decorations for the school library

Some time at the end of last year, I had a discussion with the lovely librarian at our kids' school about providing hanging decorations for a large space between a ground floor and mezzanine level in their beautiful new library.

Not only is Kathy lovely, she's also very patient. On the weekend, I finally finished a series of large decorations (the house - following - measures about a metre high) she can hang from fishing line to make a blank space so much brighter.

These decorations are deceptively easy to make. They are simply made from large sheets of cardboard. After cutting shapes (and pasting on any details as required), the pieces are just stapled together (you'll need a million staples!) and stuffed with scrunched up paper.

The simplest shapes often work the best, and letters look really effective. As you stuff, they crumple a little, which is just perfect - they are meant to look pouffy and crinkly. When you have stuffed a piece and want to staple it closed, press down on the piece so that the stuffing flattens a little - this will help you line up your edges for stapling.

You can go as detailed (The Hungry Caterpillar) or simple (the sun) as you like. I also made a simple white cloud and hung blue rain drops from the cloud using fishing line (not pictured).

These look great hung with filament or fishing line, and make sure you leave plenty of space for the pieces to twirl. I recommend punching a hole at the top of each piece and make sure you counterbalance-test for exactly the right spot before you punch, so your piece hangs straight.

If this is too hard, punch two holes - you can then thread the line through both and adjust the piece to get it straight (though it won't twirl).

Have fun!