My experience with these is they last for hours, even days and weeks, no joke. Keeps it simple-no helium involved, but still have a fun, festive round shape, and easy to pack up and store until the next celebration.
A side note, regardless of whether the balloons in the pinterest photo are large or small, I believe they used fishing line to display some of them…at least that is what it looks like when you look at the top yellow one! Good luck!
it looks like the balloons are just for decorative style and not for actual floating.
and also if it were real, all of them would be at the top, and none would be randomly floating in the middle of the pic.