Tissue Paper Balls

We made these with a Christmas theme but of course they would also look great for Halloween, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, birthdays or really any occasion.  These balls can also be used for wrapping presents.  Cut around the top very carefully, put the gift inside the ball and ever so carefully patch the top back on.  Everyone will wonder how you got the gift inside.  Of course, to get the gift out they will have to rip the ball apart.

These are a lot like paper mache only you use liquid laundry starch and tissue paper.  First blow up a balloon and paint it with a layer of starch.  On this add a layer of tissue paper squares, more starch, more tissue paper and so on until you have at least four layers of tissue paper.  Any less and it doesn't hold up. 

Hang by a string to dry.  Since it is winter and our house is quite dry they dried quickly.  In the summer I would guess they would take longer.

After it is dry, take it down and hold it firmly by the end of balloon.  If you don't hold on to the balloon it gets sucked into the orb.

The next part is, I think, by far the coolest part of the whole project.  Snip a little hole in the end of the balloon and wait.  Slowly the balloon will pull away from the sides of the tissue paper.  This is a sound that reminds me of a sound effect in a cartoon.  Pull out the balloon and it's done. 

Here was our end results.  Dad sprayed a few with adhesive spray and sprinkled them with glitter.  He also took some cotton crochet string, saturated it with starch and wrapped it around a balloon for a cool string ball.