Make a Balloon Animal

After posting my Angel instructions a couple years ago I thought it would be a great idea to make a complete nativity scene out of balloons. I played around with it a little, but never took it very far until I found Bill "Dr.Twistin" Beatty's book A Balloon Nativity . While his drawings are not the best, the balloon ideas are good, and I recommend this book as a starting point for developing your own version of a balloon nativity.

The book does not contain an angel, but you could adapt his other human figures to include this omission. Also, the 1-balloon camel, while a nice figure by itself, is too small in relation to the other figures. Thus, my 2-balloon camel variation, inspired by Bill Beatty.

You need two 260 balloons the same color. Inflate the first, leaving a six-inch tail. Begin with about a 2.5 inch hook twist to form the head. Follow this with a soft one-inch bubble.

Pinch twist the small bubble a give it a toe twist to form the ears. About three inches down from the ears, fold the balloon double and squeeze the air out of the fold. Release the squeeze and let the air back into the folded section, making a sharp bend for the neck.

Complete the neck with a twist about 2-3 inches down from the bend. Make two 4-inch bubbles and lock twist them together for front legs. Make another bend about 3-4 inches into the next segment to form the hump, and another twist about 3-4 inches down to complete the hump. You should have about five to ten inches of inflated balloon left. You will need two 5-inch bubbles, two 4-inch bubbles and a 1-inch bubble to complete the camel. At whatever point you run out of balloon, inflate the second balloon enough to make up the rest (you don't have to be exact--any excess will be deflated). Then tie the nozzle of the second balloon to the end of the last full bubble in the first balloon and keep going. Any extra air in the end of the first balloon may be deflated and the knot can be hidden in the twist.

Twist a 5-inch bubble for one side of the body and connect it to the front of the hump. Another 5-inch makes the other side. Push the remainder of the balloon through the hump to connect this twist to the back of the hump. Make two 4-inch bubbles for rear legs and a 1-inch bubble at the tail to hold the rear legs in position. Carefully deflate the rest of the balloon and tie a knot tight against the last bubble. Trim the deflated portion to about 3 inches for the tail.

See it here! Bill Beatty's book is no longer in print, but he has given me permission to reproduce it here. CLICK HERE for the full text of A Balloon Nativity by Bill Beatty complete with the original drawings, slightly modified for web format.

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