Wow!

My Hat's off to the entire team.

I love that little motorcycle Nippy/Graham. I jumped up and made one as soon as I saw it.

I had Patrick's 10 minute motorcycle, Bonnie's 3 balloon motorcycle, and a one balloon 'motorcycle'.

But this one is so fast, clean, and unmistakable. Great model.

That's awesome. Great idea on the dollar print.  How did they like it?

These all look fantastic.

Nippy, love the base.

I don't think the tail is as technical as you think.

I take about 5" of a pipe cleaner, bend the very ends of it over to hide the sharp part.
Slide it all the way into the end of a 160 and tie off just below the pipe cleaner.
Spiral the pipe cleaner and secure it between the two pink pinch twists at the pigs rump.

INTEREST!
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You really CAN make anything out of balloons.

It's really hard to follow Michael's post with this but here goes...

Playing around with the horn twist (I don't know what people are calling it). I saw some folks doing it in the jamroom at Twist and Shout this year and am just now getting around to playing with it.  I had a few of them lying around the house I decided to turn one of them into a unicorn. Based on Patricia's horse. I used a heart for the head and a round for the torso. The tail is a deep tulip on a 350.

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Is that a pig's tail I see in the lower left corner?!

So I took a pinch of jeanine von essen, a dash of david brennion, a little bit of me, mix well and viola!

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Jeanine has a Piggybank made with a clear balloon in her BHQ portfolio. I loved the idea. I have been making a modified version of Brennion's pig lately so I just did it with a clear balloon this time. The snout is a little longer than I would have intended but it kinda looks like the pig from Toy Story so I think I'll keep it that way.

Quote from: "Lisa Chester"Thanks Sean - I hoped you meant "winner"  I'm going to go with that  

Hahahaha. woops.

It dawned on me that the higher up on the nozzle you tied the round the more of an indent you'd get.

Here's a shot of the result when the knot is rolled all the way to the top/end of the nozzle on the round. It sucks the knot way inside. You can stick your finger in there. But I wouldn't  :shock:

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Original Question: I'm wondering how round you can get a 12-inch balloon? Most come out looking kind of egg-shaped. And then there's the knot -- is there any way to push it into the balloon and make it stay?

Funny enough, I was pondering this EXACT same thing today. Here's what I came up with:

1. 11" round balloon, Red 260, two red scraps.
2. Tie a knot in the far end of the 260.
3. With a wooden dowel inserted into the 260, push the 260 into the 11" and, stretching the 11" over the end of the dowel and knot of the 260, tie in place.
4. remove dowel, flip the whole round inside out, Inflate (DO NOT TIE) the 11", Grab the 260 knot through the 11" round (again) and tie in place.
5. Deflate 11", flip right-side out.
6. With the long end of the 260 hanging out of the 11" nozzle, inflate to a round shape.
7. Pull on the 260 to create tension, and tie the nozzle. Snip off excess everything.
 - This encourages the round shape and pulls the nozzle into the balloon slightly.

The process described is very similar to Ralph Dewey's (GENIUS!) wobble-Loon technique described here:
//http://www.balloonhq.com/column/dewey/jun11/

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I use Deccocolor paint makers. That one was a little dry but they generally do a good job.

Everyone did a great job and it's really hard to choose. I'm going to go with Lisa Chester as the weiner this round. Congrats Lisa! The next round is on you I guess.

From the article:

QuoteWhistle blowers, that scroll out into a a long coloured paper tongue when sounded – a party favourite at family Christmas meals – are now classed as unsafe for all children under 14.

So at 13 they can't blow a party favor but 3 years later at 16 they can drive a car? That's 3 years packed with lots of learning!
(in the USA driving age is 16, not sure what it is there)

Nice work.  Four raisins? it sounds delicious.

Does your torso have 4 white balloons or two. If it has four, you can pull the arms down and tuck them between the white sides. If you do this you'll probably have to add a pair of pinch twist at the base of the neck to support the head.