how to | hot air balloon baby mobile

when a friend of a friend asked if i could make a hot air balloon out of paper, i was nervous - but up for the challenge! i began by picking a hot air balloon vector online. i could have drawn my own, as i do with my envelopes, but i knew it needed to be perfectly symmetrical and i don't have that kind of patience, nor could i find my protractor. print a couple different sizes of the balloon image and then cut them out as templates.

choose how many hot air balloons you want in your mobile (five-seven is a good number) and times that by four cut-outs. choosing alternating colours for each balloon is a nice idea (i.e. two large teal and two large patterns for one large balloon, two small orange and two small white for one small balloon etc). 

score each balloon right down the middle. this is a bit tricky and i don't have any tips sadly. it's important though because you really want the four pieces to fit evenly together (you'll see in the final photos where i had difficulty with this - although you can always trim it a bit). fold all the pieces with the pattern or colour on the inside.

fit each scored and folded piece together like below.

after i have the first two glue together i insert the string down the middle with a bit of glue or double sided tape running along the seam below it.

in the same way you found a balloon image, find some cloud outlines or draw your own templates. thread the string that is attached to your balloons to a needle and sew straight up the middle of each cloud.

tie each string to the inside loop of a wooden embroidery hoop. leave some extra string and tie all of the  ends together (make sure it's all even and balanced first). i tied one last piece of string through the middle which allows me to hang it (you can see this longer piece hanging loosely below because this isn't the mobile's final home).

have fun!