My favorite balloons to twist
Hat and scepter
Jan 15th
Birthday hat and scepter
A birthday hat and scepter, and very special happy birthday to a fabulous friend who turned the big 5-0!
2020 in review
Jan 1st
Happy New Year! Wishing you all the very best in 2021.
2020 was a tough one, a real tough one.
I will remember 2020 as the year of poop [balloons]. When life gives you poop, make poop balloons.
Some losses we’ll never get back. But good things happened too (and I was glad to celebrate some of these this year, even if in a different way than expected.) We’ll get through this together. Stay healthy and safe!
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- Penguin
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- Christmas tree poop emoji
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- Snowman poop emoji
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- Christmas poop emoji with holly
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- Balloon hat
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- Balloon hat
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- Alien poop
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- Unicorn poop
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- Ghost Poop [emoji]
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- Pumpkin poop [emoji]
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- Small pumpkin
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- Bicycle
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- Orderly tangle of triangles
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- Green/gold (Celtics) hat
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- Peppa Pig
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- Birthday cake [hat]
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- Flower bouquet
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- Gudetama, the lazy egg
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- Jeep
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- Lobster
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- Bride
Penguin
Dec 29th
Penguins are one of animals I have twisted so many different versions of. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of more penguin designs. Plus, I usually have so many black and white balloons to use up. This super cute penguin is designed by the super talented Lily Tan. Instead of giving it a bow, I gave it a heart balloon to hold.
Penguin
Christmas poop
Dec 25th
Merry Christmas to my peeps from my poops! After making Halloween poop, I started thinking about poop emoji balloons for Christmas. Who knew I’d be making so many of these in 2020. 😀
Hope you all have a restful holiday break!
Christmas poop emoji with holly
Snowman poop emoji
Christmas tree poop emoji
Balloon hats
Dec 15th
This year, I’ve made more balloon hats. They are just fun, and perfect for the birthday person! Here’s a couple recent ones I made for some special birthday people! (And look! I found a way to use my basketball during this pandemic!)
Balloon hat using Qualatex neon balloons
Happy birthday, S!
These are both six-sided hats. The more sides, the more balloon you have to use after building the base. These are also easier than making the birthday cake hat, which requires more twisting, tying of knots, and other details.
Balloon hat
Happy birthday, T!
Alien poop
Oct 31st
Alien poop
Alien poop
This is “alien poop,” based on the aliens from “Toy Story.”
I put a short piece of pipe cleaner in the antenna so it could be bent.
Have a fun and safe Halloween everyone!
Unicorn poop
Oct 31st
Unicorn poop
I didn’t plan on it, but I’ve been making a lot of poop this week! 🙂
My niece suggested this one – unicorn poop!
I didn’t have a 160 balloon in gold chrome, so I stuffed a 160 inside a 260 gold chrome to get the size and color I wanted. It worked well! I think it helped to hold the twist better too.
Unicorn poop
Ghost poop
Oct 28th
Ghost Poop [emoji]
Since making the pumpkin poop, I’ve been thinking about all kinds of other poop. 🙂 This is ghost poop.
Pumpkin poop [emoji]
Oct 27th
Pumpkin poop [emoji]
Here’s another pumpkin; this time, pumpkin poop! Like the poop emoji, except the pumpkin version. 🙂
Whenever I make things like this, kids or people who are around kids recognize what it is supposed to be more easily than others.
Small pumpkin
Oct 15th
Small pumpkin
I’ve been seeing pumpkins and fall/Halloween decorations pretty much everywhere since the beginning of October!
Last year I made a really large pumpkin balloon, which I would love do again if I can find the time. Here’s a small pumpkin – I really like this cute pumpkin design by Graham Lee. He shows you two different ways to twist the stem – one faster/easier and the more intricate design shown here.
Happy fall!
Bicycle
Oct 3rd
Bicycle
I’ve really enjoyed being outside this summer and fall, as I’m sure many have been during this pandemic. This balloon was made for a friend that I went biking with this summer, something I loved doing as a kid and haven’t done in a long time!
I followed Vyacheslav’s tutorial to make this balloon (linked below.) I’ve also made a tandem bicycle based on this design before.
Orderly Tangle
Aug 10th
Orderly tangle of triangles
I’ve posted about this orderly tangle of triangles before. But it’s a fun one to figure out how to put together, and it looks really cool in chrome, so here it is again! 🙂
Try putting it together yourself! You don’t need to use balloons; you could also use popsicle sticks. Whatever you use, just make sure they are the same length. If you’re interested in these types of structures, check out George Hart’s YouTube channel!
Celtics hat
Jul 12th
Green/gold (Celtics) hat
Happy birthday, Marc! Here’s a green and gold birthday hat (Celtics colors) for the birthday boy, who is a big Boston sports fan.
I was a little short on time, so I went with a five-sided hat instead of six sides. Next time I make a hat like this, I will inflate the green balloons a little less, so that I can use the ends in the same way I used the gold balloons. I will try to keep track of how much is left uninflated.
Can’t wait till live sports are back on (whenever that may be and when it is safe)!
Peppa Pig
Jun 29th
Peppa Pig
I followed Sergey Loginov‘s videos to twist this balloon. I substituted a heart for the big round balloon.
This design uses quite a few interesting techniques, especially for the head. The ears are attached on the inside, by tying them after turning the head balloon inside out (similar to how the cherry is attached to the ice cream cone balloon, and how the orange carrot nose is attached to Olaf.) The head also has two balloons inside of it, to help achieve the shape of the head. I’m not anywhere near a master at manipulating balloons inside balloons yet, but I hope to get better at it!
I use dry erase markers when I can to draw the face – then I can erase if needed. But sometimes I only have certain colors in permanent markers.
Happy birthday, S!
Birthday cake
Jun 28th
Birthday cake [hat]
A special birthday cake for a very special girl. Happy birthday!
This was the first time I used metallic colors for a birthday cake – I like how they look!
Hope everyone is doing okay, especially during this difficult time with the coronavirus. Hang in there and stay safe! Life has changed so much in many ways. Now, whenever I hear cars honking, I first think that it must be someone’s birthday!
Flower bouquet
Jun 13th
Flower bouquet
It’s been a while since my last flower balloon bouquet. I hope to try making some new types of flowers soon.
I ran out of the glass vases I usually use for flower bouquets, but I found the wide mouth canning jars work great for this purpose. They will fit about 6 stems made out of size 160 balloons.
Happy birthday, Evelyn! Always great to meet new friends!
Gudetama
Apr 8th
Gudetama is a “lazy egg,” one of Sanrio’s newer cartoon characters (2014). I made this balloon for my niece’s birthday, although I could not give it to her, as we are all sheltering-in-place during this pandemic. But we were able to celebrate remotely. 🙂
Gudetama, the lazy egg
This balloon is pretty easy to make. Check out Chibicoro Balloons for photos and instructions, and lots of other cute balloons. The text is in Japanese, but you can use Google Translate.
While everyone is at home, Qualatex hosted a week-long online balloon convention, which was really cool. You can check out the recordings on their YouTube channel.
I think we all feel a bit like Gudetama on some days, especially during this pandemic. Hope everyone is doing okay, and staying healthy and safe!
Jeep
Mar 10th
A very special happy birthday to D, who turned 16 and got a car. 🙂 Well, a balloon car for now.
Jeep
This one is a jeep, it even has a spare tire in the back. I wanted to add more detail, but was crunched for time.
It’s always a balance. (If I wanted to get things perfect, I might not ever get anything done!) I had fun making this one!
Happy birthday, D!
Lobster
Mar 1st
She found her lobster! 🙂
Lobster
To make this balloon, I used a few red 260s, one red 160, and one small white round. I used Michael Floyd’s video below to get started, but made some changes here and there, including having a larger body, different antennae, and white round eyes.
I enjoyed learning a new technique from Michael while making the tail.
Happy bride
Feb 15th
Bride
Happy bridal shower to the lovely bride-to-be! I’m so excited for my friend Kirsten and her upcoming wedding.
To twist the hair, check out JocelynBalloon’s princess hair video.
To twist the dress, check out Unicaw89’s princess video.