Creations from the Heart [Balloons]

by Ralph Dewey

I’ve found that heart balloons can be very versatile. One in particular is the CTI brand 17” heart. It has more of a “Y” shape when uninflated than most brands. It is perfect for all of the following creations. If I fill one to about 9” in diameter and tie it off, I can turn it into a neat head shape. I squeeze and shape the balloon so that the air inflates one of the lobes, but not the other. The uninflated lobe becomes a nose. With a few marks of a pen, I can make a quick caricature of a child. If the child has freckles, I add a few. If they wear glasses, I add them to their caricature. To personalize the caricature even more, I usually print their name on the back of the balloon. Kids love to get these special balloons.

You can inflate a 17” CTI heart balloon to about 6 inches, you can then shape it into a devil’s head. The two uninflated lobes become his horns. A few simple marks from a black marking pen and you have a quick devil’s head.

If I take another one inflated to about 6 inches and squeeze the air so that one side of the balloon swells out, a new shape is made. The swollen side becomes the face of a cat. The lobes become the ears for a cat’s head. I then draw the cat’s face on the balloon.

If I turn the cat’s head around backwards, it resembles a pig’s face. I like to pull and roll the knot so that it travels and gives me a little more room at the knot. I snip off the lip of the nozzle (the snout of the pig) to make it look a little more realistic. A few strokes of the marker and I’ve got a pig’s head.

As with all heart balloons, I can squeeze the air into the nozzle area to form a fish. It only takes the balloon to be inflated about 6 inches.

With a CTI 17” heart inflated to about 6 inches, I can make a mitten for Santa from it. First I tie the nozzle of a #350 balloon to the nozzle of the heart balloon. I form an apple twist about midway on the heart balloon.

I squeeze one of the lobes so that most of the air is forced into the other lobe. Now I have Santa’s mitten attached to his arm.

A tooth can be made from the same heart balloon when inflated to about 6 inches. It’s not a great tooth, granted, but it does pass for one. I apple-twist the knot about 3Ú4 of the way down in the balloon.

A parody of Yoda’s head can be made from the CTI 17” heart balloon. I inflate it to about 6 inches and tie off. I squeeze and shape the balloon so that the lobes are near the sides of the balloon. I then make a few facial marks as shown in the photo.

The character of Yoda is the intellectual property of Lucasfilm Ltd.