The arms for the Twirled Balloon are made following the pattern principle used for Heart #050 with Triangles. First you prepare two pieces with 12 arms each from two parts of different colour and then you weave the two pieces together like the simple Balloon #001.
You have three different options for combining and weaving together the two pieces. The outcome is rather different.
Balloon with vertical stripes
This tutorial is for the Balloon with triangles in purple/yellow/black/turquoise shown on the picture.
Cut the following pieces in paper of quality 80 – 110 g/m2:
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 1 in colour A (here it is purple)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 2 in colour B (yellow)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 1 mirrored in colour C (here it is black)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 2 mirrored in colour D (turquoise)
- 1 arched strip in colour C
- 1 basket piece in colour C
- 1 hanger piece in colour C
Part 1 Part 2
1. First thing to do is to “twirl” together the two different pieces, part 1 (purple) and part 2 (yellow). Place the two pieces next to each other, arms swirling in the same direction.
2. Place part 1 on top of part 2. No holes must show along the arms.
3. Now you must twirl the arms one by one. Keep together the center of the two pieces with left hand’s thumb and forefinger. With your right hand lift up the piece behind (yellow) and place it in front of the other piece (purple) using the first notch along the right edge of the purple arms to make the colours shift while still maintaining the outer shape of the arm.
4. Again lift up the piece in the lower layer (yellow) and place it in front of the other piece (purple) using the next notch along the right edge to make the colours shift.
5. Continue twirling until all notches are used.
6. Prepare the other piece from the mirrored parts in the same way. Here the black part 1 is the one showing in the center.
7. Weave the balloon from the two pieces prepared in the same way as you would weave Balloon #001. Consider that the purple star shall show. Also consider that the vertical line between the two colours of a piece always splits the “square” in two equal sized sections. The longest edge of the small triangles shall run as a vertical line from the top of the balloon to the lower edge.
8. Take the basket, cords and wide arched piece in colour C (black).
9. Fix the wide arched strip along the edge on the outside of the balloon. The longer edge should follow the longer side of the last row of triangles in colour C and the points of the squares in colour A/B (purple/yellow). Press down to make a tight fit.
10. Form the small basket. Fix the sides using the small notch as a guide. Smear glue on the small flaps of the bottom and press down inside the basket. Let it dry.
11. Smear glue along the upper edge outside the basket. Also smear glue on the inside of the open strip holding the cords. Roll the strip around the basket upper edges aligned. Tighten and press down.
12. Fix the horizontal bar at the end of the 6 cords to the inside of the balloon. The bar should go near the edge. Let them dry.
13. To hang the balloon make a small hole in the centre of the top and fix a piece of string tying a pearl or like to the end inside the balloon.
Balloon with horizontal stripes
This tutorial is for the Balloon with triangles in dark purple/yellow/light purple/red shown on the picture.
Cut the following pieces in paper of quality 80 – 110 g/m2:
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 1 in colour A (yellow)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 2 in colour B (dark purple)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 1 mirrored in colour C (light purple)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 2 mirrored in colour D (red)
- 1 arched strip in colour D
- 1 basket piece in colour D
- 1 hanger piece in colour D
Part 1 Part 2
14. First thing to do is to “twirl” together two different pieces, part 1 (yellow) and part 2 (dark purple). Place the two pieces next to each other, arms swirling in the same direction.
15. Place part 2 on top of part 1. No holes must show along the arms.
16. Now you must twirl the arms one by one. Keep together the center of the two pieces with left hand’s thumb and forefinger. With your right hand lift up the piece behind (yellow) and place it in front of the other piece (dark purple) using the first notch along the left edge of the purple arms to make the colours shift while still maintaining the outer shape of the arm.
17. Again lift up the piece in the lower layer (dark purple) and place it in front of the other piece (yellow) using the next notch along the left edge to make the colours shift.
18. Continue twirling until all notches are used.
19. Prepare the other piece from the mirrored parts in the same way. Here the red part 2 is the one showing in the center.
20. Weave the balloon from the two pieces prepared in the same way as you would weave Balloon #001. Consider that the dark purple star shall show. Also consider that the horizontal line between the two colours of a piece always splits the “square” in two sections from point to point. The longest edge of the small triangles shall run as concentric circles from the top of the balloon to the lower edge.
21. Finish the balloon as indicated in steps 8 -13 above. The basket, cords and wide arched piece are now in colour D (red) like the last row of triangles.
Balloon with large squares in four colours
This tutorial is for the Balloon with triangles in yellow/pink/red/green shown on the top picture.
Cut the following pieces in paper of quality 80 – 110 g/m2:
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 1 in colour A (here it is yellow)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 2 in colour B (pink)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 1 mirrored in colour C (red)
- 1 swirling piece with 12 arms part 2 mirrored in colour D (green)
- 1 arched strip in colour D
- 1 basket piece in colour D
- 1 hanger piece in colour D
Part 1 Part 2
22. First thing to do is to “twirl” together two different pieces, part 1 (yellow) and part 2 (pink). Place the two pieces next to each other, arms swirling in the same direction.
23. Place part 1 on top of part 2. No holes must show along the arms.
24. Twirl the arms as explained in steps 3 – 4.
25. Continue twirling until all notches are used.
Part 1 Part 2
26. Next thing to do is to “twirl” together the two different and mirrored pieces, part 1 (red) and part 2 (green). Place the two pieces next to each other, arms swirling in the same direction.
27. Place part 2 on top of part 1. No holes must show along the arms.
28. Twirl the arms as explained in steps 16 – 17.
29. Continue twirling until all notches are used.
30. Weave the balloon from the two pieces prepared in the same way as you would weave Balloon #001. Consider that the yellow star shall show. Also consider that the line between the two colours of a piece always splits the “square” in two sections from point to point.
31. Finish the balloon making steps 8 -13 above. The basket, cords and wide arched piece are now in colour D (green) like the last row of triangles.
Here are pdf-files for cutting paper size 30 cm x 30 cm: balloon 008 cut 1 ; balloon 008 cut 2
If you use paper size 29.7 cm x 21 cm or 8″ x 11″ two of these “half” swirling pieces may be fixed with glue to form a full circle: balloon 008 half cut 1 ; balloon 008 half cut 2
These are lovely! My problem with creating them though is that your cut files (pdf) are scaled for approximately12″ x 12″ paper. My printer does not take that size paper. Since I hand cut all my products, I am having a problem scaling your cut files for 8.5″ x 11″ paper. If I simply use Adobe Acrobat Reader to print the files (which is the program I have for pdf files) the entire design is scaled incorrectly and the balloon strips turn out too short. Since I am not experienced in using a computer to rescale designs, I would appreciate either rescaled pdf files for 8.5″ x 11″ paper or instructions on how to properly rescale the files myself. Thanks so much. I have enjoyed all your designs and have had much fun creating almost all of them.
Thank you for asking. I have added two new .pdf files with only half a swirling piece. Two of these may be fixed to form a full circle. You just have to accept the extra half circle rim on top of the balloon. I think rescaling this ballon might not work well since the pattern is so detailed. Lene
Thank you so much for your quick response. I can’t wait to get started!