How to Make Balloon Birds in a Heart

Children and adults alike enjoy watching the talented hands of balloon sculptors, twisting simple balloons into animals and other shapes. Whether you are a balloon sculptor yourself and would like to expand your bag of tricks, or if you are just beginning to explore balloon modeling, a few tricks can teach you how to make a pair of birds inside a heart.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Long red balloon
• Long balloon for your birds

1. Inflate a long red balloon so that there is about 1 inch of extra balloon at the end. Bring the ends of the balloon together and tie a knot to form a circle. Fold the balloon in half and hold it firmly at the doubled end. Bend the 2 portions of the balloon over and roll the balloon all the way to the end, holding it firmly.
2. Unroll the balloon and hold onto the doubled end. Open the balloon to reveal the heart shape. Squeeze the doubled end, or the pointed portion of the top of your heart to help it keep its shape. Set the heart aside.
3. Begin forming your bird animals by inflating a second long balloon of any color you choose, leaving about 3 inches of uninflated balloon at the end. Twist a small 1-inch bubble into the tied end of the balloon.
4. Create a 3 bubble roll through above the 1-inch bubble. First, make a second bubble, about 4 inches long, just above your small bubble. Fold the balloon over and twist a second 4-inch bubble into the balloon. Anchor it by twisting it together with your first small bubble.
5. Fold the balloon again and twist your third 4-inch bubble and then push the bubble through the center of the other 2 to hold it in place. Just below your 3 bubble roll through, twist 2 more 1-inch bubbles and then create a second 3 bubble roll through in the same manner. Make sure that there is enough air left in the end of the balloon to twist a final 1-inch bubble.
6. Create your birds by folding the 3 bubble roll throughs at the twist between the center bubbles and then twisting the 2 end bubbles together. Center the 2 bubbles over the knot at the bottom of your heart and twist to anchor your animals on their swing.