My favorite balloons to twist
Mammals
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.
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.
[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!
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.
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 ]
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.
Doggie
Apr 3rd
Dog
My niece wanted a (real) dog, and so I made this balloon dog for her birthday. (But she still wants a real dog!)
This balloon is based on a design found here: Gabby’s crazy balloons step by step. She has a nice picture-by-picture tutorial. Check it out!
The design uses two heart balloons twisted together. I haven’t used hearts in this way before – I’ll have to see what else I can use them for!
Dog balloon with side view
Beaver – nature’s engineer
Dec 1st
This past weekend, some friends and I went to watch the MIT men’s basketball game. It was a pretty exciting game – the first half was close, with MIT eventually pulling away from Rhode Island College. Go Engineers!
Beaver
We brought some kids to the game and I made this beaver (MIT’s mascot) beforehand for them. It is made from two 160 brown balloons (actually one plus a small scrap), and a few scraps for the teeth, eyes, and nose. The head is similar to Mr. Penguin‘s head, except with an additional couple of pinch twists in the front and in the back. The rest of the body is made similarly to this cow‘s body, with the addition of a beaver tail and extra bubbles for the back.
One of these days I’ll make TIM the beaver.
Love Puppy
Feb 8th
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
[ ChiTwister’s YouTube video ]
Chimpanzee
Feb 3rd
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
Cat
Jan 30th
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]
Hamster
Jan 13th
Hamster
Here’s a cute little hamster I saw on Holly Hopper’s youtube channel. Here’s the video link.
To make this balloon you’ll need four balloons – one white 260 balloon and two brown 260 balloons for the body, a small white round for the eyes, and a pink scrap for the nose.
A friend mistook this balloon for a chipmunk, and you could probably easily make some changes to the basic structure and twist a chipmunk instead. Next time I make this hamster, I’ll have to try adding some small ears so that it looks more like a hamster.
Panda bear
Jan 6th
Panda bear
I saw this panda bear balloon while browsing YouTube one day. People have asked me to make a panda bear before, so here’s one version! (I’ll try making my own version sometime.)
This panda bear YouTube video is in Spanish, but you should be able to follow along with the video even if you don’t know Spanish! The balloon artist in the video made a whole set for the panda bear, with bamboo and everything!
To make this balloon, you’ll need one white 260 balloon and one black 260 balloon. This panda bear is somewhat similar to other basic teddy bear designs, but slightly more complicated as you are twisting a black and a white balloon together at the same time. It’s neat how for some parts of the balloon, the color on the back is different from the color on the front. You’ll have plenty leftover of both balloons, so you won’t have to worry about balloon management too much.
[ Yonaimy’s panda bear video ]
Cow
Dec 21st
I made this balloon for a little boy who LOVES cows.
Cow
To make this cow, you’ll need 4 balloons – two white 260s, one black 260, and one 6″ heart balloon. Then add the eyes, spots, and other details with a black marker. I followed this youtube video by Holly Hopper. This cow design uses basic twists (nothing tricky), and looks great. You can easily add horns too (as shown in the video.)
[ Holly Hopper’s youtube video to make a cow ]
One-balloon monkey
Oct 7th
One-balloon monkey
This monkey is a great one to add to your arsenal – it only requires one balloon and is a fast one to make (and cute!) I’ve blogged about another monkey I’ve made before, but that one requires multiple balloons and is a little more complicated. If you have a lot of kids to twist for, you’ll want to make one can be made quickly.
I first saw this one-balloon monkey on Michael Floyd’s web site, where he has posted a very nice video on how to make the balloon. Check it out!
One-balloon monkey (side view)
Here’s a monkey I made out of a 160 balloon. To make this balloon, I inflated the balloon a little more than halfway.
Because the balloon is thinner and the monkey is smaller, there was plenty of balloon to give the monkey a three-balloon body, some small feet, and a long tail.
One-balloon teddy bear
Oct 22nd
Teddy bear
Teddy bear
Someone recently asked me about making a teddy bear, and here’s a one-balloon version. I followed these directions from balloondesigns.net (UPDATE: no longer exists.) The purple teddy bear is what you’ll end up with if you follow the instructions above exactly.
Tips: You’ll want to leave almost a 5″ tail when pumping the balloon. When twisting the series of seven bubbles to form the head, twist the 4th and 6th bubbles a little smaller than the others, so that the ears will not be so large. You can draw two different faces – one on each side!
The pink teddy bear is another version. This one has a neck, a tail, and uses only one balloon for the body. I left about a 4″ tail to make this one.
[ Teddy bear instructions ]
Simple Elephant
May 8th
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.)
Monkey
Apr 4th
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.
