Month: April 2011

Racecar

Racecar

This racecar was designed as I was twisting it. When you don’t have a design in mind, just start twisting and you’ll figure something out!

Racecar (front view)

Construction:
I used one blue 260 balloon to make the base of the car, which consists of a number of pinch twists and something like a three-bubble roll through. The blue balloon is broken into two parts. The first is used for the almost all of the car, and the second part is used for the wings.

I used one black balloon to make four separate wheels – each wheel is made using a tulip twist, which is then tied and cut off from the rest of the balloon. (Make sure you leave a little bit of uninflated balloon so that you can wrap that part around the rest of the balloon to attach the wheel.)

Lastly, I used a clear 260 balloon scrap to form the inside of the car (I was going to put a toy person or marshmallow Peeps rabbit in there, but forgot!)

Next time, I’ll try using a 350 balloon to make larger wheels and do something else with the wings so that the knots aren’t as visible.

Happy Belated Birthday M!

Where to buy

Although many party shops and toy stores sell balloons for twisting balloon animals, the ones sold in the stores are generally not very good quality, are older, and will often pop (leading to frustration!)
As mentioned before, I suggest buying good, quality balloons (I’ve been using the Qualatex brand and usually order mine online.)

If you want to simply buy a bag (of 100 or 250), you may want to buy it off Amazon.com to save on shipping. (See links below.) There are different sizes of balloons, but a bag of 260 balloons are good to start with. I’ll add a page for suggested balloon products at some point.
If you want to see what other balloon products are out there, check out Tmyers.com. They are a pretty well-known company with a large selection. If you are buying A LOT of stuff, Balloonmerchant.com seems like a well-priced shop too. I’ve ordered from both.

Balloon design and graph theory

When figuring out balloon designs, it’s optimal to minimize the number of balloons you need and the number of times you break a balloon. This way, you save on the number of balloons you use up, you save time (because breaking balloons and tying knots adds time,) and you save your fingers a little. (Try tying 50 knots and see how your fingers feel!)

Balloon twisting can be used to illustrate some ideas in graph theory. A balloon design can be represented as a graph. The places where the balloon is twisted represent vertices in the graph. The edges in the graph indicate which vertices are connected. For example, the picture below shows a graph of the top of a cake (the pink “frosting.”)

Is it possible to do the frosting with one single balloon without having to break the balloon? (That is the equivalent of asking if this graph has a Euler walk – can all edges in the graph can be visited exactly once?) Take out a pencil and paper and give it a try! See if you can trace over every edge exactly once without picking up your pencil.

Graph of frosting on top of the cake

Actually, as you’ve probably figured out, it’s not possible. (More than two vertices have an odd degree.) So then, what is the least number of balloon segments necessary to do the frosting, going over every edge exactly once? Can you figure it out?

The next time you are figuring out a balloon design, you might also be solving some equivalent problem of determining the best route for a road trip, package delivery, etc. 🙂

Keroppi

Keroppi

 
Here’s my first try at a Keroppi (one of the Sanrio characters) balloon. Actually, my second try. I tried to give Keroppi a striped shirt the first time, but it ended up looking like he was wearing a dress.

I didn’t have as much time for this balloon, and basically made the head similarly to the frog‘s head, and the body similarly to Hello Kitty‘s body.

You’ll need 5 balloons – two small white rounds for the eyes, one 350 of any color for the shirt (you won’t use the whole balloon), part of one 260 green for the arms, and one green 350 for the head and legs.

The head and legs are actually all connected/all part of one balloon – the balloon is just uninflated between the neck and legs. I was going to give him a bow tie, but I forgot!

Birthday cake and penguin

Penguin and a cake with green frosting

The above penguin and cake were made for a special birthday boy whose party I attended. (So many spring birthdays!) I’ve blogged about each of these balloons before (penguin, cake), but thought I’d show this picture as the colors are a bit different. One day, I may get to posting instructions for the penguin balloon, if enough people are interested. (Everyone seems to love penguins!)

Monkey

Monkey

This is a monkey made for another special birthday girl. I had an interesting time making this balloon – I was down to my last three 260 brown balloons, I needed all three, and one of the arms popped!
I tied up the balloon that popped so that it wouldn’t lose any more air. I unraveled the other (still intact) arm and used it to form the back of the monkey and the tail. I had plenty of 160 browns, so I used one of those to form the arms. The end result turned out better than the original design I had planned!

You’ll need five balloons – three brown 260s, one blush 260, and one brown 160. Use one brown and part of one blush 260s for the head. You’ll use one brown 260 for one leg and the tail, one brown 260 for the other leg and the body, one 160 for the arm, and the remaining part of the blush 260 for the body. The body and the head are made separately. To attach the two, simply stuff the neck into the head. The hands and feet are just simple loop twists. Push the small bubble formed on the ends of the arms through the loop to secure them, and then position them so they look like thumbs.

FAQ: How long do the balloons last?

It depends! If your kid is constantly playing with the balloon (shaking it, pulling at it, sword fighting,) it might pop. It also depends on environmental factors and the design of the balloon. They can last from around a few days to 2 weeks. I have made some balloons that I then left on my desk and they lasted over 3 weeks (but they won’t look as shiny and new.)

If you draw on the balloon, use a non-acidic pen, or your balloon may deflate prematurely. Also, balloons don’t like direct sunlight/heat.

It’s a balloon, it’s a toy, it’s modern art!

It's a balloon, it's a toy, it's modern art!

This is basically made from two balloons twisted together, each containing a bouncy ball. I’d call it modern art, but give it to a child, and (after staring at it curiously) it becomes a toy! I got the idea of putting a ball inside a balloon from browsing balloonhq.com, which contains a tremendous amount of helpful information.

How do you get the ball into the balloon? In a future post, I’ll show you a little tool I made with a few items from around the house that you can use to put things into a balloon.