HOW-TO: Make the Orb Pom-Pom (from Loome Party by Vilasinee Bunnag)
The Orb is the iconic, classic, dense pom-pom, and it takes the longest to master. It’s basically a Starburst with more yarn and an intense haircut—once you’ve nailed it, you’ll never forget how to make one. There are three key pro tips to mastering the Orb: 1) use enough yarn, 2) make very tight middle knots, 3) cut enough yarn off, and 4) sculpt for symmetry. The “haircutting” and sculpting will take the most amount of time, but it is essential to achieving the dense, round shape.
Use: Dense pom-poms like the Orb make memorable additions to garlands, mobiles, presents, clothing/hats, jewelry, bags, shoes, bedding, pillows, place settings, baskets, hair ties and clips, weavings, tassels, and inspiration boards.
Secure the end of the yarn in any notch on either upper arm of the Loome tool. Wind the yarn around the two arms horizontally for 160 revolutions, concentrating the winding below the notches. As you wind, make sure the tension is not too tight or loose. If you wind too tightly, the yarn bundle will be taut, making it difficult to tie a tight middle knot just below the notches.
Hook the end in any of the notches on either of the upper arms and cut the yarn from the ball, leaving a ½" (12 mm) tail.
Thread the embroidery floss around the yarn bundle. Before tying a tight double knot, make sure the embroidery floss lays on the center of the bundle in the front as well at the back. (The floss can look centered in the front of the bundle but be off-center in the back.) Make the first double knot in the middle of the yarn bundle in the front. This first double knot doesn’t have to be extremely tight, but it should be snug.
Gently slide the yarn bundle off the Loome tool. Flip the yarn bundle over and make another tight double knot on the opposite side of the first double knot. This second double knot should be very tight. Tight double knots are crucial to this process—they’re what hold the yarn for the pom-pom together. The trick to making very tight double knots is holding your fingers close to the knot and moving fast when tying and letting go versus pulling from each end, far away from the actual knot.
If you feel that the double knots still aren’t tight enough, flip the yarn bundle over again and make a third tight double knot. (Note: You can feel if the knots are tight enough by gently pressing down on the center of the yarn bundle—it should feel very compressed. If it doesn’t, add another, tighter knot.) Cut the floss, leaving ¼" (6 mm) tails.
Use scissors to cut the loops of yarn on each side of the bundle in half. Make sure to cut all the loops, as some loops may be hiding under other loops.
To begin haircutting, take the Pom-pom Trim Guide (below) and place it center-to-center over the untrimmed pom-pom. Haircutting at this step doesn’t have to be perfect—the goal is to cut off most of the shag by following the shape of the trim guide. Do this over a bowl for easy cleanup.
Once this side is cut, very gently fluff the pom-pom all the way around with your fingers to untuck the strands. Turn the pom-pom 90 degrees and repeat the previous step.
Very gently fluff the pom-pom again. Focus on a small ½ x ½" (1.3 x 1.3 cm) area of the pompom and start trimming it down to the density you want. Using the trimmed area as a guide, cut the same amount of yarn off all the way around one side and the perimeter of the pom-pom. At this stage, stay focused on trimming to that density around one side rather than all around this will help with symmetry of the pom-pom later. Once you've finished trimming around one side, you may want to repeat the step to clean up and smooth the side further. At this point, the pom pom will look sculpted all the way around one side and have shaggy ends on the top and bottom.
Begin trimming one shaggy end at a time. Trim each down individually to match the density of the area from the previous step, using the same method of focusing on one area at a time. Once both shaggy ends are trimmed, gently fluff the pom-pom with your fingers again. Now, you have a round pom-pom that may still look a little rough and not completely smooth or symmetrical.
Start intense sculpting by repeating the previous 2 steps. At this stage, you’ll be trimming off little by little (similar to the last step of a real haircut), and you can rotate the pom-pom as you trim, gently fluffing from time to time. This part takes the longest—it’s not unusual to take another five to ten minutes to get to the perfect round, dense pom-pom.
PRO TIP: To help with shaping a nice round pom-pom, stand up and look straight down on the pom-pom as you rotate and sculpt. Be sure not to trim the pom-pom to any smaller than ½" (12 mm), though, because once you trim so close to the center, the yarn becomes very short and the pom-pom may fall apart.
Loome Party is a one-stop shop for learning how to use the Loome tool to make tiny, splendid projects using only your yarn stash. Learn the foundations of creating pom-poms, tassels, friendship bracelets, weavings, and cords galore with Vilasinee Bunnag, founder of Loome. Bunnag provides clear, step-by-step instructions and colorful photography that will teach you how to use the all-in-one tool (included in the book) to make mini masterpieces. Once you’ve got the hang of working with the tool, you’ll learn how to change and combine these basic elements to make more than 20 bright and playful projects—each developed by a guest designer—including pom-pom gift toppers, woven bracelets, and tassel garlands. Loome Party is a fun, thorough, and modern reference full of approachable how-to projects for readers of all ages.
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