Thursday, February 11, 2016

How to make $ of balloons. Cómo hacer $ de globos


Supplies: balloons, an air pump and scissors.

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 Buy an air pump on Amazon (paid link): 

We are going to use the same balloon twisting technique as in previously published instructions "Balloon Candy Cane" or "How to make balloon heart" to make sign of $. It's going to be a large size sculpture. Though, you can make it even larger! I am going to use yellow or golden color balloons. First we are going to make English letter S and then we will modify it to the $ sign. Inflate all balloons leaving about 8 cm flat tails (Pic 1).

Twist the first soft about 3 cm bubble (Pic 2).

Lock both ens of this bubble in one lock twist (Pic 3). We have made an additional bubble. It helps to hide the knot at one end of the sculpture.

Tie a nozzle of the second balloon with the additional bubble (Pic 4). We have prepared the first pair of balloons.

Tie nozzles of the second pair of balloons in one knot. And then tie it with the additional bubble (Pic 5). 

Hold the first pair of balloons in one hand about 8 cm away from the additional bubble (Pic 6).

Twist and lock in one move about 8 cm pair of the first bubbles (Pic 7).

The letter S consist of two semicircles. As you may remember from previous instructions, to make the semicircle we have to twist bubbles of the second set of two sizes. Bubbles of the outer column should be about the same size as the bubbles of the first pair of balloons. And the bubbles of the inner column we should make of smaller size. Twist short (about 10 cm) bubble of the second pair of balloons (Pic 8).

Twist normal (about 12-13 cm) bubble of the second pair of balloons (Pic 9).

Lock bubbles the the second pair of balloons in one lock twist (Pic 10).

From here we are going to twist all normal (the first pair of balloons and the outer balloon of the second pair) bubbles of about the same 12 -13 cm size. And only bubbles of the inner column we twist  of about 10 cm size. Twist and lock bubbles of the first pair of balloons (Pic 11).

Twist a short bubble of the inner column and normal size bubble of the otter column (Pic 12).

Lock both bubbles in one lock twist (Pic 13).

Work in this way to the end of the balloons (Pic 14 and 15).


I have made eight pairs of bubbles in this example before I have to attach new pair of balloons (Pic 16).

Attach new pair of balloons to the end of the sculpture. Cut off the rest parts of the first pair of balloons and tie off the ends (Pic 17).

Twist and lock a pair of bubbles of the second pair of balloons (Pic 18 and 19).


Attach a new pair of balloons to the end of the sculpture (Pic 20). Cut off the rest parts of the second pair of balloons and tie off the ends.

Keep working in the same fashion to make the first semicircle of desirable shape (Pic 21).

In this example I have made the shape of total of ten bubbles in each column (Pic 22).

Then I made a pair of normal size bubbles in each column. You may need to make more than one bubble in each column - it's up to you to decide (Pic 23)..

Now we are going to make the second semicircle pointing in the opposite direction. The previous inner column will be the outer column and vise verse. You have to twist normal size bubbles in the column where you were making short bubbles before (Pic 24). 

Keep working in this fashion to the end of the balloons (Pic 25 - 27).

I adjust size of bubbles as I make the sculpture to make desirable shape.


Once you reach the end of the balloons you have to tie new pair of balloons to the end of the sculpture. Then cut off the rest of the balloons and tie off the ends (Pic 28).

Twist the next pair of bubbles (Pic 29).

Tie a new pair of balloons to the end of the sculpture. Then cut off the rest of the balloons and tie of the ends (Pic 30).

Keep working to make as many bubbles as you need (Pic 31).

I like to finish the sculpture in the same way as I started it. Twist about 8 - 10 cm pair of bubbles (Pic 32).

Then twist about 6 - 8 cm bubbles of the second pair of balloons and lock them with the last bubbles of the first pair of balloons in one lock twist (Pic 33 - 35).



Cut off the rest parts of three balloons and tie off the ends (Pic 36).

Twist an additional soft about 3 cm bubble. Lock both ends of this bubble in one lock twist. Cut of the rest of the balloon and tie off the end (Pic 37).

Congratulations! We have made the letter S (Pic 38).

The lower part of the letter S supposes to be a bit larger than the top. You can flip the sculpture upside down and vise verse to fix it properly (Pic 39).

Now we have to assemble the $ sign. Inflate two balloons leaving no flat tails. Insert one end of the balloon between bubbles of the lower part of the letter S. Then insert the other end of the balloon between bubbles of the middle part of the letter S. Pull the end of the balloon to the upper part of the letter S. And insert the end of the balloon between bubbles of the upper part of the letter S (Pic 40).

Fix the second fully inflated balloon in the same way pulling it between the nearest bubbles of the letter S (Pic 41 - 50).









Congratulations! We have made the $ sign out of balloons (Pic 50).

In this example I use clear sticky tape to attach the $ sign to the wall (Pic 51 - 54).


We can use the same weaving technique to make balloon sculptures of different shapes. Have fun and happy twisting :)

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