My favorite balloons to twist
Posts tagged heart
Anniversary heart
Nov 11th
Big heart balloon
We got to spend the weekend with our nephew and niece, and we put together this humungous heart for their parents’ anniversary! It was fun building the heart balloon together! Happy anniversary A&A! 🙂
I’ve made this one before, but this time we made it red with a pink border, which my niece picked. Check out the very talented Sue Bowler’s instructions for how to make this!
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.)
Heart balloon
Feb 13th
Happy almost Valentine’s Day! According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day is the second most celebrated holiday around the world.
Here’s a heart to make for Valentine’s Day, or for any day!
3D heart
I saw this balloon on Michael Langerman’s YouTube video. It’s not too hard, but requires you to twist 79 bubbles.
To make this balloon, I used 1 red balloon and 3.5 pink balloons. You of course could use all the same color or any combination of colors. You’ll basically start by twisting loops of bubbles, just the same way you would make a necklace. The red outline requires a 15 bubble loop; you’ll also need two 20-bubble loops, a 12-bubble loop, and two 6-bubble loops. I used one balloon to make both the 12-bubble and 6-bubble loops, and used half a balloon to make one of the 6-bubble loops.
Try to make all the bubbles the same size. The more consistent the size, the better. And make sure to twist each bubble a good number of times so it won’t come undone easily.
After you finish making the loops, you’ll make a couple more simple twists and then put all the chains together carefully to make the heart balloon. (Check out the video!) This balloon is pretty cool. It’s 3D and the back is the same as the front.
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas…
Dec 1st
This cute hippo design uses one 260 balloon and one pink heart balloon. I used a gray 260 balloon, but a silver, brown, or even light purple, light green, or light blue one would work well. This is another neat way to use a heart balloon. (I’ve seen a heart balloon used similarly in a cow balloon design as well.)
To make the balloon, follow these hippo balloon instructions by Bonnie Davis.
Hippo
My comments:
When inflating the balloon, you’ll want to leave about a 5 inch tail. (If you leave less of a tail, you’ll run of space for the balloon to expand.)
Near the end, if you find that you’ve run out of balloon or don’t have room to make any additional twists, you can settle for only using four belly balloons (instead of five). Just deflate the remaining bubble that you don’t need, tie a knot, cut off part of the end if it’s too long, and wrap the knot around the body to hide it. Your hippo body will only be made of four bubbles and won’t be as big, but will still look pretty good.
[ Hippo balloon instructions by Bonnie Davis ]
Not just for kids!
Sep 28th
Happy Birthday M and S!
Dog and cat
I twisted some simple balloons (heart wands, flower hats, and four-legged creatures) for two special birthday girls at IHOP after our softball game one night. I used to think balloons were just for little kids, but I’m starting to see adults can enjoy them too (to my surprise!) This past summer while visiting family, I twisted some balloons for my little cousins, and I think my grandpa enjoyed them just as much. 🙂
(D commented that my friends aren’t really adults, but I disagree!)
Hello Kitty
Sep 17th
Hello Kitty
I made these Hello Kitty balloons for a friend’s birthday. (Happy Birthday A!) I’m glad Hello Kitty is still in!
To make this balloon: I followed this youtube video (Taken down.) Note that the girl teaching how to twist the balloon is an eleven year old!
Modifications: Instead of using all 260 balloons, I used a red 160 for the hair bow, a red 350 for the body, and a white 260 for the arms and legs, so that everything would be in more accurate proportions. (A 160 is one inch in diameter, a 260 is two inches in diameter, and a 350 is three inches in diameter. This was the first time I used a 350 balloon ever, so that was pretty exciting.) You can of course use other colors for the hair bow and body. The head is made from a 5” heart balloon.
I looked up some pictures of Hello Kitty online (sanrio.com) and used that to draw the face. I tried to keep the body relatively short (Hello Kitty’s head is bigger than the rest of her body!)
To attach the hair bow to the head, you will use what is called a raisin twist, which is a pretty cute and clever technique. You basically insert a small knotted piece of (uninflated) balloon into the balloon (the head) that you want to attach the other balloon (the hair bow) and grab that knot from the outside to attach the hair bow.
[ Hello Kitty video instructions: Youtube video (Taken down.) ]
Somewhat related (but not balloon-related): Hello Kitty Rice Crispy Treats
