Mylar Balloon Wreath

This was a "make it up as you go" project.  My usual MO. 

We had accumulated quite a few old mylar balloons and it seemed like there should be something that could be done with them.  I can't throw anything away, so it was a problem.  

My dad needed a Spring-ish wreath for his apartment door, so the experiment began.

Make a cut near the end of the balloon and get out as much of the extra air as possible.

Smooth the balloon as flat as possible and cut off the tip a few inches into the body of the balloon.

Cut off the seam on one edge.  I used a rotary cutter I keep with an old blade for non-fabric use.

Then I kept cutting - without measuring exactly - about a 1.5" width. 

 And cutting and cutting.

The base of the wreath was an embroidery hoop I had on hand.  About 12".  Whatever you have will work, just get the proportion of diameter and strip length to please you.

Then just tie the strips around the hoop. 

For the shorter strips we did not worry about the seam at the top, but just tied it right on as is.  For the longer lengths, we cut into 2 pieces.  You will figure out what works for the you.

Some of the strips curled up on themselves.  A little pulling and flattening by hand took care of most of it.

We had balloons from all kinds of occasions so tried to get the colors in there randomly.  We worked at it over a few weeks cutting as we went so it is not as random as I would have liked.  But since the tying was done by Middle E - very willingly -  I did not complain.

The finished wreath.  The lighting in his hall is terrible and the photo is blurry.  But you get the idea.  Not bad.

My dad loved it, but kept calling it a hat since Middle E put it on her head at some point!