Princess Belle

I made this balloon based on unicaw89′s Princess video. He even includes a rose in a glass jar balloon, but I was running short on time.

To make this balloon, you’ll need 3 yellow 260s and scrap 350 for the dress, a blush 350 scrap for the head, a brown 260 for the hair, and a blush 160 (or 260) for the arms and legs. I added a pink sash and hair bow with a pink 160. I made the shoes/feet a little differently from what is seen in the video – I used a 160 yellow scrap for the shoes. The legs are not too much longer than the dress, and so this balloon is pretty stable and can stand on its own. The dress is made using a pretty neat flower weave, as you’ll see in the video.

Balloon Person

Congrats to one of my former teammates Al on his retirement! Al was one of the original people who built the very successful software product that I’ve been working on. I made this for his last day at work. Thanks for everything, and best wishes in your new endeavors!
 

The design of this balloon is similar to the balloon I made of my friend Christian, except that I drew in the eyes instead of using balloon eyes. I also made a 4-bubble body instead of a 3-bubble body. You might notice the tie is made with a 260 balloon instead of a 160 balloon. And I gave him a right hair part.

These Cra-Z-Art Metallic Markers work great on balloons, both light-colored and dark-colored. I love these metallic colors! And no shaking necessary (unlike paint markers.) The ink also will not rub off if the balloon is deflated (unlike permanent markers.)

Here’s an example of what they look like on a black, purple, and a light blue balloon.

Where to buy

• I found these at my local Walmart for about $4-5.
• You can also find them on Amazon.com. (The packaging looks a little different, but the product number is the same.)

I use my white paint pen and black marker the most, but having additional color options is great – just a little bit of color can add a lot to a balloon.

Red car

Here’s a red car balloon for my nephew that I decorated to look like “Lightning McQueen” from Pixar’s movie “Cars.” I made this based on Yonaimy’s video.

To make this balloon, you’ll need one red 260 for the car frame, a white 260 (or just a scrap if you don’t want to make it a bracelet), and a black 260 scrap for the wheels. Then draw the face, headlights, and any other car decorations you’d like to add.

[ Yonaimy's video ]

Roses

Flowers are always nice to have for special occasions, or for any day, real or rubber . Balloon flowers are nice, bright, and colorful, and don’t require watering (and actually do not like direct sunlight.)

I saw this rose design from Mr. Boma’s youtube video. To make this balloon, I used one pink 160, one red 160, and one green 160. The pattern for twisting petals may be a little tricky at first, but is pretty easy once you figure it out.

Roses

Here’s a heart to make for Valentine’s Day, or for any day!

3D heart

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.

[ Michael Langerman's heart balloon video ]

Love puppy

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.

Love Puppy

Chimpanzee

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.

Chimpanzee

[ Mr. Boma's Chimpanzee video ]

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 / regular polylink

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 below by George Hart, who has lots of photos and videos of really cool mathematical sculptures at his web site and YouTube channel.