My favorite balloons to twist
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!
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.
2019 in review
Jan 3rd
Happy 2020! Wishing you all the best in this new decade.
Here’s a look back at 2019 in balloons. I enjoyed being a part of different celebrations, and being able to bring some balloon art! I also started making giant balloons for the first time this past year. I look forward to more balloon twisting, big and small, in the coming year/decade!
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- Flower wand
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- Birthday cake
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- Giant pumpkin
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- Big heart
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- Raspberry (wearable costume)
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- Unicorn
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- Turtle
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- Octopuses
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- Graduation Owl
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- 50th birthday cake hat
Flower wand
Dec 31st
Flower wand
Happy birthday, K! You’re a super kid!
I had limited time to make a balloon; but I love this wand design from Balloon Sage and finally found an occasion to make it. Check out his video for all the variations.
Birthday cake with flowers
Dec 29th
Happy birthday, W! Can’t believe you’re two already. It was fun celebrating at Chuck E. Cheese’s – I haven’t been there since I was a kid!
This time I decorated the birthday cake with some small flowers (like the one added to the unicorn.) I’ve enjoyed using the chrome color balloons more – kids and adults like them too!
Birthday cake
Giant pumpkin
Oct 31st
Giant pumpkin
Happy halloween! This giant pumpkin balloon was made for a Fall Harvest Party. Afterwards, I fixed the popped balloons and it sat in my living room for a week and was used as a pumpkin playhouse! I removed one balloon in the back so our playhouse could have a window.
Big heart
Oct 28th
Big heart
Happy Birthday to my friend, Carmen! Now you’ve got two big hearts!
Check out Sue Bowler’s instructions for how to make this. It took me about 2 hours. You’ll use 79 Quick Links/Link-O-Loons and 78 5″ balloons. I inflated the balloons to 7″ and 9″, and the resulting heart was humongous (though I was still able to squeeze the balloon into our SUV for transport.)
Raspberry (wearable costume)
Aug 13th
Raspberry (wearable costume)
This wearable raspberry balloon is probably the largest balloon I’ve made (besides the organic balloon arch.) I listed it under “hard” for difficulty, but it’s mostly more time-consuming than hard.
I used 186 balloons, mostly link-o-loons and round balloons. There are 6 horizontal chains and 8 vertical chains of link-o-loons. I added two 260 segments inside for handlebars.
Happy birthday Kirsten!
Unicorn
Jul 23rd
Unicorn
I’ve been wanting to make this unicorn balloon (designed by Jackie Ochitwa, video linked below), and then a friend asked if I could make a unicorn! (Get well soon, K – you’ll be back up and running in no time!) This design uses a couple more advanced techniques, so I put it as “intermediate” in terms of difficulty, but it’s a fun one to make and easy to put together.
The more advanced techniques include: (1) a raisin twist to attach the ears to the head and (2) making curly balloons. I used different sizes from what Jackie uses in her tutorial. I used what I had – 260s for the body; 160s for the hair, horn, and flower; and a 6″ heart for the head.
You could use this design to make ponies from “My Little Pony” as well. I’ve learned ponies and unicorns are quite popular, especially with 4-5 year olds – my cousin’s daughter just asked me for one the other day.
Another turtle
Jul 6th
I’ve twisted turtles before, and here’s another turtle design I like (from Juan Gonzalez.) Can’t have too many turtles!
I used 160 balloons instead of 260 balloons to make this balloon. It’s a quick one to make and super cute (like this tortoise)! I offered this turtle as one of four choices (along with the octopus) at the Kidsrock appreciation event.
Octopus
Jun 5th
Octopuses
The octopus is one really neat animal, so intelligent and interesting. I almost feel kind of bad for enjoying them at mealtime every now and then. In any case, they are a fun balloon animal to make.
I recently bought these 5″ round polka-dotted balloons, and they great to use for making octopuses. For the eyes, I use one 5″ round white balloon, twisted in half. For the green octopus shown, I used one 160 to form the eight arms. You basically twist one ~6″ bubble (or however long you want the first arm to be), followed by six loops twists, with another ~6″ section left for the eighth arm. This design is a nice, quick one, especially if you are twisting for a crowd and/or have less time.
For the blue octopus shown, I used two 160 balloons to form the arms. You can make a curly balloon (which I’m not a pro at yet.) It takes a little more time as you are using two balloons instead of one and making curly balloons, but you can see that the blue octopus looks a little fuller with longer legs. But whichever design you use, both are fun.
Graduation Owl
May 28th
Graduation Owl
Congratulations to my friend Pam on her graduation! I’m so excited for you and your future students!
This graduation owl is similar to the owl I twisted before, designed by TaylorAnnArt. I added a graduation cap to it, attached by twisting an extra pinch twist in the head and tying the cap to it with the other end of the balloon used to form the tassel.
50th birthday cake
May 6th
50th birthday cake hat
A very special happy 50th birthday to our friend Chris, whom my husband and I have enjoyed getting to know these last two years. Here’s a special birthday cake hat with the numbers 5-0 attached using some clear balloons. I added an extra structural balloon segment inside the cake in order to attach the numbers. Happy birthday Chris! What a memorable birthday with such fun stories.
On another note, I can’t believe it’s already May and this is only my first post! Time flies. Hope to have a few more posts soon, especially with many different celebrations coming up.
2018 in review
Jan 1st
Happy 2019!! Here’s a look back at 2018 in balloons. I didn’t post as much throughout the year as in previous years, probably because I spent more time juggling. Also, many of the balloons I twist are ones I’ve made before, so I don’t bother posting about them again. I did twist a lot, and am happy more of my friends are getting into balloon art!
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- Icosahedron variant
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- Penguin with scarf
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- Penguin with hair bow
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- Shield
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- Organic balloon arch
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- Quick rabbit
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- Flower bouquet
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- Flower bouquet in vase
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- Birthday cake
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- Birthday cake
