This swan is fairly easy to twist and quite large. It is designed to sit on the table or to be used as a display piece.
You will need: 1 white 350, 1 black 160, 3 white 260s and a 260 white scrap.
Starting with the body using a white 350 with about a 4" tail: Make a large 3" pinch twist (chest bubble).
Then make a 7" bubble followed by a 2" pinch twist (tail bubble).
Make a second 7" bubble and lock twist it to the first 7" bubble. (the 7" bubbles will be the belly bubbles)
The last bubble of the body is about 9" (back bubble). What you are looking for is a bubble large enough to form an arch with a minimum amount of gap between the belly bubbles and back. In the photo, the gap is less than 1". Tie off and discard the remaining part of the balloon.
Bill/beak. Using a black 160, make a 4" bubble followed by 2- 1" pinch twist. Break the balloon off at this point but do not discard nor let the air escape from the scrap. The bill/beak will look nicer if you remember to reverse inflate the 160. When doing the step by step photos, I forgot. humm. It works either way, just remember to trim the nozzle off after you finish twisting if you forget too.
Using the piece of black 160 that you saved from twisting the bill/beak to make the eyes, make 2-1.5" bubbles.
Now you can discard the remaining balloon. Tie the end of the last bubble to the begining of the first bubble. Trim the excess off close to the knots you just made. Set both the bill and the eyes aside for the time being.
Using a white 260 with about a 4" tail: make a 3" bubble (first cheek) followed by a 1.5" pinch twist (back of the head bubble).
Make a matching 3" bubble (second cheek) and lock twist it to the first 3" bubble.
Attach the bill the the cheeks now by twisting the pinch twists into the joint. Arrange so that the bill sorta rests on top of the pinch twists and points straight forward.
Now make a 5" bubble (forehead) and lock twist it the the cheek bubbles.
Now shape the neck of the swan by bending the balloon in a 'S' shape... Keep this bubble fairly soft.
The neck is between 12" and 13" long... This is determined by the amount of bend you acheived. Less bend, shorter neck. More bend, longer neck. Attach to the chest bubble. Tie off and discard the rest of the 260.
Attach 2 nearly fully inflated white 260s, one on either side of the body, at the chest bubble and the tail bubble for the wings. These balloons MUST be fairly soft.
About 3/5 the way up the 260s from the chest bubble, bend the balloons and give them a good pinch and release to form a sharp angle. Although I bend both balloons at the same time to get the same placement of the bends, I only pinch and release one at a time.
It should now look similar to this.
Now do the same, only forcing the bend in the opposite direction, in the section of wing from the original bend to the tail.
Veiw from the top after both bends have been made in each wing.
Now using a white 260 scrap: Attach the balloon to the tail of the swan. Make a 5" bubble...
Followed by a 1.5" pinch twist and a second 5" bubble. Lock twist the 5" bubbles together. Tie off then discard any remaining balloon This is the 'new tail' bubbles. Firm up the connection joint by twisting it around body bubble #3 a couple of times.
Force the #3 bubble from the body between the 5" bubbles you just made. Then tilt the 'new tail' bubbles up slightly. You can see the tilt when looking at the green line added to the photo.
Now add the eyes for the head by lifting the forehead bubble and slipping the eyes underneath. No need to tie them in place. The pressure of the white bubbles will hold them where they should be held.
The first part of the wings (by the chest bubble) are made to rest slightly on top of the neck bubble. This forces the neck back into a more swan-like position.
Yes, the eyes could have been added when the forehead bubble was made, but my daughter's cat stole the first set of eyes I made, so I just kept twisting. ermmm. That really isn't a very bright cat... One of these days... lol
The wing arrangement was learned from the Swan Hat article posted on BHQ by Patricia Bunnell.
Happy twisting!
Bonnie, The Balloon Lady