A Steampunk- Holiday Hot Air Balloon!

 Welcome to A Very Merry Steampunk Holiday blog hop hosted by Leslie Rahye!
If you are a Steampunk fan and a lover of all things Christmas, then you are at the right place!
Most of my Steampunk creations are created through Leslie's 'themed' blog hops. :)

My creation this Christmas is a Steampunk Hot Air Balloon!
I was inspired by the ones I see on Pintrest made from light bulbs, so I thought, why not using a ornament?

Supplies:
Plastic ornament
24 and 26 gauge gold floral wire
Jewelry pliers
A wooden train whistle

 For the hot air basket, I made a messy weave of the wire and place it around a wooden train whistle. It was the only thing I had for that shape. If you don't have a train whistle, look for something else that is square shape. Maybe a chair leg or a stack of duplo blocks- if your kids are still young. If you want a round basket, check your kitchen utensils.

 Use the thinner wire to weave/sew everything together.
I also wrapped some wire by itself around the whistle to make for a strong base. 

 At the bottom, I criss-crossed some wire.
Then I made a large spiral with the thicker wire and sewed it in place with the thinner wire.
Easy, right?

 The hot air balloon is hung using sign hangers and a hook from Deflecto. 


I'm sorry I don't have a tutorial on how to wrap the ornament with wire. I kinda made it up as I went. It was fairly easy though and I'm sure you wont have any problem especially if you like to work with wire.
 The basket, however...was the trickiest for me. It took me many tries of various ideas until I found something that was easy enough to explain and looked great at the end.
I hope you like it!

 As you can see, I really like the Holidays and collect a bit of vintage Santa's.
 A vintage Santa ornament fit perfectly into the basket!

Thank you for coming by. Please visit the rest of the designers for more Steampunk Holiday inspiration!
Merry Christmas!