When I was a kid, we made string balloons with yarn and plaster of paris, as ornaments. (Smaller balloons.) Later on I made one using crochet cotton with liquid starch and a bigger balloon. (I don't remember the point of that one -- might have been a kissing ball decorated with fake flowers and holly or something. COULD have been made into a lamp, I suppose...)

The fabric stiffener is probably the stuff sold in craft stores for use on doilies and other fabrics to harden them for various decorative purposes. I think it's related to acrylic paint/gel medium, but I'm not certain. Not toxic, though.

(Hmmm -- doilies. I'll bet you could soak a bunch of light-weight doilies, form them around a balloon, fasten them together with thread or something to hold them in place, and create a more snowflake-like pendant...)

The moment I saw this in ReadyMade I knew it would be posted here.
I also jumped for joy as I had been in love with the Random Light from DWR, but couldn't fathom spending $860 on it.
http://www.dwr.com/product/lighting/pendants/random-light-medium.do?sortby=ourPicks

I started the project but I didn't buy enough crochet thread. I got 16" punch balloons. A spool of crochet thread I got at Michaels didn't give me enough coverage for even 1 balloon. I think I may have to go 3 spools to a balloon. I'll let you know how it turns out.

HGTV had this tutorial prior to Readymade, I made it in white a lonnng time ago. (ok maybe a yr ago)

My husband just made one of these after getting Readymade. It turned out ok, but the balloon shrunk while it was drying so the string isn't as taut as it could be. It also started unraveling a little as he was brushing the stiffener on. It did use a whole spool of string just for one small balloon, too. But all in all not a total disaster.

I made one of these the day after I received my issue of Readymade in the mail! It was fun, but took a lot more crochet thread than I thought it would. The small/medium one I made took about 3-4 spools and the large one (full punch balloon size) took 7 spools to fill in like the magazine picture. It also took a lot more Stiffy than I imagined (two bottles between the two lamps that I made).

Anyone know how to hang one of these if you just have a regular ceiling fixture in a room and not a bare light bulb??

You can use Elmer's glue, too! We made these in elementary school. If you do only half the balloon, you have a nice bowl. You can coat the balloon in glue so the thread sticks, then brush more glue over the top. When it's totally dry, the glue is clear and you can pop the balloon.

I didn't read the article, but what about fire safety? Is it safe to have a hot light bulb next to cotton string? Is there a maximum watt light that is considered safe?

I can't believe the fabric stiffener is called 'Stiffy'.!!

My brother had one of these, that my mom made for him, in the early 70's! I'm pretty sure it was orange (groovy).

I made two of these a couple of weeks ago for my baby shower. I was so excited and thought that it would be much cheaper than buying several rice paper lamps. Anyway, the fabric stiffener was 4.00 and I bought orange yarn from Wal-M @ 2.28, balloons were 1.00 at dollar store. I was barely able to make 2 nine inch size balls with one bottle of stiffener. Needless to say I only hung up one of the balls with yellow ribbon from the ceiling. If the stiffener was 2.00 this would be a good thing.

When I was a kid I had tried doing this. Using a balloon and string, and some type of stiffener (can't remember what it was), I would let it dry overnight. Usually I would be in tears the next morning because the balloon would deflate sometime overnight and I was left with a lumpy pile of string...not once but each and every time I tried this (I think I gave up, or my mom made me give up after 3 attempts). This made me so frustrated that I have avoided doing anything like this ever again. I'm almost tempted to give it a go because that lamp looks awesome!

@suzy8track: Thanks for the hilarious story - I feel your pain. When I was a kid my potato / avocado pit with toothpicks project always dissolved into black slime as everyone else's thrived...But I am a gardener today - you can overcome your past!

Ummm.....no

Anyone have a source on round balloons?

We made those in school when I was about 7 years old (in 1989). We used big round balloons, PVA glue or papier mache glue, and wool. You can get the balloons at party supply shops. You're looking for those big ones that come with a rubber band you tie where the knot goes and you put the rubber band on your wrist and you can do this punching rebound thing with the balloon. I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about.

This is an old tried and true project that I had long forgot about. I'm so glad it was posted. I think I'll start some medium sized ones for patio Christmas decor.

One summer in college I was visiting a friend in Atlanta. We were bored one day and decided to make papier mache fish by covering balloons. (As you do.) Mine turned out pretty cool, and I wanted to take it home with me to the UK. But I forgot to pop the balloon before boarding the flight... so somewhere across the Atlantic an enormous bang was heard, originating from the general area of my feet. Everyone around me jumped and stared, and I was so embarrassed showing the flight crew my plastic bag full of exploded pieces of balloon fish.

That was in 1992. I hate to think what would have happened if I did that now...

I just made one to use as a bedside lamp, and it's awesome! Even w/o the light it beats the paper lanterns.

The ReadyMade link to the instructions is down, but perhaps you could get the magazine from the library.

Everyone's talking about the balloons deflating. I know nothing about physics and whatnot... but would it work better if you inflated the balloon with water instead of air? Would that be sturdier? Or would you just wind up exploding water all over your house, haha.

The REadyMade link is down but you can google it at "string theory readymade". I don't understand the last part about how to hang it using a plastic take out container. anyone understand?