January 2013 – Khool Balloons

Cat

I don’t really like cats – they’re sneaky and always seem like they want to torment me. Sigh. (Maybe one day I’ll be more comfortable with them…)

But I came across a couple videos on making a cat balloon, and decided I’d make one too. This cat is a combination of some different things I’ve seen, and I tweaked the face a little to get it the way I wanted it to look.

To make this balloon: I used a black 260 balloon (with ~5 inch tail) for the body, a white 260 to make the face and paws, and a red scrap balloon for the nose. First, make the paws, which is essentially 4 pinch twists. Then make the body, inserting the paws when you twist the legs. Lastly, make the face and attach it to the body.

To take this photo, I put a piece of tape on the paws to help it stand. (If you look closely, you’ll see the tape.)

[ Gilberto’s cat video | papaballoon’s cat video]

Orderly Tangle

This is called an “orderly tangle” (or also “regular polylink.”) This particular tangle is made up of four triangles, which when woven together in a certain symmetric fashion form a stable structure. You may have seen tangles in the form of puzzles before. My college roommate was really into puzzles and had a bunch of wooden ones. I first saw tangles that were made from balloons on Vi Hart’s web site.

To make this balloon, I used four 260 balloons. I used my neon colors for a cool color combination. I left around a 3-4 inch tail (instead of inflating the entire balloon) as I didn’t want the final structure to be too big/loose. There are no tricky twists – it’s just four triangles. But it is a geometric exercise to figure out how to put it together. You’ll have to make each triangle one at a time as you figure out how to weave them. I added a 5″ round balloon in the middle for fun.

To learn more about these cool geometric structures, check out this video by George Hart, who has lots of photos and videos of really cool mathematical sculptures at his web site and YouTube channel.

“The Unpoppables” show

I watched this show called “The Unpoppables” on YouTube and thought it was totally awesome!

“The Unpoppables” is about three balloon artists working together at New Balloon Art, who design and make humongous, incredible balloon structures for various events. The show reminded me of “Cake Boss” (which was also on TLC)…except this one is about balloons!

The Eiffel Tower, a balloon wedding gown worn by a bride during an actual wedding, a castle you can drive through, a life size fire truck, a couch you can sit on… check it out! There 6 episodes.

Hamster

Here’s a cute little hamster I saw on Holly Hopper’s youtube channel. Here’s the video link.

To make this balloon you’ll need four balloons – one white 260 balloon and two brown 260 balloons for the body, a small white round for the eyes, and a pink scrap for the nose.

A friend mistook this balloon for a chipmunk, and you could probably easily make some changes to the basic structure and twist a chipmunk instead. Next time I make this hamster, I’ll have to try adding some small ears so that it looks more like a hamster.

[ Holly Hopper’s hamster tutorial video ]

Panda bear

I saw this panda bear balloon while browsing YouTube one day. People have asked me to make a panda bear before, so here’s one version! (I’ll try making my own version sometime.)

This panda bear YouTube video is in Spanish, but you should be able to follow along with the video even if you don’t know Spanish! The balloon artist in the video made a whole set for the panda bear, with bamboo and everything!

To make this balloon, you’ll need one white 260 balloon and one black 260 balloon. This panda bear is somewhat similar to other basic teddy bear designs, but slightly more complicated as you are twisting a black and a white balloon together at the same time. It’s neat how for some parts of the balloon, the color on the back is different from the color on the front. You’ll have plenty leftover of both balloons, so you won’t have to worry about balloon management too much.

[ Yonaimy’s panda bear video ]