CLASSICAL: Balloon hand peace sign

Materials: balloons, an air pump and scissors.

Buy balloons on Amazon (paid link):
https://amzn.to/3ghxhW6
Buy an air pump on Amazon (paid link):
https://amzn.to/3mW1DyJ

We use our hands for many different things. We create stuff using our hands and we use hands to express our emotions. We can make sculpture of hand fixed in different shapes or forms. Look at your hand. It could be open hand, fist, thumb up, OK sign, pointing finger, and etc. Today we are going to make hand sign that have number of different meanings (Pic 1). It represent: English letter V, a head of bunny, funny-fake meanings of something or someone, turn it upside down to represent a walking man, also it is international sign of peace. I use only 260's balloons in my instructions, so the sculpture is going to be over sized.

Inflate a balloon (in this example I use honey-yellow-gold color) leaving about three-inch flat tail (Pic 2). Our hands have different sizes and shapes. For purpose of this instruction I am going to make sculpture of my right hand. You can change the size of bubbles.

Twist the first about eight-inch bubble (Pic 3).

Lock both ends of the first bubble in one lock twist. The first bubble represents the ring finger. Twist the second soft about one-inch bubble (Pic 4).

Twist the third soft about six-inch bubble (Pic 5).

Lock both ends of the third bubble in one lock twist (Pic 6). The third bubble represents the little pinky finger.

The next (the fourth) bubble represents the flashy base part of the thumb. Loop the balloon to measure the size of the fourth bubble (Pic 7).

Twist the fourth soft about six-inch bubble (Pic 8).

Lock both ends of the chain of the first four (the first through the fourth) bubbles in one lock twist (Pic 9).

The next (fifth) bubble represents the thumb. Before we twist the fifth bubble we have to force the rest of the balloon halfway through the loop of the first and the third bubbles (Pic 10).

We have made the loop of the fifth bubble. Force the fourth bubble halfway through the loop of the fifth bubble (Pic 11 through 14).

The end of the fifth bubble should protrude slightly (up to one-inch) from the loop of the third bubble. Twist the fifth about eight-inch bubble. Twist the sixth very soft about one-inch bubble (Pic 15).

Roll the sixth bubble around the second bubble. This way we lock the ends of the sixth bubble with appropriate ends of the second bubble (Pic 16 and 17).

The rest of the balloon is the seventh bubble. It represents either middle or index finger. Bring the seventh bubble on the back side of the sculpture. Force and fix the end (base of the finger) of the seventh bubble between the first and the fourth bubbles (Pic 18 through 20). We have made the hand with four fingers. Also, instead of twisting the sixth very soft one-inch bubble we can make flat space and lock it between bubbles in the same way as we did with the sixth bubble. You may consider working in this way if the seventh bubble is too short. We can use the hand as it is. For example, there are many cartoon characters that have four fingers only, right.

I am going to use another balloon of the same color to make the fifth finger. Inflate balloon from the other end. You have stretch the tip of the balloon first. Pump some air in the balloon. Force the air to the very tip of the balloon. Inflate the rest of the balloon as much as you need. For purpose of this instruction about ten-inch bubble will do. Measure the size of the bubble. My index finger is shorter than my middle finger. So, in this example, I am going to twist the first bubble of the second balloon about one-inch shorter than the seventh bubble (Pic 21).

Lock the end of the first bubble of the second balloon with the base end of the seventh bubble. Force and fix both bubbles from the back side of the sculpture between bubbles of the hand (Pic 22 through 26). Congratulations, we have made the hand. We can use the rest of the balloon to represent the skinny funny arm. We can fix the hand pointing in different directions. We can attach the hand to a simple hat and etc.

Also, we can use two or more balloons to make the arm. Just for this example, I am going to use two (purple) balloons to make the arm. Cut off the rest of the second yellow balloon and tie off the end. Lock nozzle of the first purple balloon with the first yellow bubble. Lock nozzle of the second purple balloon with the third yellow bubble (Pic 27 and 28).

Twist the first about one-inch bubble of the first purple balloon. We are going to work the rest of the arm in the same fashion as described in previously published instruction "Fabric 8, Surfboard, Skateboard, Wall, Basket and etc.". We need the first small bubble of the first purple balloon to fix the direction the hand points. Twist the second about two-inch bubble of the first purple balloon (Pic 29).

Lock the free end of the second purple bubble with nozzle of the second purple balloon (Pic 30).

Twist the first about two-inch bubble of the second purple balloon (Pic 31).

Lock the free end of the first bubble of the second purple balloon between the first and the second bubbles of the first purple balloon. You have to roll the first bubble of the second balloon around the second bubble of the first balloon (Pic 32).

Work the rest of the arm in the same fashion (Pic 33 and 34). In this example I made the arm up to the elbow. We can make the elbow by increasing the size of small bubbles on one side. Also, as I mentioned before, we can use more than two balloons to make the arm. For example if you work three and more balloons in the same fashion as describe above, then the arm is going to be hollow inside-as a sleeve. This is good way to make large size sculptures or wearable costumes. Costumes are great topic for separate instructions that I hope to work with you in future.