Category: Easy-intermediate

Penguins (again!)

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:

Dinosaur

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

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.

[ Sergey’s tutorial video ]

Bow and Arrow

Here’s another balloon based on a design by Michael Floyd – a bow and arrow. And you can actually shoot the arrow with the bow (takes a little practice.)

Bow and arrow

To make this balloon, you’ll need four 260 balloons. One for the bow, one for the handle, one for the string (uninflated), and one for the arrows.

[ Michael Floyd’s tutorial video ]

Nunchucks

Nunchucks

These nunchucks are easy to make, and fun to play with (and won’t cause any damage)!

You can make the handles in many different ways. I used two 160s for the two handles. I’ve also used 260s for the handles before. I used two gray 160s to make the chain. You could use just one, but then you have to push the air as shown in the video (or you can use the straw trick.)

The nunchucks pictured above are based on a design by Michael Floyd.

[ Michael Floyd’s tutorial video ]

[My Little] Pony

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!

[ Michael Floyd’s design ]

Reindeer (wearable)

Reindeer (wearable)
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.

[ Twister Sister’s tutorial video ]

Corn

Bag of corn
Bag of corn

A friend invited us to a BBQ, so I thought I’d bring some corn. 🙂 As I’ve said before, I love bringing balloon food to events. Kids and adults enjoy them.

To make this balloon, you’ll need three 160 balloons. I used yellow, and also a white and golden rod for different color kernels. You can use other colors for other varieties of corn. Also, you’ll need a white scrap for the eyes and a green 160 balloon for the husk if you’d like. You’ll use a simple weaving pattern. Check out Sergey’s video for instructions. Use a marker if you want to add a face.

Corn
Corn

What happens when you squeeze balloon corn? It becomes popcorn…hahaha

[ Sergey Loginov’s video ]

Cupcakes

I was stopping by a brunch at a friend’s place and thought I’d bring cupcakes. I love balloon food. 🙂

Cupcakes
Cupcakes

This balloon is quick to make, but requires a more advanced twist tulip twist and a couple pinch twists. You’ll need a 5″ round, a 160 balloon for the frosting, and a ~4″ red scrap for the cherry. I saw these in a video tutorial by Scott Kazan. I have so many blush 5″ rounds, and am glad I found another way to use them!

[ Video tutorial by Scott Kazan ]

Bird (using a Geo Blossom)

Bird
Bird

This bird design by Brian Walendziak is super cute! I’ve been trying to figure out other ways to use geo blossom balloons. This design uses a geo blossom balloon turned inside out.

I made a couple small changes – the back of the balloon is all purple. Instead of twisting a cluster of four white bubbles, I used a purple 260 for two bubbles and a white 260 for two bubbles (Brian suggests using four white bubbles to save time.) You also don’t need to twist a bubble to attach the beak. You can just wrap the knot around the balloon where you want to attach it. If you do twist a cluster of four white bubbles, you could make the bird have a face on both sides.

[ Brian Walendziak’s Geobird ]

Tortoise

Tortoise
Tortoise

Here’s a couple tortoises I made by following a video from Rob Driscoll of mydailyballoon.com. The video is quite easy-to-follow! Check out mydailyballoon.com, which has a ton of excellent balloons.

The larger tortoise is made using 260 balloons (as seen in the video); the smaller one I made using 160 balloons. The smaller one has five bubbles for the shell instead of four.

Smaller tortoise
Smaller tortoise

BTW, do you know the differences between a tortoise and a turtle?

[ Rob Driscoll’s tortoise tutorial video ]

My Melody

My Melody
My Melody

My Melody is a friend of Hello Kitty’s. I made her after seeing Yonaimy’s tutorial video. I really like her design of this balloon.

To make this balloon, you’ll need some white balloons – part of a 160 (for the flower), part of a 350 (for the face), and two 260s (for the body), and either red of pink balloons depending on what color you want her to wear – part of a 160 (for the lower part of her hood), part of a 260 (for the part of the hood that goes around her head), and a 350 (for part of the the hood covering the ears and the back of the head). I also used a yellow scrap for the flower.
The video is in Spanish, but it is very easy to follow!

There are a number of birthdays coming up, so stay tuned for more balloons! (Happy Spring Birthdays!)

[ Yonaimy’s tutorial video ]

Beaver – nature’s engineer

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
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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I made three turkeys this week – the easier, inedible kind. 🙂 Took about 10+ minutes each after I figured it out. I saw a photo of another version of a balloon turkey online a while ago and wanted to try to make one sometime.

Turkey
Turkey

To make this balloon, I used a 350 brown balloon, two 260 brown balloons, and part of a white 160 balloon. First, make the main body with the 350 balloon. Do a three bubble roll-through and then wrap/tie the fourth bubble in place. Second, use a 260 balloons to make a wing, slide it through the body, and then make the second wing on the other side. You’ll probably have some balloon left over – pop it or use scissors to remove it. Third, use the other 260 to make the legs. You’ll likely use the entire balloon for the legs. Lastly, add the bone to the legs using the white 160.

Turkey
Turkey

Car

Red car
Red car

Here’s a red car balloon for my nephew that I decorated to look like “Lightning McQueen” from Pixar’s movie “Cars.” I made this based on Yonaimy’s video.

To make this balloon, you’ll need one red 260 for the car frame, a white 260 (or just a scrap if you don’t want to make it a bracelet), and a black 260 scrap for the wheels. Then draw the face, headlights, and any other car decorations you’d like to add.

[ Yonaimy’s video ]