Make a Balloon Animal

Visit my gallery page to find instructions for all balloons previously posted.

BALLOON JAM!

Last month I was privileged to spend a brief time with John the Ballon Man from Dallas, Texas. As he was building his magnificent Tree of Knowledge/Christ on the Cross for the evening's program, someone asked about a recent post of mine about a 1-balloon tractor. I don't remember if I ever finished it or not, because everybody saw something different as I started twisting. I've summarized some of the ideas below. If you have additional ideas, e-mail me and I'll post the best ideas on future versions of this page.

Instructions

Inflate a 260 balloon leaving about a 4-inch tail. The twist as follows:

2-inch bubble, 6-inch loop twist, 2-inch pinch twist, 3-inch bubble, 2-inch pinch twist, 6-inch loop twist, 2-inch bubble, 1.5-inch pinch twist.

The 6-inch loops are the tires, and the 2-inch pinch twists are tucked into the loops, making hubs or fenders, depending on how you look at it. Tuck the ends of the 3-inch bubble inside the tires to keep them in place. Twist the last 2-inch bubble to the knot end of the first bubble to make the seat area. The 1.5-inch pinch twist makes the seat back.
To complete the tractor, make a 6-inch body, pinch twist headlight, 3-inch front and a pinch twist or two for front wheels.

I just got this far when John said "That looks like . . ." and named a cartoon character I'm not familiar with (and whose name I don't remember). He had his son Benji take a look and Benji saw an elephant.
I stuffed the long end through the middle to make it more realistic, and had to agree with Benji. The someone saw the back of the elephant's head and saw a Koala face.
And so, dear readers, I leave it in your hands. What do you see in it? An insect, an alien, a motorcycle, Mount Rushmore(????). Twist up a few and see what you can come up with, and e-mail me with the results. I'll post the best ideas and we'll see what we can come up with.

Responses

Well, folks, I asked for ideas, and one suggestion came pouring in! Troy Perry of Seattle made a third loop and used the triangular shape as the basis for a Space Station. Great Idea, Troy!
While I didn't get many replies, I hope it spurred some ideas for you.


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