Talk Turkey

Magical Balloon Michael

Michael Philo

With Thanksgiving around the corner Turkeys are popular in the balloon world so this month I will share my Turkey and Bird Hat instructions.

Let’s start with a Turkey. You’ll need seven Balloons total for this bird: two Cocoa Brown 260Qs, two Orange 260Qs, one Red 260Q, one Blush 160Q, and one Cocoa Brown 5″ Round.

Start by inflating the 5″ Round to about 4″ and tie off. Inflate a Cocoa Brown 260Q leaving a 5″ tail. Make three 3″ bubbles, lock twist the last two and tie the third one in place using the knot so you have a Bird Body.

Make a 6″ bubble and kink the neck. Follow this with a 1″ pinch twist. Tie the 5″ Round to the Pinch Twist.

Wrap the 260 halfway around the 5″ Round and make a pinch twist. Now bring the balloon the rest of the way around and lock it around the first pinch twist.

Inflate the second Cocoa Brown 260Q leaving a 6″ tail and tie off. Tie this balloon to the first pinch twist. Make a soft bubble (squeeze the balloon before twisting) long enough to lock at the second pinch twist. After you lock it into place split it into two bubbles like so. Now bring the balloon over the top locking it at the first pinch twist and back to the second pinch twist so you have this:

Make a 5″ loop twist and cut the rest of the balloon. This becomes one of the tail feathers.

Inflate the first orange 260Q leaving a 6″ tail and tie off. Tie this balloon to the first pinch twist. Bring it over the top and between the Cocoa Brown bubbles and lock to the second pinch twist. Make two soft 10″ bubbles and lock them at the pinch twist. Now make two loop twists out of the two 10″ bubbles for tail feathers.

Inflate the Blush 160Q leaving a 5″ tail and tie off. Make a 1″ pinch twist, a 2″ bubble, a 1″ bubble and one more 2″ bubble locking it back at the 1″ pinch twist for one foot. Make a 5″ bubble, two 1″ pinch twists, another 5″ bubble and then make another foot. Break and tie off the left over balloon so you have this. Now wrap the two 1″ pinch twists at the space in the Cocoa Brown balloon on the bottom of the turkey.

To make the beak inflate the second Orange 260Q to about 10″ and tie off. Make a 2″ bubble and a 3″ bubble locking them around each other using the knot. Make two soft 4″ bubbles and lock twist them together. Make two loop twists out of these bubbles. Pop and tie off any left over balloon. Wrap the beak around the Bird Body on the top of the Turkey.

Finally, inflate the Red 260Q (or a scrap) to 3″ and tie off. Make three 1″ bubbles, like a Poodle Head, and tie them together. Tie this right under the beak.

Another Turkey can be made using a Betallatex Swan Balloon:

Linda Berman has a wonderful Turkey out of 160s in her book Crowd Pleasing Marvelous Miniatures http://www.tmyers.com/book/berman.html#5

Now here’s a basic Bird using the Qualatex 5″ Bird Faces

Bird Hat

Materials:
2 yellow 260Q
1 orange 260Q
1 yellow 5″ bird face

Start by fully inflating a yellow 5″ Bird Face and a yellow 260Q. Make a standard helmet or hat and twist a 4″ bubble on the top as shown in the photo below.

Take the other Yellow 260Q and fully inflate it burping it slightly and tie the ends together. Wrap the knot around the end of the hat so it looks like a space ship. Make two 4″ Bubbles and wrap them around the 4″ bubble in the hat to form a Bird Body.

Find the center of the circle and twist it in half to form a Rabbit Hat. Now take the 5″ Bird Face and tie the nozzle to the Rabbit ears.

Inflate the Orange 260Q leaving a 6″ bubble. Make a 1″ bubble followed by three 3″ bubbles. Lock twist the first and third bubble to form one of the bird’s feet. Make two 5″ bubbles followed by three more 3″ bubbles and lock twist the first and third 3″ bubbles to form the second foot. Make a 1″ bubble and pop the remaining balloon. If you lost the twist in the middle just retwist it and wrap it around the 1″ bubble in the hat base.

Happy Holidays everyone!