Love Balloons !

When you come up with a great idea, the best moment is when you discover THE perfect solution for it after having tried a thousand and one unsuccessful attempts. That”s what happened with these painted balloons… Eventually I discovered the knack – which, like always, was right under my nose – and I love the result. From now on you should be able to draw whatever you like on rubbers balloons without too much trouble. You will need : – Rubber balloons – A Posca felt tip pen with a large tip – A template (for example this one) – A pair of scissors – Masking tape 1. Blow up your balloons. If you’re using helium, it’s helpful to tie them with a thread beforehand so you can attach them to your work top. 2. Choose your design, or simply download the template which we prepared for the photos, print and carefully cut out each letter. Note : Cut inside the black line (so you’ll have letters without a contour). 3. Stick the design onto where you’d like it to appear on the balloon, using small pieces of masking tape (which, with its relatively weak sticking power, won’t risk blowing up the thing). 4. & 5. Now comes the stage when you need to be careful. With the Posca felt tip, go around the letter, trying to go over both the paper and the balloon with the tip of the pen, to create the finest and most precise outline as possible. The method I find easiest for keeping the balloon securely in place: sitting cross-legged, the balloon nestled in the hollow between the legs. 6. Once it’s done, remove the masking tape. You won’t have a very pretty outline, but it’ll be quite accurate at least. 7. Now you can go over the first marking with a second layer, thicker and neater. This time it will start looking a lot prettier. If you like the result, you can even stop there. 8. Now it’s super easy, you only need to fill in the outline… And voilà ! Why a Posca felt tip? I say “Posca”, because I don’t know of any other brands, but there are definitely other ones out there. Whatever you buy, these felt tips have lots of benefits : they have a pretty, matte finish, they are very opaque, and most importantly, they dry in two minutes. Finally, the ink stays on perfectly, unlike acrylic paint which will flake if the balloon deflates a bit. With these pens you can have so much fun drawing whatever springs to mind – freehand if you like! If you ever make a mistake, just scratch it off with your nail, but do it very quickly because this ink dries in seconds. Last thing : to find them, you will probably need to go to a specialist art supplies shop, turns out you’ll almost never find them in creative hobby places. How do you make your own designs? Attention: mini Photoshop tutorial. You can make a paper cut out with any drawing, no matter how complicated. I created an A4 document with good resolution (300px/inch). To make the letters, I chose a pretty font, enlarged it to the size I wanted, and pixelated it. Then, with the following series of commands: “Lines” > “Contract” > 15px > resize, I created an outline inside the original letter plan.  The point of the cut out is to let you draw the edges, so draw around the paper. That’s why, shrinking each letter by 2 millimeters, I got back on my feet. If I’m not being clear, don’t hesitate to ask me questions in the comments :) Do you have skillful hands, DIY ideas, or how-tos and want to share them on Un Beau Jour ? Send us an email with your little project idea to diy@unbeaujour.fr