Big Bear Head - Rabbit

Was looking at Shonna Flanigan's Big Bear Head designs on Facebook and wanted to try them.

The main problem was getting the balloon heads to blow up properly. I could get the air into one ear but not the other and had to squeeze and pump to even out the air. But did a quick search online and trusty youtube directed me to a video of how Shonna blows hers up. Really have to start right up from the ears.

Only had time to experiment with one design today, so here it is, a rabbit :

The wonderful thing about this balloon is that it works both ways with the ears on top or bottom. I like my rabbit with the 260Q as the ears (top photo), but my eldest prefers to have it the other way round (bottom photo).

Once I got the hang of blowing it up, it really is a very quick and easy means of making characters. Wonderful for line work or at busy times. But it is quite an expensive balloon compared to the 260s.

Edit : This photo below is what my daughter and I could agree upon this morning and I added in the features. Hope you like it!

Ballerina

Did a search on ballerina and saw a few lovely images of them. Decided to try my hand at one and this was the result. Took me awhile to work out the legs, but i quite like my first attempt. Can be better. Next time. :)

Butterfly after a meal

This was done last Wednesday, after lunch at one of my favourite restaurant across my church. Made this for the owner after we were finished. We were the only ones dining there and my daughter wanted to have a photo with the butterfly before handing it over! Somehow I forgot to bring back her water bottle and when we went for lunch there yesterday, the owner said that he had kept our bottle and even washed it! Glad to have such nice people around!

Pink Ribbon Day

 Did this ribbon for Pink Ribbon Day today. The ribbon and flowers were easy to make, it's putting them together that took the longest..

Check out Pink Ribbon Day on how you can help Cancer Council to raise awareness about breast and gynaecological cancers and supporting Australian women and families who are affected by these cancers.

Strawberries

Saw this cute strawberry from I'mNotaClown.com and wanted to give it a try. It uses the raisin twist that I had meant to try out for awhile and this gave me an excuse to work on my balloons and new combinations.

These ones were made by me :

Top: 5" heart for the strawberry
Middle : 5" round for the strawberry
Bottom : Added a heart for the body.. Looks like a scary strawberry with the awful face art. Really need to work on my drawing...

Giraffe

Went through images online and on youtube to find another giraffe design and really liked this cute one that all twisters use, with slight variations.

The basic giraffe does well with artwork, but it's just a 1-balloon long-necked dog.

This other cute giraffe uses 4 balloons and depending on the number of people waiting for balloons, I can add or omit the mane at the neck.

I hope you like this as much as I do!

Instructions for cute giraffe is here.

Handbag/Purse

First attempt at making a handbag inspired from Ralph Dewey's contribution at Balloon HQ. Did it this morning at church while the husband has worship practice.

There's plenty of room for improvement, but I thought it wasn't too bad for a first time try! 

Creation song

Once when I was leading Sunday School Worship, I taught the children the Creation Song by Colin Buchanan. I gave them the incentive of a balloon sculpture if they can memorise the whole song and answer questions related to it. These were some of the balloons that I used.

Made a few different animals for the creatures that God made for the land, sea and air.

            

    

Balloons learnt from these sources :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiSmHmzIDCA&feature=related

http://www.balloonhq.com/column/dewey/jul03/

http://youtu.be/xG1GA0Kn2Wc

http://www.youtube.com

Butterflies

I'm on a butterfly craze this week.. Been meaning to work on my butterfly designs and came up with these two multi-balloons designs. I'm sure someone somewhere had done these before, but if they have, I don't know about them. I've been meaning to try out these two ideas and made them this week.

The butterfly on the left was made from three 260Q. 

The one on the right came about because my eldest blew up heaps of 5" rounds and they were lying around on the floor. Thought I should make them useful and gathered up 4 of them and tied them with a 260Q. Added a scrap 260Q for the feelers.

These ones below were from earlier this year.. The pink one was a single 160Q and the red one was a single 260Q.

Flower Bouquets

The basket came about from this video that teaches weaving. Made this for a friend's wedding earlier in March. Took me a few hours to get the basket right. But that was my first attempt, so I should get better! Except that I have not tried weaving since.. hmmm...

This bouquet of flowers was made for my daughter's childcare room leader's 20th anniversary in the centre. Instructions for the bow that holds the flowers together is here.
















Balloon bouquets are one of the most common gifts to be given. They stand out from the usual fresh flowers and just give the 'Wow' factor.

Start of Balloonaholic!

This blog started because I needed somewhere to keep my balloon photos and do a little writeup about them. I started balloon twisting as a hobby in November 2011 and am now hopelessly addicted to them. A friend gave me the term 'Balloonaholic' and I liked it so much, I'm starting a blog with this title!

I'm still at the stage of learning from online videos and forums and am truly grateful to the balloon community around the world for being so generous in sharing their expertise and skills. I will be posting the links of where the tutorials came from. If you are into balloon twisting, I hope you'll find the links helpful!

Thought I'll also post up some pictures of balloons that I had learnt this year.. It's been quite a journey and I have learnt a lot through the videos and forums.

Happy twisting!