Balloon Chat
Uncategorized Boards => Model Of The Month => Topic started by: Graham Lee on September 05, 2012, 05:38:08 PM
Here we go then with this months choice, either; Dog hat, Duck hat, Fish hat, none of these made it onto my hat DVD just hats. See what I did there :D plug plug.
Or an Elephant made from 1, 260, 1, 160 and a 5" round
or a Dolphin or princess/doll, probably too much to choose from.
Oooo I like the sound of the elephant. Have loads of rounds to use. Hats would be good too!
So many choices LOL, anything works for me - I don't think its the item in particular that I prefer - it's the learning a new technique or a better way to do something.
I like the elephant or the fish hat.
The first two pictures are of an Elephant I made for the Bishops Stortford day early 201. The third picture with no tusks was made this afternoon.
I then made a few variations, well a lot actually. The second picture looks like the character from Sponge Bob.
Then the Pink Elephant brigade, if anyone would like side and rear views to attempt I did take plenty of pictures of them all.
And all the Elephants together, tried to take from different angles incase anyone wanted to try one or two or three.
These are hysterical! they look to be a good challenge for back to school daze.
This is the first model of the month I've attempted before the instructions came out. Although I'm sure the original used a round balloon, I decided to make it easier on myself and used a link-a-loon.
[attachment=1:2hg8s99y][/attachment]Elephant (front).jpg[/attachment:2hg8s99y] [attachment=0:2hg8s99y][/attachment]Elephant (side).jpg[/attachment:2hg8s99y]
Cindy that looks good, thanks for sharing.
This was not as easy as it looked LOLOL. But I sure had fun untwisting and untying!
Thank you Graham for your nice elephant design.Here is my first attempt of it.
I hope to see many of the Balloon chat members at the Euro Jam in Melle from 6-8 November.
Greetings from germany,
Marc
[attachment=0:2m5xvbij][/attachment]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348658709.931798.jpg[/attachment:2m5xvbij]
This is my elephant using an 11" round.
Instructions appeared on BalloonHQ.com in the columns section.
This is mine with Blossom.... and no whiskey :mrgreen:
(//http://imageshack.us/a/img338/8491/dscf0051fc.jpg) (//http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/338/dscf0051fc.jpg/)
I know this elephant does not meet Graham's criteria, but I thought I would post it anyway.
Graham knows the elephant well, because I kept him awake while I was making it :D
..another elephant
Due to being away last week at the magic convention in Great Yarmouth I am a little behind with everything, will try to post the instructions for this next week.
With so many Elephants I'm not too sure which one to put the instructions up for. I have made three tonight and I'm still undecided, will have a little think and be back.
OK, I have done all the pictures and made it. This is the end result and the 5 models I made deciding which one to write up.
Will post the detailed instructions tomorrow as work got in the way today with customers placing orders that we had to pack and ship.
The Elephant instructions.
We will start off with quickly explaining the six petal flower concept for the base. Inflate the 260 leaving 3 fingers un-inflated, push the air to the end of the balloon and tie off. Pushing the air along makes for a nice soft balloon as you are going to put 7 more twists into this balloon. Find the centre of the balloon and twist in half, then you will need to divide the balloon into three, I find visually looking at and sliding your fingers along the balloon help while thinking thirds. The more you make the easier this becomes.
You then make an "S" twist with the three equally divided portions of the balloon, I have put a clear 260 inside just to keep the balloon in place for the photo.
Once the balloon looks a little like a rugby shaped ball you have to push both sides (where the balloon is already twisted) together and twist one half of the balloon clockwise and the other half anti clockwise.
For the photo I tied the ends together so where the clear balloon is tied into these ends come together, If you have never made a six petal flower then start by using a 160 and make a few, then progress to the 260 version.
If you find this difficult you could just make a 5 petal flower base and do each fold twist loop individually from the 260, but go on keep trying you CAN do it!
The body of the Elephant I used a 5" round with a raisin twist inside, you could use a 5/6 twist body made from a 260. Tie a couple of knots on a 260 scrap and put inside the 5" round balloon.
Inflate the 5" round a little on the soft side and then find the scrap of 260 inside at the other end of the balloon and hold onto it through the balloon. Take another piece of scrap and tie this around the scrap of 260 that is inside the round balloon. There are some more instructions on this here that may help. raisin-twist-t1096.html (http://balloonchat.co.uk/raisin-twist-t1096.html)
I like to have the knot off centre from the horizontal, then I can move the round balloon either up or down so either more of the balloon is sitting between the Elephants legs or less of the balloon depending on how you like the look of your Elephant. This way you have a choice, if you tie it exactly central then it will look the same either way.
Sometimes things are difficult to describe.
Take a 260 and leave 7 fingers un-inflated, make a 2 finger pinch twist, (Middle of face) then a 3 finger bubble and a 1 finger pinch twist (Top of head)
Make another 3 finger bubble and twist this around the first 2 finger pinch twist.
You now have to make two very soft 3 finger fold/pinch twists for the Elephants cheek's, these both twist into the 2 finger pinch twist. Then make another 3 finger bubble and wrap around the small 1 finger pinch twist at the top of his head and then the last 3 finger bubble and twist around the 2 finger pinch twist. You should have four 3 finger bubbles, two for the Elephants eyes and two for the back of his head.
You need a very small neck, maybe just a 1 finger bubble and then I find that three 2 finger pinch twists are best so the head sits securely to the round body and legs.
You may find two better, I like three, the choice is yours.
Tie the round balloon tightly around the three 2 finger pinch twists.
Inflate another 260 and leave 5 fingers un-inflated, twist the end of this 260 into the three 2 finger pinch twists and twist a 4/5 finger bubble for one of the Elephants front legs,
twist this into the six petal flower base balloon. Make another 4/5 finger bubble for one of the back legs and then a 2 finger pinch twist.
Attach the raisen twist from the round balloon into the pinch twist and then make the second 4/5 finger bubble for the second rear leg and twist this around the flower base.
Then twist the last 4/5 finger bubble for the other front leg and twist into the three 2 finger pinch twists at the front. The rest of this balloon can make the tail with a 1 or 2 finger bubble.
Inflate a 160 leaving 3 fingers un-inflated, you can either attach into the flower base or make a tulip/apple twist as in version two at the end of the instructions.
If attaching to the base, measure the 160 to the attachment point underneath the 2 finger pinch twist and add on another 2 fingers and twist the 160 around the pinch twist,
on mine the trunk 8 fingers long.
Place the 160 around the outside of the side of the head, the four 3 finger bubbles make this easy for the 160 to fit into and twist into the pinch twist at the top of the head,
move the 160 down the other side of the face and twist into the 2 finger pinch twist again.
You should be able to push the rest of the air along the 160 to make it softer and tie the end of the 160 also into the pinch twist.
Find the centre of the remainder of the 160 and twist around the top of the head pinch twist. Shape the 160 with shock/friction twists, warming the section you want to reshape will also work.
I slightly bring the 160 down either side of the face with a pressure fit for a more pleasing look, in my opinion, we are all different. As in the second photo.
Add some artwork, the last photo is a variation on a theme which I think I prefer.
Details on raisin twist and shock/friction twist can be found here,
Raisin, raisin-twist-t1096.html (http://balloonchat.co.uk/raisin-twist-t1096.html)
Shock/Friction twist, friction-twist-shaping-t1092.html (http://balloonchat.co.uk/friction-twist-shaping-t1092.html)
Thanks to the three members that did attempt the model last month, hopefully the instructions will help/tempt a few more to have a go.
If anything is not clear then please just ask, always happy to help out.
Thanks for the instructions Graham. Here's a quick attempt. Really like this design and will keep tweaking it til I get it right.
Thanks,
Michael
And here is mine using the instructions. Had to hurry the flower had a slow leak lololol.
So I'm just updating the elephant as this has something to do with the post I put on facebook yesterday about I had a good idea.
This elephant I made from the instructions above,
I then made a second elephant as I would possibly had made it now a few years on. I have added a pinch twist under the 6 petal flower so the flower sits nicer.
I made 6 separate fold twists rather than use the flower technique on the original instructions.
I thought the elephant looked a little too big so made the legs 4 finger bubbles and not 5. I used a quick link and got rid of the 5" round and raisin twist.
I inflated the quick link with the qualatex pump with 3 strokes of the pump.
I took the pinch twist above the trunk and put that at the back between the cheeks so the head all sits nice and then used the 160 with a 3 finger bubble to sit under the trunk.
The eyebrows make him look a little scary.
Here they are both together at a funny angle so it was a better shot for the camera.
My first photo post
Trevor
Here is mine....