My favorite balloons to twist
Animals
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.
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.
Penguins (again!)
Dec 28th
Penguin with hair bow
This penguin balloon design is a pretty popular one and a design commonly found when you search YouTube (see the Twister Sister video link below.) I’ve twisted this one before. It’s a fun, easy, and quick design, and I’ve probably made over 20 of them this past month – just because it’s the Christmas/winter season and also for E’s birthday. (Happy birthday E!) I’m reposting to show what you can add to the design to make it just a little khooler. 🙂
In the original post, I added a bow tie. Above, I’ve add a hair bow to the penguin. Below, I’ve added a scarf. Each addition is pretty simple and fast, but adds a lot and gives you a way to personalize each penguin.
Penguin with scarf
More pictures of penguins on-the-move! From left to right:
(1) A waddle of penguins ready for transport.
(2) Mr. Penguin traveled with me through the airport on my suitcase.
(3) Mr. Penguin got a window seat next to me. (Free advertising for Southwest.)
Penguins on-the-move
Check out this video from Holly:
Rabbit
Aug 10th
Quick rabbit
I often get asked for rabbits or bunnies. Here’s a quick bunny design I like (see video below by Sergey Loginov). It only requires one balloon and one scrap (for the eyes). I used a 160 balloon instead of a 260. I gave one of the rabbits a white tail, as suggested by my husband. 🙂
Check out the tutorial from Sergey:
Tiger
Dec 30th
Happy Birthday K! This was made for a special birthday girl who loves all kinds of cats!
Tiger
Here’s a quick tutorial from the Terrace Balloon Man.
Dinosaur
Apr 23rd
Dinosaur
I’ve been looking for some dinosaur designs, and here’s one that I like. It only takes one 260 balloon for the body and one white scrap for the eyes. It took me a few tries to get the right amount of air in the balloon – I ran out of space to twist and had to decrease the amount of air. Check out Sergey’s tutorial video! Great for line work!
[ Sergey’s tutorial video ]
Dragonfly
Apr 18th
Dragonfly
Here’s another fun balloon!
To make this balloon, you’ll need one 260 balloon for the body, two 160s for the wings, and one small round for the eyes. Leave about 2.5″ uninflated for the 260. This balloon is easy to make – there are a few pinch twists, which can be tricky for new twisters. Check out Sergey’s tutorial video.
Owl
Apr 13th
Owl
Here’s a super cute owl, based on a design by TaylorAnnArt. Check out her video (shown below), where you’ll see instructions for both a simple version and an advanced version of this balloon. You’ll also see how it can be worn as a bracelet.
Turtle
Apr 8th
Turtle
Happy Birthday to my niece!
Here’s a nice turtle you can make with just four balloons. To make this balloon, you’ll need one green 260 for the turtle head and body, one green 260 scrap for the front two limbs, one brown 260 for the shell (four bubbles,) and one small white round for the eyes. I added a heart at the end.
[My Little] Pony
Dec 29th
Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony
Happy Birthday to K, celebrating the big 5! She quickly recognized this balloon as “Pinkie Pie” from My Little Pony (one of my childhood toys!)
To make this balloon, you’ll need two pink 260s (one for the head, one for the body), a white 350 scrap, a light blue 160 scrap (for the eyes), and three dark pink 160s (for the hair.) For the head, I used Michael Floyd’s design. I like how he adds the blue balloon for the eyes. The head design is similar to what you might use to make the head of a seahorse. For the body, I used the basic body you’d use to make a four-legged creature (the basic dog), but with a three-bubble roll-through (aka bird body.) Connect the head to the body, and then add the hair. (Making the curls for the hair is also fun. I needed to ask my brother to help me hold the balloon for that, as I use a pump to inflate and have no free hands.) If I had the right markers, I would have added the cutie mark.
Happy Birthday K!
Penguin wearing a Santa hat
Dec 27th
Penguin with Santa hat
Hope everyone is enjoying the end of 2016. I am off from work and have had the chance to do a little more twisting – I plan to get a few more posts in this year. I made a couple of these cute Christmas penguins to put in some gift bags last week.
To make this balloon, you’ll need a black 260, a white 260, a red 260 (scrap), and orange and white 160 scraps. I followed Vyacheslav’s tutorial video. He also adds a Christmas tree and present to the penguin balloon. Penguins are a great balloon to make – they are popular birds, super cute, and a great way to use up any extra white and black balloons.
Reindeer (wearable)
Dec 25th
Reindeer (wearable)
Merry Christmas everyone!
I made these two wearable reindeer balloons for the kids next door. It was so much fun watching them run around the house with these balloons, singing “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.” Boundless energy!
To make this balloon, you’ll need two brown 260s for the head and body, one dark brown 160 for the antlers, and several 260 scraps: white for the eyes, black for the eyeballs, and red for the nose. I made this based on Twister Sister’s tutorial, with a few changes: I used 260 balloons instead of 350 balloons and I also added some ears. You could easily turn this into a hat.
Birds
Apr 24th
Birds
Here’s my try at a simple one balloon bird. The bird design by Twistina is super cute, but I wanted a simpler bird.
The large bird to the right in the picture above is made with a single 260 balloon. You won’t need the entire balloon, and I wrapped a portion of the uninflated balloon around the body to hide it, before finishing off the balloon with the tail.
The two birds on the left are made with 160 balloons. As shown, you can easily add a different color for the beak and/or feet, if you are not in a rush. Using just a yellow/orange bubble for the beak will add a lot.
Fast panda bear
Apr 2nd
Panda bear (front)
Panda bear
I really like this panda bear design. It’s another fun and fast one, and you can use this design for other animals too. I followed this tutorial from jlomagic of Lacey, WA. You can even buy white round balloons with the face already printed to save you more time.
To make this balloon, you’ll need a round white and a black 160 or 260. The one thing I do differently is I twist the tail out of the round white balloon (because a panda’s tail is actually white.) If you use the plain white rounds, you’ll need a black marker to draw the face. For the black balloon, I happened to have some Qualatex Pearl Onyx Black 160s, which I like better than the regular Onyx Black.
I gave a couple of these balloons to a two and a three year old. The balloons survived quite a bit of squeezing and pulling!
BTW, La’s Rocks is a popular balloon shop – I’ve heard great things about them. They offer free shipping if you order more than $150. They have a lot of variety – I may order from them next time.
[ Video tutorial from jlomagic ]
One-balloon dinosaur
Mar 20th
T-Rex dinosaur
This one-balloon dinosaur (T-Rex) by Rob Driscoll is another fun and fast balloon. You’ll need a black marker to give the dinosaur sharp, scary teeth and eyes.
Check out Rob’s blog – he’s quite a talented balloon artist and photographer, and has been doing a creative series of “Twisted Cinema” balloon posts.
[ Rob Driscoll’s free tutorials ]
Two-balloon horse
Mar 14th
Horse
This two-balloon horse is a fun and fast one! You can use different colors instead of the usual black/brown/white; “My Little Pony” fans will love them. It can also stand on its own.
Recently, I’ve been looking for more balloon designs that can be made quickly. I twisted for a classroom of kids last week, and whenever you have a large group of kids (and limited time), you’ll usually need to stick to designs that only require one or two balloons. My next few posts will be on simple balloons.
To make this balloon, I followed this tutorial video by Michael Floyd. If all you can make is the basic balloon dog, this one is not much harder. You’ll just need to learn how to make pinch twists, which you’ll see in the video. I like Michael’s explanation of how to make the poodle tail. It may take a little time to figure out the poodle tail, but if you can’t get it, you can just slowly push the air to the other side of the balloon.
[ Video tutorial by Michael Floyd ]
Year of the monkey
Feb 8th
Happy (Lunar) New Year!
Monkey holding flowers
2016 is the year of the monkey according to the Chinese zodiac. I twisted the above monkey for a baby shower this past weekend (more photos to come!)
This was the first time I used a geo blossom balloon as a base. I’ve read how other balloon artists have partially filled the geo blossom with water or other weights to keep the balloon upright. I didn’t fill the balloon with anything but air, and used Scotch tape on the bottom of the geo blossom, which worked well for me.
