Himmeli is quickly becoming one of my favorite accents in home decor. The thing I love about it, is it is so versatile. You can use it in everything from a casual child's bedroom to a formal living room, and it totally fits into the space, and brings a fresh and modern feel. I have it in my basement family room. I have it upstairs in my formal living room. The thing that is so great about himmeli is that it can be used in so many different decor styles. You can see it in action HERE and HERE. I experimented with two types of straws, cocktail straws and coffee stirrers. I used the same 25 gage wire for each orb. I bought the cocktail straws at Harmon's (a local grocery store) for around $3 for a 200 pack. I bought the coffee stirrers at Wal-mart for $1.29 for 250. My Wal-mart does not carry cocktail straws. I bought the floral wire at Wal-mart as well for around $1.25. I only used 15, cut-in-half cocktail straws for this piece of himmeli. You can see, the cost is next to nothing. The coffee stirrers were strong and sturdy, while the cocktail straws bent a little more easily. The cocktail straws were round, and the coffee stirrers are kind of a long oval, but this doesn't seem very noticeable in the finished product, unless you are looking for it. The cocktail straws took paint very easily, and the coffee stirrers did not. You need to use a primer with them. They do dry eventually. With Himmeli tutorials all over the internet, I decided to just loosely explain what I did to make mine. I started experimenting with a few small shapes and orbs, then I honestly glanced over this tutorial to get the basic idea of the shape I wanted. I prefer the coffee stirrers for strength. Cut 15 straws in half. You will have 30 pieces. Start with a piece of wire as long as your arm (or longer), and thread 3 straws on, wrapping the wire through one of the straws to secure it. You will see is comes together easily. I first made the, "top," by making a kind of five slice circle pie shape. I did the same for the bottom. You might wine wire through a straw multiple times to get it in the place you want it. That's okay. It will just make your piece stronger. I then wove the top and bottom together using pieces that met diagonally at each seam, and formed a triangle. You will have 5 triangles on top, five on bottom, and 10 around. You will need to add more wire throughout the process. That is okay. stick it through a piece of straw that is already secure, and use the wire to thread more straws on. When you are finished, wrap the remaining wire around another wire or group of wires a couple times to secure, and snip it, leaving about an inch. Use your wire snippers to tuck the snipped, "wire tail," into an adjacent straw. Spray paint whatever color you choose, and you are finished. Warning... It's addictive! Thanks for stopping by. Have a Happy and Creative Day! Risa