CLASSICAL: Cattail balloon flower

Materials: Green and brown balloons, an air pump and drinking throws.

Inflate a brown balloon making about 6-7 inches long bubble (Pic 1) with long flat tail.

We are going to make tulip twist in the same way as described in previously published instruction "Balloon popsicles or Water hand grenade". Twist the first about thumb nail size bubble (Pic 2).

You have to force the first bubble inside of the balloon (Pic 3) all the way to the opposite end of the long bubble.

Hold the 1st bubble at the opposite end of the long bubble. Lock the 1st bubble at the beginning of the flat tail. At the same time you made the second bubble (Pic 4). The 1st bubble is inside of the balloon.

Force the 1st bubble back inside of the 2nd bubble (Pic 5). You have made the tulip twist. It will represent the cattail.

Now we have to make the stem of the flower. In this example I am going to use green color drinking plastic straws for the stem (Pic 6). You can find plastic straws of different sizes and colors stores and coffee shops. For our purpose it's better to choose plastic straws of green color without flexible end. In this example I use straws with flexible end.

Push the edge of the straw with your finger inside of the straw (Pic 7).

Force the pinched end of the straw inside of the other straw (Pic 8). We have made the stem. You can work in the same way to make longer size stem. In this example I am going to use the stem made of just 2 straws.

Force the top end of the straw inside of the second brown bubble. The flat tail of the brown balloon protrudes from the opposite end of second brown bubble (Pic 9). Congratulations, we have made the cattail flower.

In the following example I am going to use larger size white plastic straws with flexible end to make stem for our flower (Pic 10). We have to force the plastic straw inside of the flat green balloon. Please note that it is better to use plastic straws of smaller diameter than the flat balloon. Also, we can cut off flexible ends of plastic straws (thought it would take about 3 plastic straws instead of 2 to make the same size stem). In this example I use plastic straws with flexible end of the same diameter as the flat balloon. Therefore, it would take more time and efforts to make the stem.

Force one end of the plastic straw inside of the flat balloon (Pic 11).

Roll and pull the balloon over the plastic straw (Pic 12).

Make sure to force the end of the plastic straw to the very end of the flat balloon. The balloon is longer than the straw. We can slightly stretch the balloon to fit 2 plastic straws inside of one flat balloon (Pic 13).

Prepare one end of the second plastic straw in the same way as we did previously (Pic 14).

You have to bend the brim of the plastic straw inside of the straw (Pic 15).

Force prepared end of the 2nd plastic straw inside of the first plastic straw (Pic 16).

Roll and pull the flat balloon over the connection between two plastic straws all the way down to the other end of the 2nd plastic straw (Pic 17).

Pull the nozzle end of the balloon about one inch over the end of the 2nd straw (Pic 18). We have made the stem. We can use the nozzle end of the balloon to tie/ attach the base of the stem to other balloons.

Force the top of the stem inside of the long brown bubble (Pic 19 and 20). The flat tail of the brown balloon protrudes from the opposite end of the long brown bubble.

Congratulations, we have made the cattail flower (Pic 21).

We can use green balloon to make the leaves for the flower. Inflate green balloon leaving about one inch flat tail (Pic 22).

Fold the green balloon in half. It represents two leaves. Place the stem of the flower between green bubbles. You can use green color sewing thread, rubber band or glue to fix the stem between green bubbles (Pic 23).

Or we can make leaves in regular - balloon twisting way. Twist the first bubble half length of the balloon. Twist the 2nd and the 3rd soft about two inches bubbles. Lock all ends of the 2nd and the 3rd bubbles in one lock twist. The rest of the balloon is the 4th bubble. We have made two leaves (Pic 24).

Force the bottom of the stem between bubbles of the leaves. You can tie the nozzle end of the stem balloon between bubbles of the leaves (Pic 25). Congratulations, we have made the cattail flower with leaves.

There is another way to make the cattail flower. Let's inflate green balloon starting from opposite end of the balloon. Inflate small bubble and force it away from the nozzle, all the way to the opposite end of the balloon (Pic 26).

Inflate the rest of the balloon leaving about two inches flat tail (Pic 27).

Inflate brown balloon making about six inches bubble. Tie nozzle of the brown balloon with the nozzle of the green balloon (Pic 28). The green flat tail is between green and brown balloons.

Now we have to make the tulip twist in the same way as described above. Twist the first brown bubble of the thumb nail size (Pic 29).

Force the first brown bubble inside of the long brown bubble, all the way to the opposite end of the long brown bubble (Pic 30).

At the opposite end of the long brown bubble we twist the 2nd brown bubble. The 1st brown bubble is locked inside of the brown balloon (Pic 31).

Force the 1st brown bubble back inside of the 2nd brown bubble. We have made the tulip twist. You have to squeeze the green balloon to get rid of any flat tail between the green and brown balloons. Move any flat green tail to the opposite end of the green balloon, away from brown balloon. Twist the first green bubble half length of the green balloon. Twist the 2nd and the 3rd soft green about 2 inches bubbles (Pic 32).

Lock all ends of the 2nd and the 3rd green bubbles in one lock twist (Pic 33). We have made the stem with a leaf.

I want to reinforce the base of the sculpture. Let's twist the 4th green soft about 2 inches bubble (Pic 34).

Lock all ends of the 4th bubble in one lock twist (Pic 35). Congratulations, we have made the cattail flower. Actually in this example it would look better if you use 160s green balloon instead of 260s green balloon for the stem. Or you can use 260s green balloon to make the stem with the leaf and 350s brown balloon to make the cattail blossom. We can use our sculpture as it is, place it in a vase, use it to make a bouquet with other flowers. We can use it as a decoration and as a part of large balloon composition.

We can attach the base of our cattail flower to other balloons. Or we can make it stay in proper vertical position by attaching the base of our flower to something heavy, that will help to balance the sculpture. It could be a flat balloon filled up with sand, rise, water and etc. In this example I am going to force 3 coins (quarters) between small green bubbles (Pic 36). Heavier coins are better for our purpose.