Easter Bunny!

Method of Construction

Step 1:	The Head Let’s start with probably the hardest part of this design. Distortion is a very useful technique to learn, it will allow you to create unique shape that can work well within a design such as this. To make the shaped head you require the 16” white latex and the 3 11” White latex balloons. First position one of the 11” balloons inside the 16” balloon and inflate the 11” balloon to approx. 7”, knot the 11” balloon and cut off the bead from the balloon. The 16” balloon will inflate round the 11”, but is only acting like a skin.
Step 2:	Now inflate the 16” balloon slightly and add the 2 remaining 11” balloons, inflate the first of these balloons again to approx. 7”, knot, now add a little more air to the 16” balloons and inflate the final 11” balloon to approx. 7”, and knot. Carefully remove any trapped air from the 16” balloon, this balloon is acting like a skin over the 3 inflated 11” balloons.
Step 3:	The nose and mouth area are made from 2 x white 260Q and 1 x pink 260Q, fully inflate the balloons and twist a 1” bubble at the very end of the balloon, knot. Tie all 3 balloons together, remove any excess latex. These can be glued in position using either Super Dots or a latex based glue like Floral Adhesive, or alternatively you could use a ‘raisin’ twist, this is a technique that twister use and is very effective and does not require the use of glue!
Step 4:	Draw on the mouth and eye’s using a black marker pen, be very careful as the face is the focal point, my rule is to keep it simple!
Step 5:	The Ears Fully inflate a 260Q and relax the balloon by letting a small amount of air out, this makes the balloon much easier to twist! Tie the balloon end to end to create a circle, holding the balloon with the knot, find the centre of the balloon and twist at this point, now push this twist together with the knotted part to create a figure of eight.
Step 6:	Finally, make a 1” pinch twist in each loop at the centre, this will allow you to make the ears stand up. A pinch twist is made from making a 1” bubble that is then pinched and twisted together. I used floral adhesive to secure the ears to the rabbits head, once again a ‘raisin’ twist would work well to secure the ears without glue.
Step 7:	The Body For the bunny’s body I used a Qualatex Deco Bubble, I like the shape of the balloon and I also like the fact that these balloons stay very clear and do not oxidise! If you have never worked with them before try them, they are really great! Once you have unwrapped the balloon be ready to put the other balloons inside, you cannot afford to wait too long as these balloons can ‘dry out’.. First I would recommend that you put a small amount of air into the balloon to open it up, now using the Conwin Insider Tool, insert the 11” balloon that you are using as the Easter egg inside, inflate the balloon with air /nitrogen to approx.6”, knot and remove the bead, repeat until you have inserted all the ‘eggs’. Now inflate the deco balloon until it is fully inflated, that means NO wrinkles at the edge…the packet will give you all the inflation details that you will require to successfully inflate this balloon. As an alternative you could use a 16“ Clear latex balloon instead for the body.
Step 8:	Feet and Arms The feet are easy, inflate the 350Q, knot it end to end and create the figure of eight shape as with the ears.
Step 9:	The arms are created from 2 x 260Q balloons, inflate these and leave approx 4” un-inflated. For each arm, from the knot end create a 1” bubble and then a 2” loop twist, twist these both together, this will hold them in position, now adjust the length of the arm to suit the size of your rabbit, tie both arms together but leave a little stretch between them so that they sit in place.
Step 10:	Putting Your Bunny Together Attach the head to the body by tying the 16” ‘head’ balloon to the 20” ‘body’ balloon. The head will flop, so to keep it in place use a 260Q, create 4 small bubbles and position these around the bunny’s neck, tie and remove all excess latex.
Step 11:	Before you secure the body to the feet, I would make 2 x 5” water-weights; these will sit within the loops of the figure of eight and create stability for the design. Now secure the body to the feet using Super Dots.
Step 12:	The arms can be twisted around the neck and should sit neatly between 2 bubbles on each side.
Step 13:	Finally, I also added a small bunch of 160Q flowers which I thought added some additional interest to the design.