string ornaments (with step by step photos)

My Christmas tree holds a treasure trove of memories. Memories of time past spent crafting with my children, of laughter, creativity, and love. Each year we would tried to find a new kind of handcrafted ornament to add.

These string ornaments were the ones we chose to do about 10 years ago.

To make these ornaments you need: cotton thread (like for crocheting), a water balloon, Aleene's original Tacky Glue, water, bowl, spoon, a washable (or disposable) work surface, damp rag, and a hook or hang ornament from.


Place about 1 tb. of glue into bowl, then add about 1 tb. of water. Mix well. Mixture should be "pourable". It's always nice to have help with these kinds of projects. ;)


Inflate the water balloon until it is rounded in shape and then tie it.


Spool off a good length of thread (about a yard) and dunk it in the glue mixture. Don't cut the thread!


Now start wrapping the thread around the balloon. As you wrap, try to remove the excess glue mixture. Add more thread to the glue mixture as needed. Doing this in small increments will lesson the likelihood of tangles/knots forming in the thread.


Once you've wrapped all the thread you want on the balloon, cut the thread. Insert the hook in the nozzle of the balloon.


Use the damp rag to remove any excess glue then hang the ornament to dry overnight. If the glue mixture you used is too thick, it will still make a lovely ornament. However, if you don't remove the excess before it dries, you will end up with "windows" of glue between the string. Some of these windows will look beautiful, but most of them will be torn and ragged.

Once your ornament is dry, pop the water balloon. I always pop it form the bottom so that the balloon will retract to the nozzle and come out in once piece.


You can call the ornament finished now and hang it from a hook or decorate it.


We used bell caps hot glued to the top of the ornaments to finish off the original ornaments.


Have fun!