All hail the Glow Cloud

Recently I was digging around for a gift bag behind the couch (... isn't that where everyone keeps their massive stash of gift bags?) and I found a big paper IKEA lantern. I have a vague memory of buying this once, intending to try to make it into a Death Star, which obviously never came to fruition. Instead, I decided to make a glow cloud, using this tutorial by 3 Chic Geeks.

Their tutorial is very easy to follow, basically you are just sticking toy stuffing to a paper lantern using a hot glue gun. I found that doing this on a chair, with me varying between sitting and standing, made reaching all sections of the lantern easier and also meant that less hair was sticking to the toy stuffing (poor Scott; living with me is basically like living with a giant, constantly shedding cat). I also found that ripping the stuffing into handfuls beforehand made gluing much more efficient.

We hung it in the corner, above the bookshelf where a paper swallow mobile had been basically since I moved in (one of my first ever home decor projects ... ahhh, memories!) using command hooks. Here's a hint: don't use command hooks. Your glow cloud will fall down. One of the things on my to-do list is now to go to the hardware store and get a proper hook.

 During the day it looks like an innocent fluffy cloud, but then at night ...

 

 ALL HAIL. These photos are pretty bad, mostly because I am still using my phone as a camera for literally everything. But, you do get a sense of it's constantly mutating hue nonetheless, right? To light up the glow cloud, I used a "colour changing light mood lamp ball sphere" that I brought from ebay, because the hardware store/ craft store people looked at me very strangely when I described what I wanted. If you don't live in Australia, you might have more luck with finding this in a store. I sometimes have dreams about visiting America and just going to craft stores ~____^ Anyway, the most important thing is to buy a lamp that won't heat up, because you definitely don't want to set your glow cloud aflame!

I also brought an LED torch from the hardware store, which is meant for work site safety. It is *very bright* - it even comes with a warning not to look at the light directly. It makes for a much brighter glow cloud, but it can only be yellow and red, and the red is a scary flashing warning light which makes the glow cloud seem very angry. While the colour changing light is not as bright, it is brighter than the pictures above would lead you to believe, and it's actually very relaxing to watch. I am still considering hanging some plastic animals from the bottom of the glow cloud, but I don't know if that would be a little too much. What do you think? 

In other news, I am now in week two of roller derby training. I have muscles that I did not know existed! My t-stops are dreadful, but I can plough stop pretty well, and last night I did 19 laps in 5 minutes which I thought was pretty good. I think we're going to time laps again tonight, so hopefully I can overcome the thigh pain to maybe reach twenty!

- Lisa xx