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Balloon Twisting From Scratch 4 - The Tiger

Here is another very nice an easy model for beginners.

But guess what? There are absoluteley no new technique to learn in order to be able to make this new figure.

This is therefore really only another practice exercise and a new figure to add to your 'repertoire'.

 

Video Tutorial

Video in French, with English subtitles

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+ - Video transcript: Balloon Twisting From Scratch 4 - The Tiger Click to collapse

Hello, and welcome to Môssieur Ballon's website!

A promise made is a promise kept!

Today, I'll teach you how to make a little tiger!

As usual, we'll start by, simply, inflating a balloon while leaving, maybe this time, for a start... a little more than a hand's width.

So, here... is our basic balloon.

We're going to start by making... one bubble... two bubbles... three bubbles... four bubbles... and five bubbles!

Which we'll attach... at their base, like we did with the frog, which started out with four bubbles.

Next, once these five bubbles are done (and attached), we'll continue with a sixth bubble, at the base of the first five bubbles, immediately followed by a very small sausage.

Ok, let's say, a sausage that's about two bubbles wide.

Once you've finished the little bubble and the sausage, I'm passing two fingers through my loop of bubbles, and forcing them past the sausage like this.

Take the time to watch.

Next we have to make that "bean" we talked about.

You can see... to make things clearer... you can see... here is our tiger's muzzle, and its two little eyes!

So we're going to pull its ears into a "bean" shape.

As usual, we hook our fingers underneath... pull... and there!

Well now it's quite simple, we're going to make our tiger two front legs... two hind legs...

Like the little dog, there won't be any difference, you can see the basic parts are the same, it's just the head that changes, and the drawing, of course.

We musn't forget the tiger's stripes!

One little bubble for the neck, two big sausages for the front legs, a little sausage for the stomach, two big sausages, of the same length as the front legs, for the hind legs, which leaves us with the tail...

As usual, we'll give it a little shape, and we will now go on to drawing the tiger's features.

So the tiger never goes anywhere without its stripy pyjamas,

All we need to do is stripes... and its whiskers...

I am now going to carry out the tiger at my usual speed, try and practice going as fast as me, if not faster!

So, details, always think of the details.

If you can, if you have a good quality felt-tip pen, when you draw on the balloon, try to shape your stripes like long triangles,

with the pen stroke thicker at the start than at the finish, which will give us a more interesting design than just streaks and lines.

And there... here's the little tiger!

So, that's all for this video!

Practise well... and see you soon, for a new lesson with Môssieur Ballon!

 

Step-By-Step Photo Guide

 

1- Inflate a balloon leaving a margin at the end of slightly more than the width of a hand. Then tie the knot.
2- Starting from the knotted end, make a first, well-rounded bubble.
3- Make a second, identical bubble, following the first.
4- Follow these with a third bubble, this time a little wider than the first two.
5- To finish the row of bubbles, make two more bubbles identical to the first two. If need be, review how to make a row of bubbles without them getting undone.
6- Holding the knot to the base of the row of bubbles, twist the bubbles several times together around their base to block them.
7- You should get a shape similar to this one.
8- Form another well-rounded bubble,
9- then, a second bubble following it, a little longer than the first (about double).
10- You should now have a shape similar to this one.
11- Feed the new little bubble, then the larger one, through the loop formed by the first row of bubbles.
12- The fold between the last big bubble and the remaining portion of balloon should fall into place naturally to form a right angle with with the first large bubble.
13- Front view. With a little imagination, you can already start to see the tiger's cheeks, its forehead, its muzzle, and its ears sticking out a little on either side.
14- In fact, we are now going to take the bubble representing the right ear (or the left ear if you are left-handed). And we're going to pinch it...
15- to make a 'pinch-twist'.
16- Here is the first ear of the tiger.
17- Next turn the head to pinch the bubble representing the left ear (or right ear if you are left-handed and you started on the other side).
18- Make another 'pinch-twist'.
19- Now, here is the head of our tiger with both of its ears well shaped.
20- For the rest, it's exactly the same body as the little doggy's. Form a round bubble for the neck (it can be slightly oval, but make sure it isn't too long!)
21- Holding the head so the bubble for the neck won't get undone, form a long bubble about three fingers wide to make the tiger's first leg.
22- Still holding the head, twist the remaining portion of balloon against the first leg to form a second leg of equal length to the first.
23- Firmly pinch them together at their base.
24- Twist both bubbles together to block them.
25- Our little tiger is starting to take shape.
26- Make another oval bubble for the stomach.
27- Make another oval bubble following it, making sure it's the same size as the front legs.
28- Then one last bubble for the second hind leg. You will have to make sure it's the same length as the previous bubble.
29- Pinch the hind legs together at their base and twist them together to wedge them in place.
30- Now, here is our little tiger. Let's perfect a few details to make it a little less stiff and a bit more natural-looking.
31- Hold both ends of the stomach bubble and gently move them back and forth, to rub them gently against each other at the center of the bubble.
32- Next, press the tail bubble between your hands, to form an S shape, and like previously, rub gently at the folds of the S.
33- With curved shapes, our little tiger looks much better now, doesn't it? All we have to do now is to draw a few features on it to bring it to life.
And that's it for today.

And that was the end of this lesson!

 

Document-pdf Download the PDF guide sheet with detailed photos of each step

 

Basic balloon twisting techniques used in this tutorial:

Reminder: It is essential that you master these basic skills! Please practise these techniques until you do.