A veritable balloon menagerie

June 30, 2011 8:04 AM

Balloon twisting is more than ballon animals. If you get really good, you can make life-sized dinosaur skeleton replicas, complex alien flora and fauna, or intricate scenes with thousands of balloons. It all starts with learning how to twist and shape balloons. If reading diagrams doesn't work for you, there are plenty of tutorial videos online.
posted by filthy light thief (14 comments total)

Holy shit those are awesome. Thanks for posting this!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:16 AM on June 30, 2011

Wow. Did not know you could do this. Up until just now, I was still happy with the little puppy thing the 17 year old kid did for my nephews 7th birthday. Wait until said nephew sees the dinosaur pix I just sent. My brother will have to really spring for a balloon guy next party!!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:20 AM on June 30, 2011

Twisted: A Balloonamentary
posted by modernserf at 8:20 AM on June 30, 2011

Also, that balloon twisting instructional site is also pretty amazing and comprehensive.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:21 AM on June 30, 2011

::sigh:: Balloon sculpture is just one of the hundreds of things that I can do sort of half-assedly, most of which I could probably master if I just picked one and concentrated on it instead of becoming half-assed at hundreds of different things.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:21 AM on June 30, 2011

Half-assed Jack of all, full-assed master of none, I feel your pain.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:23 AM on June 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

My son's love of balloons and dinosaurs loves this.... He's now running around the house saying 'Balloon balloon balloon RAAAAR! Please Daddy?'
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:42 AM on June 30, 2011

Black Cat Balloon's Muppet Balloon Project
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 9:00 AM on June 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm lucky if I can achieve quarter-assed skill at things like this... and don't call me Jack.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:40 AM on June 30, 2011

Speaking of Muppets - Steve Martin showing how it's done.
posted by bouvin at 10:12 AM on June 30, 2011

I have more fun twisting balloons than my kids do when I hand the "completed" item to them, but I don't care. They have never asked me to do any at their birthday parties, but I still have fun.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:20 AM on June 30, 2011

Hmm... no cervical vertebrae spines. not a T-Rex. Acrocanthosaurus maybe.
posted by cmoj at 5:01 PM on June 30, 2011

Wait, shit it's the other way around. Sorry, ballon man.
posted by cmoj at 5:02 PM on June 30, 2011

You can also do math with balloons!

vi hart rocks
posted by dylanjames at 12:46 PM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]