Under the Sea

Michael Philo

Magical Balloon Michael

This month we are going to continue with last month’s theme and go Under the Sea. I will be teaching a second Fishy Swirly, an Octopus Bracelet, a Baby Sea Turtle that can also be a bracelet, A Mermaid and two Squids.

Fishy Swirly

• 2 260s Any color
• 1 11″ Smilin Sea Creatures

Let’s start with the second Swirly. Fully inflate two 260s, burp and tie. Tie them together and make two 6″ bubbles. Fold twist these to make two 3″ loop twists and repeat. I like to alternate the colors. In the photo I used Tropical Teal and Wintergreen and you can see the loop twists are Teal and Green alternated. Fully inflate a 11″ Smilin Sea Creatures and tie it to the Loop Twists.

Octopus Bracelet

• 1 160
• 1 5″ Octopus Face

This is a bracelet that I really like because it’s quick and easy and uses the Qualatex 5″ Google Eyes (octopus Faces). Take a 160 and a matching 5″ Google Eyes color balloon. Fully inflate the 5″ Google Eyes and tie off. Cut the 160 in half and tie a knot at the nozzle. Fully inflate both halves and tie. Twist them together in the middle to form an X. Fold them in half and twist them again so you have something like this.

Tie in the 5″ Google Eyes for a cute little octopus that fits over almost every wrist.

Baby Sea Turtle

• 1 5″ Frog Face
• 1 Lime Green 160
• 1 Mocha Brown 160

This next figure can be a bracelet as well. It uses one Lime Green 160Q, one Mocha Brown 160Q and a 5″ Frog Face. Inflate the 5″ Frog Face to a 4″ ball with a 1″ tail. Squeeze the ball so the air goes into the tail like this.

Cut the Lime Green 160 in half and again tie at the knozzle. Fully inflate one half and tie into a loop. Now split the loop in half, and then make a twist two-thirds of the way up on both sides. In the end you should have a diamond that looks like this.

Twist the top and bottom twist together for the front legs. Twist the head section of the Frog Face and wrap the legs around it so it looks like this.

Inflate the other half of the 160 and tie. Twist it into two equal loops for the back legs. Twist a small bubble on the Frog Face Balloon for the tail and wrap the back legs on to the turtle.

Inflate the Mocha Brown 160 leaving a 5″ tail and tie. Tie it to the neck of the Turtle and make 4″ bubble. Twist at the tail, make another 4″ bubble and twist at the neck. Repeat a few times until the shell is the size you want.

You now can pop and tie the balloon or twist the remaining Mocha Brown as the bracelet strap like this……

The lovely hand of Roxanne Philo

Mermaid

• 1 5″ Blush Womens face
• 1 Blush 350Q, You need to use the Qualatex Blush to match the 5″ Imprint
• 1 Blush 260Q, again it needs to be Q until Betallatex makes Face Imprints
• 2 Green 428 or 1 Green 550 Spiral.
• 1 Lilac 260 or a scrap of one
• 1 Red 160

Start by fully inflating both green 428s, burp them well and tie off. Make a 2″ ear twist in both of them. Twist the ear twists around each other and spiral the rest.

Inflate the Blush 350 to about 10″ and tie off. Make two small ear twists for her neck. Make a bubble as big as you want her body to be and twist around the 428s. Break the tail off and deflate it. Tie 3 or 4 knots at the tip of the tail and insert it into the 5″ womens face and inflate it to about 3″ for a small head. Tie this into the ear twist at her neck.

The arms are pretty easy, Blush 260 inflated leaving a tail. Make a 1″ bubble, 3″ loop twist, 6″ arm, twist at neck, 6″ arm, 3″ loop and a 1″ bubble. Pop and tie off any leftover.

Now we need hair. I like to use a Red 160. Inflate it leaving a 4″ tail, make a 1″ bubble and let the air out then tie off. Tie this extra balloon around the knot at the top of the head. Make a 1″ ear twist to hide the knot. Follow that with a 3″ loop and push this over the ear twist for a nice set of bangs. Bring the balloon down to the neck and twist, back to the bangs at the top, down to the neck until you have used all the balloon. Make a small ear twist right at the top to keep the loop facing forward and discard any leftover. Add a second 160 for more hair if you like or a pony tail.

She needs a top so take the scrap of Lilac and tie a knot in the middle. Put 1″ of air into each side and tie a knot close to the bubble. Tie the two tails in the back.

Finished Mermaid

Small Squid

• 1 Betallatex 6″ Heart (it must be a Betallatex because of the point it makes)
• 1 160 of the same color
• 1 White 160 or a Scrap of White 160.

Inflate the heart and the tail until just before the lobes are full because you will be twisting both of them. Inflate the White 160 to about 2″ and tie it on both ends of the bubble. Split the bubble, tie the ends and ear twist them both. Twist a small bubble on one of the Lobes and twist the eyes around it. Cut the other 160 into thirds and tie them so you can inflate all three fully. Twist them all in the middle and twist around eack other. Twist another small bubble in the second lobe and twist the 6 arms around it and shape them. If you are having trouble with this drop a raisin into the heart and use that.

You’ll have to guess how to make the Large Squid, but I’ll tell you it takes a 1040 Balloon that most party stores sell in 5 packs for about $3.

Thanks for reading. I hope you learned something new. Michael Philo UH OH…… Pirates (A Preview of Next Month) For a boy’s Swirly take a Black 260, a White 260 and make the Swirly base as above but add the 11″ Pirate Skull and Crossbones balloon.

Next month you will need the 5″ Pirate Face which you can get here http://www.continentalsales.net/item.php?it=5130