Em here, sorry for the boring post of announcements yesterday, but it just had to be done! Now that it is out of the way we can get back to the real Pinstrosities! Bert sent this one to us, and it looks simple enough but alas, looks can be deceiving!
The Original
The Pinstrosity
Although a cute alternative, this is not the "Star" (pun intended) that Bert had in mind. Here's the breakdown:
The original blog made these stars out of a foam ball (floral foam I am assuming), and then placed them on a stick and in a cute pot to put on a side table.
Issue #1. The original pinner (although you can't see it in the picture), put the ball on the stick before anything else, they didn't say this in the instructions however (again assuming...) I would guess that is what they did. I say this because when 1/2 of the ball is covered in umbrellas, the other half would be difficult to finish if your holding it with your fingers. A long stick inserted for you to hold, would give you unlimited access to the whole ball without issue. Bert did NOT do this, and added that it was extremely difficult to hold the ball half covered in umbrellas and put umbrellas on the other half at the same time. If you are not planning on doing the "tree" theme the original pinner did, I would suggest at least while working on the "star" to put it on a stick for convenience.
Issue #2 The original pinner didn't give a pattern to how the umbrellas went on the ball. Bert said that was also an issue. Upon further inspection of the picture (the close-up), I gathered that the original is done in a brick lay format. This is just like when stacking blocks in a pyramid or wrapping a brick lay perm (I'm a cosmetologist, bear with me here). The pattern is two umbrellas next to each other, and then the next layer up is one umbrella where the "seam" or the first two join sides.
Just like a brick pattern, all the way around the ball. The ball on the right of Bert's picture seemed to have the most trouble, but for the most part the "star" on the left has the pattern down.
Issue #3 By looking at how many umbrellas the original has, and how spread out they are, it looks like Bert needed to make the brick pattern at a slightly smaller scale. Also it looks as if Bert's umbrellas were open to wide, so watch for that too. With that being said I should add that to start out put a umbrella on each side in the middle of the ball, like you are going to hold it like corn on the cob, this should start your pattern out nicely.
To me, Bert's weren't a total disaster, this is a cute craft for a beach themed party, or just for a bright room. Has anyone else tried this out and had success? We love your feedback, and Happy Friday the 13th!
-Emilee
Try opening the umbrella to the desired....openness...and put a drop or two of super glue on the stick so it can't open or close anymore. Might make it a little easier...
ReplyDeleteThe originals are open with varying degrees some are almost closed....the one on the bottom are open all the way.
ReplyDelete