This is the first time I used a marriage twist and the first time I used a 321q.

I thought I was being clever in buying 321qs (both with and without tips), and also diamond clear 260qs. I'm struggling to find designs with either of these in. I've made a rocket with a black tipped bee body but it looks quite poor. I have tried searching this forum, youtube and the whole net and not really come up with much. If you guys know of any cool designs for these balloons to be used in, then I would be eternally grateful to know about it! I did think that the clear balloons would be very cool to try and make Zero (the dog) together with a Jack skeleton (providing I can handle that one!)
Many thanks, Ben

I really like the idea of making some balloon decorations for friends/family, are the qualatex/sempertex round balloons useful for this, or are they too thick? What kind of balloons would you use and where might I find more information on this subject?

I have a question about balloon colours. So far, I have bought bags of assorted colours, is there somewhere that I can find out what the colours are called? I have seen some instructions calling for a specific colour - for example 'goldenrod'. I have a goldy/browny balloon here but I don't know if it is that.
Also - is there much of a difference in quality between qua latex and sempertex? What do you use and why?

I tried to make another owl hat thing. Just to see if I can remember how to do it. I did, and here is the result.

The red/yellow is the first one i did following instructions, the blue green one is what I did just now from memory. Not bad for a noob I guess but I'm a little disappointed with the blue/green one. I managed to get the nozzle to join the nipple a lot cleaner, however the air displacement is not even around the balloon making him not look right, I wondered if there were any tricks to get an even amount of air around the balloon.

I've found quite a nice resource online for twisting patterns (for me at least, coz I'm a noob!) at fewdoit. I have bought a new CD with instructions on, but I wondered if anyone knew of a site with instructions on? I'm interested at the moment in trying to make hats and maybe fascinators to attach to hair bands.

I tried to make an owl face hat - for a first attempt it is quite good, but needs improvement!

For the red balloon, I had to tie the ends together and found this difficult and the end result is a bit messy because of this. Does anyone have any tips for tying the nozzle to the nipple?

I'm also struggling with blowing up balloons without a pump, now I'm a professional trombone player/teacher and as such have a fairly decent lung capacity and strength - is there some kind of technique to employ while blowing, or is this again a matter of practice?

I'm well and truly hooked now! A year or two ago (I think for my 29th birthday) my girlfriend (who is now my fiancee, and in 3 weeks will be my wife!) got me some balloons. I'd asked her to get me some so it wasn't much of a surprise but quite cool. I ended up not doing very much with them. Just last week I got them out again after deciding that for our wedding we would put a bag of balloons on each table for the guests! Since then I've spend about £100 + on balloons and stuff for me (plus the 100 that it cost for all the balloons for the wedding!
I'm a music teacher, mostly working with younger children, and on monday I did a concert during which I had to make sure a load of children stayed quiet, so I took some balloons along to practice with in the hope that they might be quiet and watch. I used up nearly all the gallons I took! So I've decided that tomorrow I'm taking a load of balloons with me and I'm going to make some simp models for passers by when my band is playing at a big agricultural show!!!! Should be fun!
Thanks for everyones support, I hope to meet some of you soon at a balloon day. Happy twisting!

This may seem silly, but what exactly does a balloon modeller do?!
I mean if you're busking somewhere, do you stick a bucket down in front of you and start making something and hope someone comes up to put some money in? Do you then give them the model? Or do you wait for someone to approach you before you make something? How about if you're booked for a school fete or similar? Do you approach people and ask if they'd like a balloon?
And what about a party that you have been booked for? How long would you make balloons for at a party? Until everyone has a model?
Sorry for all the questions!, just really intrigued!

I'm getting there, and bearing in mind I've only been twisting for about 5 days, I don't think I'm doing too badly. However the more I look at photos of things on here the more I realise I have to to learn! I have bought a CD from Grahams shop which has a few designs  to learn. Are there any books or models in particular that you can recommend to me to read or practice?

Here are a few of my first twists, theres a dog, a mouse, a sword, a rocket(!), and my apron! It would be great to know what you think - any constructive criticism?

So got me a busking bag/apron thingy and I just wondered how you guys use yours. What do you put in it? Do you take some of everything or are there things you don't bother with? Currently in my balloon armoury I have have 321, both kinds, some 5 inch rounds and a vast assortment of 260s with a few 160s. I have a gig on Sunday with my band and thought it might be fun to take some balloons along to make when we do songs I don't play anything in!

I have been using 160q balloons. The story is I told my girlfriend I wanted to make some balloons models and she bought me a pump and balloons for my birthday. Neither of us knew anything about different sizes. So all I have made is stuff with 160 balloons. I have some 260s arriving soon but I wondered how much of a difference is there, will I now find it hard to get used to larger balloons, will certain things be harder than others?

I was just wondering if anyone can offer advice on how long a balloon is good for until it is inflated. I have been using a bag of 160qs that my girlfriend bought me, they are a couple of years old. They seem to be working okay but wondered if they were 'fresh' if they might stay inflated longer.

I have seen a few videos showing people pinching a balloon after it has been twisted, and seemingly pulling it away. It looks almost like a magic trick. Does it rely on the balloon being inflated fully or sharp finger nails? Is there a simple way to achieve this? Many thanks

Possibly a silly question but do people fill modelling balloons with helium? Aeroplanes would look quite cool with a few pieces of cotton to anchor it, butterflies too maybe?!

I just saw a really cool snake tutorial on youtube that I can't do because I don't have any round balloons, but I tried the body. It kind of worked. So instead of leaving it I thought 'Oh I'll make a giraffe'. As most of the balloon was coiled round I left the ears of the giraffe and it looks like a cool little smake now. I thought i could try and make it into a rattle snake. Is it possible to twist one finger sized bubbles and have them stay in place without twisting them round each other?

Hi,
   I currently own a bag of 160Q balloons, and a standard sized double action pump. For my wedding I've ordered 1300 260Q balloons so I don't really think I'm going to have a shortage of larger ones when they arrive! I also have a balloon cutter and small pump for the 160 balloons. What other bits would you guys recommend I get? Round balloons, shaped balloons? What in particular? Many thanks, Ben

I've just bought enough balloons and pumps to sink a battle ship! I'm getting married this month and we have enough balloons and pumps to go on each table, we don't have any instructions yet, and I was wandering if you guys knew of any good online instructions that I could print off to place on the tables?
Many thanks, Ben

Hi,
   I'm new here, and and have very limited balloon twisting experience. The odd dog here and there, and a sword or two! I've had a load of balloons lying around for ages that my girlfriend bought for me. I'm just starting to get to grips with a few simple models. I would rally like to be able to make some more impressive things though, thats why I'm here!!