Coffee Filter Pom Pom Balls

To make vintage looking coffee filter pom pom balls, boil tea bags in a large pot.  Turn off heat and allow the tea bags to set a while.  Place coffee filters in the tea and soak to absorb tea.  I did some for about five minutes and left some in for a day.  

The five minute ones were just ivory colored and the others were as in the picture above and below.  It didn't get any darker, but could have with more tea bags.  Some tea grounds seeped out after a day or so, but it just added colored spots to the filters and made it even neater - so don't worry about that.

Place the wet filters on a cookie sheet or baking pan. It's okay to overlap some, but be sure to pull them apart to hasten drying time.  I put them in a warm oven (to warm setting) for 30 minutes or longer.  Sometimes I would take them out when they weren't completely dry and let them finish drying on the counter.  FYI:  It took over 100 filters to make one pom pom ball!  Thankfully, filters are cheap!

Gather the filter in the bottom center and twist to keep the "flower" in place. I did groups of three together, then secured with a floral pin - which look like a long staple.

This ball was bigger than it appears.  It was big enough so that the floral pin didn't poke out the other side.

For the white pom poms, I just used the filters as they were - without dipping them in a liquid.  If you want them to look more vintage, you could dip them in water, then dry.  I just didn't have the time with the white ones.

Because I used a smaller styrofoam ball for the white pom poms, I used straight pins.  I put three "flowers" together, then inserted them as shown below.

Continue with the filters until the ball is all filled.  Insert a floral pin into the ball, but not all the way down to the ball.  This will be your hanger.  Be sure to wait and do this when you're ready to hang them or tie your string (I used jute) on with the pin....otherwise you might have trouble finding it! (or I would, anyway!)

My pom poms were tied to an old ladder above the table.  A little time consuming, but so much cheaper than the store bought pom poms, plus the vintage look needed for the shower.