Author: KhoolBalloons

An S balloon for S

Girl balloon (front)
Girl balloon (back)

For my friend’s birthday, I made a balloon version of her. I made this one up as I went along, and used a number of colors, which takes a little more time. (You need to blow up/tie each balloon segment.)

This balloon has 15 balloon segments:

  • Head: One blush 350 balloon segment is used for the face and ears.
  • Nose: One blush 160 balloon bubble.
  • Hair: One black 350 balloon segment and two black 160 balloons. Wrap the ends around the ears to attach.
  • Neck: One blush balloon segment. Wrap the end around the pinch twists of the shirt to attach. The other end is squeezed in between the hair and face balloons.
  • Shirt: Two red 260 balloon segments. One segment is used to make the sleeves, basically just two pinch twists at each end. The second is used for the rest of the shirt, and twisted with first balloon with two pinch twists at the top, where you will attach the neck.
  • Arms: Two blush 160 balloon segments, one for each arm.
  • Shorts: One blue 160 balloon segment. Each side of the shorts is basically a three-body roll-through with two pinch twists at each end, where you will attach the legs.
  • Legs/feet: Two blush 260 balloon segments, one for each side.
  • Shoes: Two brown 160 balloon segments, one for each side.

Happy Birthday S! And have a great trip!

Baby pacifier

It definitely feels like baby shower season! I made these pacifier balloons and hung them up as decorations for a baby shower.

Pacifiers
Pacifiers

To make this pacifier, you’ll need one 5″ round balloon and one 160 balloon.

  1. Inflate the 160 balloon until there is a little bit less than 1″ uninflated.
  2. Make one loop for the handle.
  3. Push the air to fill up any remaining uninflated part of the balloon.
  4. Make 3 loops for the mouth shield part of the pacifier, leaving a small bubble at the end. You can make the three loops with one twist by first folding the balloon so it has 3 loops (like a sine wave with 1.5 cycles – see picture… actually it’s more like 1.55) and twisting it in the middle (along the x-axis.)
  5. Hide the remaining small bubble in the handle.
  6. Then inflate the round balloon, tie it, and wrap the end around the 160 balloon to attach it.

Turtles

Mommy turtle and hatchlings

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

Mommy and baby fish

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 ]

Simple Elephant

Elephant

Here’s my version of a simple elephant balloon animal. I’ve seen other simple one-balloon elephants, but in this design I use a second 160 balloon so that the trunk is more in proportion compared to the rest of the body.

This design requires two balloons: one full 260 balloon and a 160 scrap for the trunk.

Inflate the balloon leaving about four inches uninflated. Make a loop twist for the ear, a pinch twist for the head, and another loop twist for the other ear. Then make the rest of the body the way you would for a dog.

For the trunk, inflate the 160 balloon to however long you want the trunk to be, then tie off both ends (and cut off any remaining balloon if necessary.) Wrap one end around the head/ears to attach it to the rest of the elephant. Twist a small pinch twist for the mouth and position the trunk so that it is between the mouth and the head. (You can wrap the trunk around the head again if you’d like.)

Helicopter #2

Helicopter

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

Racecar

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!

Racecar (front view)

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!

Where to buy

Although many party shops and toy stores sell balloons for twisting balloon animals, the ones sold in the stores are generally not very good quality, are older, and will often pop (leading to frustration!)
As mentioned before, I suggest buying good, quality balloons (I’ve been using the Qualatex brand and usually order mine online.)

If you want to simply buy a bag (of 100 or 250), you may want to buy it off Amazon.com to save on shipping. (See links below.) There are different sizes of balloons, but a bag of 260 balloons are good to start with. I’ll add a page for suggested balloon products at some point.
If you want to see what other balloon products are out there, check out Tmyers.com. They are a pretty well-known company with a large selection. If you are buying A LOT of stuff, Balloonmerchant.com seems like a well-priced shop too. I’ve ordered from both.

Balloon design and graph theory

When figuring out balloon designs, it’s optimal to minimize the number of balloons you need and the number of times you break a balloon. This way, you save on the number of balloons you use up, you save time (because breaking balloons and tying knots adds time,) and you save your fingers a little. (Try tying 50 knots and see how your fingers feel!)

Balloon twisting can be used to illustrate some ideas in graph theory. A balloon design can be represented as a graph. The places where the balloon is twisted represent vertices in the graph. The edges in the graph indicate which vertices are connected. For example, the picture below shows a graph of the top of a cake (the pink “frosting.”)

Is it possible to do the frosting with one single balloon without having to break the balloon? (That is the equivalent of asking if this graph has a Euler walk – can all edges in the graph can be visited exactly once?) Take out a pencil and paper and give it a try! See if you can trace over every edge exactly once without picking up your pencil.

Graph of frosting on top of the cake

Actually, as you’ve probably figured out, it’s not possible. (More than two vertices have an odd degree.) So then, what is the least number of balloon segments necessary to do the frosting, going over every edge exactly once? Can you figure it out?

The next time you are figuring out a balloon design, you might also be solving some equivalent problem of determining the best route for a road trip, package delivery, etc. 🙂

Keroppi

Keroppi

 
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!

Birthday cake and penguin

Penguin and a cake with green frosting

The above penguin and cake were made for a special birthday boy whose party I attended. (So many spring birthdays!) I’ve blogged about each of these balloons before (penguin, cake), but thought I’d show this picture as the colors are a bit different. One day, I may get to posting instructions for the penguin balloon, if enough people are interested. (Everyone seems to love penguins!)

Monkey

Monkey

This is a monkey made for another special birthday girl. I had an interesting time making this balloon – I was down to my last three 260 brown balloons, I needed all three, and one of the arms popped!
I tied up the balloon that popped so that it wouldn’t lose any more air. I unraveled the other (still intact) arm and used it to form the back of the monkey and the tail. I had plenty of 160 browns, so I used one of those to form the arms. The end result turned out better than the original design I had planned!

You’ll need five balloons – three brown 260s, one blush 260, and one brown 160. Use one brown and part of one blush 260s for the head. You’ll use one brown 260 for one leg and the tail, one brown 260 for the other leg and the body, one 160 for the arm, and the remaining part of the blush 260 for the body. The body and the head are made separately. To attach the two, simply stuff the neck into the head. The hands and feet are just simple loop twists. Push the small bubble formed on the ends of the arms through the loop to secure them, and then position them so they look like thumbs.

FAQ: How long do the balloons last?

It depends! If your kid is constantly playing with the balloon (shaking it, pulling at it, sword fighting,) it might pop. It also depends on environmental factors and the design of the balloon. They can last from around a few days to 2 weeks. I have made some balloons that I then left on my desk and they lasted over 3 weeks (but they won’t look as shiny and new.)

If you draw on the balloon, use a non-acidic pen, or your balloon may deflate prematurely. Also, balloons don’t like direct sunlight/heat.

It’s a balloon, it’s a toy, it’s modern art!

It's a balloon, it's a toy, it's modern art!

This is basically made from two balloons twisted together, each containing a bouncy ball. I’d call it modern art, but give it to a child, and (after staring at it curiously) it becomes a toy! I got the idea of putting a ball inside a balloon from browsing balloonhq.com, which contains a tremendous amount of helpful information.

How do you get the ball into the balloon? In a future post, I’ll show you a little tool I made with a few items from around the house that you can use to put things into a balloon.

How to make a basic balloon animal “Khooler”

Khool Dog

So you’ve got the basic dog balloon down. How can you make it a bit more fancy? “Khool dog” here offers three quick ideas.

  1. Make the balloon animal bigger. I used a 350 instead of the usual 260 balloon. A 350 balloon is three inches wide and 50 inches long, whereas a 260 balloon is two inches wide and 60 inches long. You’ll have to adjust the amount of air that you pump into the balloon. Some animals that usually require the entire 260 balloon may not work as well with the 350 balloon.
  2. Add eyes. I used a small 5″ white round balloon twisted in half to make the eyes.
  3. Add a bow tie. With a small 160 scrap, I made a bow tie and added it around the neck. You could also attach it to the ear using a raisin twist, but that will take a little more time.

Birthday cake and princess (Snow White)

Birthday cake and princess

Happy birthday G! I made a princess that somewhat resembles Snow White (G’s favorite princess). And what’s a birthday without birthday cake?

Princess (side)

Princess: To make the princess, I used this video to help me get started. For the head, I used a black 260 for the hair and a blush 350 for the head. For the body, I improvised and made a slightly more detailed dress. I used a blush 160 for the arms, a 260 shiny blue for the top of dress, and 350 and 160 yellows for the bottom of the dress. If you only have 260 balloons, that is fine. I just like to use different sizes so everything is more in proportion. You may not be able to tell from the picture above, but both the bottom and top of the dress (and the hair) use a bird body (or three-bubble roll through.) I used a red 260 scrap to make a small hair bow, and a white paint pen and different colored markers to draw in the facial features.

Birthday cake: For the birthday cake, I followed this video to make the base of the cake. I made my cake 5-sided instead of 6-sided. After making the base, I “decorated” the cake using 160 pink balloons. The candle is a pretty neat twist. The candle is basically made by using a tulip twist, which can be a little difficult the first time (it might pop when you take your finger out of the balloon.) You can wear this birthday cake as a hat too!

[ Video link: Princess balloon ]
[ Video link: Birthday cake ]

Mr. Penguin and snow!

Mr. Penguin

This year, Atlanta experienced its first white Christmas since 1882! I remember always wishing for a white Christmas as a child (but now I get tons of snow living in the Northeast.) We got maybe almost 2 inches of snow, and many churches were closed due to the icy roads.

During our family Christmas Eve dinner, some of my cousins suggested I make a penguin balloon. So, being “snowed in” this morning, I took some black, white, and orange balloons and decided to give it a try. I designed this penguin balloon off the top of my head. Below is the resulting Mr. Penguin, playing in the historic Atlanta snow!

To make this penguin, I used two small white 5″ round balloons, two black 260s, an orange 160 (scrap), an orange 260 (scrap), and a red 160 (scrap).

First, I used one (entire) black 260 (inflated with a 4″ tail) to make the head and the first loop for the body. The eyes are made from a white round not fully inflated, twisted in half. The white part of the body is a white round. I then used the second black 260 for the back of the penguin body and tail (you don’t need to use the whole balloon.) The beak is a very small scrap of orange balloon, and the feet and bow tie from 160 scraps. I’m pleased with my first try at a penguin.

Mr. Penguin biking in the snow

Mr. Penguin making snow angels

Merry Christmas everyone!

Last Saturday my church hosted a Children’s Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, with crafts, gifts, and also Koko the clown, who entertained the guests with magic tricks, juggling, balloons, and shared about the meaning of Christmas. At the end, we also gave each kid a balloon animal, with which I helped out.

Because we were expecting possibly 100 kids, I tried to think of simpler balloon animals. We gave out red flowers, camels (which the wise men rode), and sheep (who were present in the stable where baby Jesus slept.) I was out of green 260 balloons, so I cut the red (for the petals) and green (for the stem) 160 balloons into halves to make two smaller flowers.

Camel

Camel: The camel balloon was a pretty simple animal to make. I went with a one-balloon design based on this camel youtube video. I simplified the design a bit – I didn’t do the tulip twist, and because I wanted the knot to be at the tail and not on the head, I started by making the tail first (instead of the head.) You’ll want to leave a little bit less than a 4 inch tail when inflating the balloon. I like to use up the entire balloon, and it may take you a try or two to get the size of the legs and body of the camel just right so that you have just the right amount left for the neck and head. After you are done twisting, bend the neck of the camel upwards, and bend the head downwards.

Sheep

Sheep:  The sheep is a little more complex than the camel, as it uses two balloons and requires more knot tying. I followed these instructions from Professor Wonder to make this balloon. I also simplified this balloon in that I didn’t use the tulip (apple) twist to attach the two balloons. Instead I just tied the ends together. (I’m not too good with the tulip twist and often end up popping the balloon.) In addition to white sheep, I also made a few that were blue, pink or purple, and used either black and blush for the head. (The kids preferred blush over black.) I try to use up the entire balloon here as well, so I don’t have do any additional cutting or tying.

Professor Wonder also has a two-balloon camel design, as well as other characters from the nativity scene.

After you finish making the camel and/or sheep, you can use a Sharpie or dry erase marker to draw the eyes and mouth.

[ One-balloon camel video by Charles ]
[ Sheep instructions and other nativity characters by Professor Wonder ]

One-balloon parrot

One-balloon parrot

 
This parrot (sitting on a perch) is one of my favorite one-balloon animals to make. It is fast (faster than the dog!) and easy – only requiring about 4 twists, and looks very much like a parrot. If the outside loop (perch) is too small, you can have a kid wear it so that it looks like the parrot is sitting on the kid’s arm/shoulder. Just twist the balloon so that the bird is not in the circle and have a kid put his or her arm through the loop (with the bird sitting on top.)