Easy-intermediate
Heart balloon
Feb 13th
Happy almost Valentine’s Day! According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day is the second most celebrated holiday around the world.
Here’s a heart to make for Valentine’s Day, or for any day!
I saw this balloon on Michael Langerman’s YouTube video. It’s not too hard, but requires you to twist 79 bubbles.
To make this balloon, I used 1 red balloon and 3.5 pink balloons. You of course could use all the same color or any combination of colors. You’ll basically start by twisting loops of bubbles, just the same way you would make a necklace. The red outline requires a 15 bubble loop; you’ll also need two 20-bubble loops, a 12-bubble loop, and two 6-bubble loops. I used one balloon to make both the 12-bubble and 6-bubble loops, and used half a balloon to make one of the 6-bubble loops.
Try to make all the bubbles the same size. The more consistent the size, the better. And make sure to twist each bubble a good number of times so it won’t come undone easily.
After you finish making the loops, you’ll make a couple more simple twists and then put all the chains together carefully to make the heart balloon. (Check out the video!) This balloon is pretty cool. It’s 3D and the back is the same as the front.
Love Puppy
Feb 8th
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, this balloon is a great one to twist. This balloon is from ChiTwister’s YouTube video.
This balloon is pretty fast and easy to make. The twists are pretty simple. The most difficult part may be doing pinch twists if you have trouble with those.
[ ChiTwister’s YouTube video ]
Chimpanzee
Feb 3rd
This chimpanzee is based on Mr. Boma’s chimpanzee balloon. The video is great and very easy to follow.
To make this balloon, you’ll need two brown balloons (with ~5 inch tail) for the body/arms/legs, one blush for the face/ears/chest, and optionally a white scrap balloon for the eyes. (I was going to make a black and gray gorilla based on this design, but didn’t get to it.) You can easily make this a monkey by adding a tail.
In addition, I used a brown 160 balloon to give this chimpanzee a back, as you can see in the picture below. I tied the end of balloon used for the back to the eyes to help keep it in place.
This balloon will easily stand on its own, which is pretty cool.
Cat
Jan 30th
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
Jan 26th
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.
Hamster
Jan 13th
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.
Panda bear
Jan 6th
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 ]
Cow
Dec 21st
I made this balloon for a little boy who LOVES cows.
To make this cow, you’ll need 4 balloons – two white 260s, one black 260, and one 6″ heart balloon. Then add the eyes, spots, and other details with a black marker. I followed this youtube video by Holly Hopper. This cow design uses basic twists (nothing tricky), and looks great. You can easily add horns too (as shown in the video.)
[ Holly Hopper’s youtube video to make a cow ]
Christmas Tree
Dec 15th
Merry [almost] Christmas!
I’ve been meaning to make something Christmas-related, and finally made this tree! I didn’t want to make a very big tree, and so I used 160 balloons and not 260 balloons. This tree is about 8-10 inches tall.
I’ve seen Christmas trees made in different ways – by making each layer separately and then joining them, or by using all round balloons.
To make this balloon, I used 3 green 160 balloons, a gold 160 balloon to decorate the tree, and some scrap 160 and 260 balloons for the ball ornaments.
I started by making a pinch twist, and then 3 small loop twists (connected at the same spot), followed by a small bubble and then another set of loop twists, followed by a small bubble and then another set of loop twists, and so on…, and ending with a small bubble at the bottom. The lower the level of branches, the more the loop twists, and the larger the loop twists. Whenever you’re about to run out of the green balloon, just pop the remaining balloon, tie a knot, and wrap it around the balloon; then attach another green balloon and start again where you left off. Lastly, I twisted a series of bubbles (using the gold 160), and used different colors of balloon scraps to make ball ornaments to decorate the tree.
Strawberries
Jun 13th
I’ve been trying to think of ways of using my heart balloons, and here’s a good one!
You’ll need just one heart balloon, and a part of a green 160 balloon for the stem. To attach the stem to the heart balloon, you’ll use the raisin twist (the same way you attach Hello Kitty’s hair bow.)
Lastly, draw the seeds on the strawberry with a black marker.
These are really cute and really simple! And young kids will be able to recognize them easily!
Bouquet of flowers
Mar 25th
Flowers are a great gift for any occasion, and so colorful. As long as you can make a simple flower, you can make a bouquet of flowers! You can also easily add variety by making flowers of different sizes, colors, shapes, and number of petals.
To make this:
Use two yellow and two blue 260 balloons (or whatever colors you prefer) to make the four flower heads. Use two green 160 balloons for the stems of the four flowers (or use 260 balloons if you don’t have 160s). Tie one flower head to each end of the green balloon and twist in half. (Two stems are made from each balloon.) You can twist some leaves for the flowers if you’d like. Another option is that you can inflate a small scrap if you’d like the middle of the flower to be a different color. After you’ve arranged your flowers, use a part of a 160 balloon to make the ribbon to hold the flowers together.
Oh, and remember, balloon flowers (balloons in general) actually don’t like the sun – they last longer in the shade. 🙂
A simpler penguin
Oct 15th
D and I met up with some friends visiting from out of town today, and they have two kids. What balloon can you make when aren’t sure what to make? Penguins! Everyone loves penguins!
I’ve made my own penguin design before, but today I tried a simpler penguin design from the Twister Sisters.
This penguin design is a pretty good design for beginners. You don’t need to worry about making sure you inflate/twist the balloons exactly the right length because you won’t use the entire balloon.
You will need three balloons – a black 260, a white 260, and an orange 260. I also used a blue 160 scrap for a bow-tie.
Check out this video from the Twister Sisters to learn how to make this penguin!
Another fish
Sep 11th
Here’s yet another fish I made. I came up with this one – it’s similar to the previous fish I blogged about, but it’s a little larger and has a little more detail (stripes.)
To make this balloon, you use a 260 balloon to make the lips and body. This is similar to how you’d start making the last fish, except this time don’t make fins with the 260 balloon. Thus, the body will be a little larger.
Then use one 160 balloon to add the top two stripes and two back fins (top and bottom). Afterward, use a second 160 balloon to add the bottom two stripes, two side fins, and middle back fin. (To attach each 160 balloon to the fish body you’ve already made, wrap the knot around the back of the fish body (where the bubbles intersect each other.))
Use a small white round balloon to make two eyes. Lastly, add a scrap 260 white (or whatever color) balloon to fill in the final middle back fin.
Gone fishing!
Sep 4th
Wow, another year with the 4-5 year olds class has passed by. Last year, for the last day of class, I made birds. This year, I made fish!
I chose this balloon to make for my class because they don’t take that much time to make, but are still quite detailed. The birds I made last year are were a bit too detailed and took more time than I originally planned. Also, these fish are a bit more sturdy – probably less likely to come undone and will last a little longer.
Tips: As shown in the picture, I made all the fish bodies first. The fish body is made up of one 260 balloon. I found leaving 3 inches uninflated was just right for me. The new neon-colored balloons I just bought looked quite nice.
After making the bodies, I added the fins and the eyes. You can position the eyes to be in the middle, closer to the front, or right in front. You can also mix and match different colors for the body and fins.
I have made this fish balloon before.
I originally saw this balloon on a youtube video (by BusterBalloon.)
To transport the balloons, I used a pop-up laundry hamper, which worked quite well. In the past I’ve used bags for transport. But this way, you can have more assurance the balloons won’t get squished. The laundry hamper also can fit a lot.
[ Video link: Clown Fish by BusterBalloon ]
If I were a butterfly…
Jun 20th
I got my first real close up view of a butterfly of this year this past Sunday. It landed on the bright green shirt of someone sitting a few feet away. So beautiful!
The pink butterfly shown here was made using a single 260. The other one was made using one yellow 260 balloon and a scrap black 260 balloon.
Twisting the one-balloon butterfly is a little more difficult than twisting a “dog” balloon – the butterfly consists of a number of twists that all go around the same joint, which makes things a little tight.
As you can see, the wings are twisted similarly to how you would twist flower petals; they are just different sizes – two are smaller and two are bigger. (When twisting flower petals, you normally locate the midpoint and twist the balloon there. With these wings, you locate a point a few inches from the midpoint and twist the balloon there.)
Next time, I’ll try using a 160 balloon for the body, and will draw some spots/designs on the butterfly wings using markers! Decorating the butterfly might be a fun activity for kids too!
Turtles
May 22nd
Here’s a mommy turtle with two little baby turtle hatchlings. I’m currently running low on green 260 balloons, so I used a 350 to make the shell using a three-bubble roll through, and a 160 for the flippers and feet. This design is based on another design I saw a few years ago (the owner has taken that youtube video down since then.)
Mommy and baby fish
May 15th
I made this one for a baby shower. The larger fish above is supposed to be a mommy fish, and the smaller fish a baby fish. Trivia question: What is a baby fish called? (Answer below.)
I’ve shown you the larger fish before. (See this previous post.) The smaller fish design (along with the coral and seaweed) I saw on a youtube video by BusterBalloon. I really like that design as well – it uses an entire 260 balloon, a 160 scrap for the fins, and a small white round for the eyes.
To (loosely) attach the fish to the coral, take a small piece of uninflated balloon and find some place to secure one end on the fish. Then find some place to secure the other end on the coral. (You can first tie knots at the ends of the balloon if that helps.) If you look closely at the picture above, you can see where I slid in one end of the uninflated balloon at the bottom of the mommy fish in between the 260 balloon and the round balloon.
What is a baby fish called? A newly hatched fish is called a fry. A baby fish that is a bit older is called a fingerling (and is about the size of one’s finger or larger.)
[ Video link: Clown Fish by BusterBalloon ]
Helicopter #2
May 1st
I’ve made a helicopter before (see this previous post.) I made the same helicopter balloon again, and then added two additional features.
First, I added tail rotors made with a 160 balloon. They are just like the main rotors, just smaller.
Second, I formed the cockpit using a small clear 260 balloon. I also put a small ball (with some pictures of faces attached) in the balloon, just for fun. I’ll have to find some little toy people to use for purposes like this!
Racecar
Apr 25th
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!
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!
Keroppi
Apr 7th
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!