Hey pals! Here's another crafty tutorial for you all! I'm going to show you how to make this silly pom pom lampshade. I love this project because it uses recycled materials. The lamp and yarn all came from the op shop.
I never buy my yarn anywhere but at the op shop - it saves so much money! Plus, you always get fun little colour combinations! Making your poms takes quite a bit of time, so you're going to want to settle in to a good series of something or listen to your favourite podcast.
Of course, you could buy a bunch of poms (Riot Art is selling nice yarn ones at the moment!) but don't be frightened of making you're own. You can buy fancy pom pom makers at the craft store or online, or you can make pom poms using two pieces of cardboard.
Tools and Materials
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Hot glue gun refills
- A cup
- Cardboard
- Lampshade
- Lots and lots of wool/yarn
To make your pom poms, you're going to need a whole lot of wool/yarn. Use up your yarn scraps or head to the op shop for these! You'll also need cardboard, scissors, a cup and a marker.
Trace two circles around your cup onto the cardboard. The size of the cup will roughly be the size of your pom. Draw a line through the centre and cut out the semi circle and cut this shape out.
Cut a little semi circle out from the middle of each piece of cardboard.
Sandwich a piece of yarn, about 30cm long, between the two pieces of cardboard and wrap the yarn around the template. You need to keep wrapping until you've filled up that inner circle.
Tie the yarn between the two pieces of card around the yarn in a loose knot. Cut between the two layers of cardboard.
Pull away the cardboard.
Flip your pom over and tie another loose knot with that same piece of original yarn. Flip the pom over and tie one more knot. Now, go ahead and tighten the knot with a few careful tugs - tying a few loose knots before tightening will help you tie a tight knot as the yarn can grip onto itself. Skipping this step will make tying a tight knot really difficult. The tighter the knot, the more fluffy your pom will be. If your yarn keeps snapping, use a stronger thread.
Trim your pom so it's nice, neat, round and fluffy.
Now it's time to stick on your poms! I chose to stick mine on around the base of my lampshade, but they'd also look good around the top or scattered all over. Stick your poms on with hot glue. Use quite a bit of glue and apply it to the centre of your pom pom where you tied it together. Apply it to the shade and hold it in place for a couple of seconds to make sure it sticks.
Stick all your poms on and voila!
Let me know if you make this or any other pom pom creations!
Happy crafting xx
