Thursday, February 28, 2013

Sun balloon hat


Materials: balloons; an air pump and scissors. 

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We are going to make a piece of balloon fabric in a shape of a star to use it as a hat. We can use this technique to make various sculptures: hats, skirts, dresses, vases and etc. Just for purpose of this instruction we are going to use different colors balloons for each row. We twist all bubbles in the first (red) row of about two and half—inch size. Please note: I provide approximately estimated sizes of all bubbles to make the flat hat to fit my medium size bold adult head. Inflate the red balloon leaving a five—inch flat tail (Pic 1).

Twist a chain of nine bubbles (Pic 2).

Lock both ends of the chain of nine (the first through the ninth) red bubbles in one lock twist (Pic 3).

It is the base of the hat—make sure it fits your head. Cut off the rest of the red balloon and tie off the ends (Pic 4).

We are going to use orange balloons for the second row and yellow balloons for the third row. Inflate the orange and the yellow balloons leaving about four—inch flat tail. Lock the nozzle of the orange balloon between the first and the second red bubbles. We can apply all math and geometry knowledge to make perfectly shaped star. I prefer to do it in the not scientific way, simply relay on how it looks like. Don't worry about making the perfect circle. Once again, we are making a hat. It suppose to have an oval shape. I twist all bubbles in the second (orange) row about two--inch size. Twist the first orange bubble. Lock the nozzle of the yellow balloon with the free end of the first orange bubble (Pic 5).

Twist the second orange bubble. You have to pull the orange balloon through the loop of the red bubbles to lock the free end of the second orange bubble between the second red and the third red bubbles (Pic 6).

Twist the third orange bubble. We are going to twist all bubbles in the third (yellow) row about four inch. Twist the chain of two (the first and the second) yellow bubbles (Pic 7).

Lock the free end of the second yellow bubble with the free end of the third orange bubble. Twist the fourth orange bubble. You have to pull the orange balloon through the loop of the red bubble to lock the free end of the fourth orange bubble between the third red and the fourth red bubbles. Twist the fifth orange bubble. Twist the chain of two (the third and the fourth) yellow bubbles (Pic 8). Lock the free end of the fourth yellow bubble with the fifth orange bubble.

Keep twisting and locking bubbles in the same fashion as described above all way around the red balloon—the base of the hat. You will need to add the second orange and the second yellow balloons to complete the round (Pic 9 through 11).



Cut off the rest of the balloons and tie off the ends. Trim off the knots and hide them between bubbles. We have made the hat (Pic 12).

Use white balloons to add the fourth row. We do it in the same fashion as described above (Pic 13 though 15). Congratulations, we have made the hat. We can add as many rows as we want to this sculpture. Just remember to increase the size of bubbles accordingly in each following row to keep the sculpture flat. Otherwise you may make different shape sculptures. Shapes that can be used to make dress, vase and etc. We will talk about it more in future instructions. Have fun and happy twisting :)


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