My favorite balloons to twist
Happy (Lunar) New Year!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.