Make a Balloon Animal

Visit my gallery page to find instructions for all balloons previously posted.

Nativity

Based on A Balloon Nativity by Bill Beatty


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.

For instructions on how to make these figures, you should get Bill Beatty's book. I've made notes on things that I've done differently from his instructons.

The main change I've made on the human figures is to use a separate balloon for the head. This allows colored costumes and skin-colored faces. Bill says to make a one inch bubble for the head followed by two half-inch pinch twists for the neck. I made a two-inch bubble from a blush colored 260Q and caught one knot between the pinch twists. You can get 4-5 heads out of a 260Q.

Joseph's body and hair are just like Bill's design. For Mary I made a "bird body" for the skirt portion of the body and added an extra row of bubbles to her hair. For baby Jesus, I made a 3-inch bubble in the nipple end of a white 260 and tied it to the blush balloon below the arms, for swaddling clothes. The manger is just a brown rectangle with a series of tiny yellow bubbles along the top for the hay.

Bill doesn't include an angel. I made the body like Mary's and added a halo and wings. For the halo, make a 1.5 inch bubble in a short piece of a yellow 260 and make an apple twist in it. Before you make the apple twist, grab the knot on the top of the angel's head along with the yellow knot to apple link the head to the halo. For the wings, make a 3/4 inch bubble at the nozzle and then two triangles for the wings. Remove any excess balloon and tie it off. Wrap the nozzle around the neck to secure. The hair is like Mary's except that it is just wrapped around the halo instead of tied to the knot.

If you want a really fancy angel, there's a good picture at this link.

For sheep instructions click here.

The wise men are the same as Bill's except that I used the bubble between the hands for the gift instead of pop twisting it and adding a gift of a different color. For camel instructions click here.

I didn't include the cow and donkey or the stable and star, all of which are in Bill's book, as well as a more detailed manger.


 

According to Web Counteryou are visitor number