After making a 12 mosaic balloon sculpture for my son’s birthday, I knew I wanted to make another for more upcoming birthdays. I enjoy making these giant numbers filled with balloons. For this tutorial I ended up making a 3 and an 8 giant mosaic number. It is an easy DIY you can do that looks great at any party. Without further ado, check out our tutorial on how to make your own 5 ft giant number sculptures filled with balloons.
The amount of balloons will vary. It will depend on how many numbers or letters you have. For my project I used roughly 60 balloons for the number 38. My suggestion is to purchase more balloons that you think you’ll need and return what you didn’t use.
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I created these giant mosaic numbers in word and saved as a PDF. You will want to open your PDF Giant Balloon Mosaic Number Template in Adobe. Here are the giant number 3 template and number 8 template.
Even those these large number templates were created in Word, I find that it is easier to print in Adobe. This program is a free download. When printing your template in Adobe Acrobat select the the poster option; change the tile scale to 500% and overlap to 0; select grayscale to save on ink; and print. The preview window will show you how many sheets will be printed and how to line them up.
Next lay out all of your printed template. You can double check the printing preview window again to make sure you’ve lined all the papers correctly. Once you know it is correct start taping these papers together. Finally you will want to cut out the number. When this is done, your template will be ready to use.
6 Foam Boards are typically used to create a balloon number sculpture. I purchased mine from the Dollar Store, but you can find foam boards at any craft store, Walmart, or Amazon.
Tape 3 of the 20×30 boards together with packing tape. Flip over to tape the other side. Taping both sides will help keep the giant mosiac number sturdy.
Take your template and place it on your taped together foam boards. You can either tape this template or trace it onto the foam boards.
Use a box cutter to cut the giant mosaic number out.
After you’ve cut out your number, you will need to make the 6” side pieces. Using your ruler, measure out 6” the length of the foam board and cut. You can use your first cutout as a template to make more 6” side pieces. You should be able to get 3 sides out of 1 foam board.
For rounded edges lightly score the foam board about an 1” apart. On tighter corners inside the giant mosac number 8, you will have to score the foam board closer together. You can use your ruler as a guide to help you score straight lines. Gently press the foam board to open the scored lines.
Use a hot glue gun to attach the sides foam boards to the 8 giant mosaic number. You can add glue to the edge of the number to attach the sides or add the glue to the foam sides and then attach.
Measure and cut the edges to completely surround your number.
Using your hand pump, fill up the balloons. You will want to have various sizes to create a beautiful mosaic look. I don’t fill them up all the way. 1, 2, or 3 pumps for the 5” balloons. To make the color even squeeze the balloon and twist the top before tying.
Once you have filled all your balloons up, use a low heat glue gun or glue dots to attach the balloons to the balloon number sculpture. Place a drop of glue in between balloons to keep them together and in place.
Keep attached balloons until you have filled up the balloon number sculpture and have achieved the look you are looking for.
Finally sit back and look at what you’ve accomplished. If you need another number, repeat the process again.