Balloon-tying jig

Most kids go through a stage of being unable to tie a balloon without it farting off across the room.  Water-bombs can be even worse, slippery little devils that they are.

This simple jig makes tying balloons (especially water-bombs) a lot quicker, and makes it a lot easier to build up your ammunition for April Fools.

Step 1: Materials

The jig must be smooth and snag-free, or every balloon will burst.

For this prototype, I used a dead Sharpie pen and some spare timber.

Tools included a small saw, sharp knife, drill+wood bit and a circular file.

Comments

[MrE]

Great Ible I will make one myself soon. Just one little question what is the name and who wrote that little song in the video.

[Kiteman]

It's called "At the Rising of the Moon", a traditional Irish song. I'm afraid can't remember the artist, but it's played on an ocarina.

[curious youth]

this is cool. but i cant stop laughing at the shape.

[torned00]

i think you got that idea from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErruUtVO9sw

[tdawber-mandeno]

good for making epic water balloon (double layered regular bloon so it dosent pop when filling)

[Puzzledd]

Fantastic idea and description!

[Kiteman]

Thank you.

[chamster]

WOW! U have made so many insructable! Are u the creater of instructables?

[Kiteman]

LOL, oh, no.  You need Eric, the site's creator and CEO.

[chamster]

Brilliant! But why is it in the pranks section?

[Kiteman]

Where else do water-balloon-based projects belong?

[seabananers]

some thing is very wrong here

[Wafflicious]

Excellent :)

[Kiteman]

Thank you.

[flowjuggler]

Great jig. We work with a lot of kids (and adults) doing balloon workshops and tying the balloon is inevitably a source of stress for a number of participants. Although we've gotten good at teaching a no-hurt, easy to understand method of tying, this will be a great tool to have on hand! Thanks.

[Kiteman]

You're welcome, although, after just one afternoon of using the jig, my youngest suddenly worked out how to tie them for himself...

[ikeike40]

hi

[itsmanofpopsicle]

Some people are ACTUALLY SELLING a similar product. Better go through copyright again...

[mybluemake]

Fooking brilliant. As the world's coolest uncle and great uncle I've purchased over 5000 biodegradeable water balloons for this coming Summer. I love my siblings' spawn and their issue, but not a damn one of them can tie a balloon. As a fat fingered middle-ager, I've damaged my hands enough tying over 600 last August. This is on!

[Kiteman]

Excellent.  Post pics when you do.

[EvanSavar]

That is really cool. I just looked up balloon tying on Google and the same item for $2.00. www.batteryjunction.com/ballon-tie.html. It be great though if I didn't have the 2.00 to buy the item!! 

[the_burrito_master]

little perverted ,much?

good job.

[evanwehrer]

 lol I was thinking the same thing...

[the_burrito_master]

lol it's cool tho.

[firefighter1333]

lol, me 2
XD

[gserrano701]

 I agree with you all.   The gratest thing of it all is the simplicity.

What if you attach a foot pump to the other end of the sharpie??? that would let the friend with the big lungs make better use of them talking to the croud while blowing up the baloons.

Congratulations

[imfasa]

Tou are such a genius!! (although i CAN tie balloons... :P)

[Questor]

if you ran an "air supply" from the back, thru the sharpy, it would blow out the slot and you could fill the balloon and tie it at the same station. Just control the air like they do with helium balloons.  Could work with water, too. Just "messier"

[girlcousin]

Thank you thank you thank you!!  Our little town has a halloween party every year and we do a 'bust the balloon win a prize' game and tying those knots just kills our fingers!!!  Now I am all exited about carving my sharpie pen and putting smiley faces on all my balloons, now!

[AT]

Nice!  Simple yet very usable

[mizantropic]

i'm really curios if you could do that with a swollen balloon.

[Evidenceremoved]

You could, but with a water balloon filled to its absolute limits... You might have to be very careful.

[cbergquistf]

Great idea !  Simple.  Effective.

[dacker]

Nice!

Once or twice each year, I find myself volunteering at one thing or another which needs tons of balloons blown-up.  As a guy, with strong lungs, I'm often stuck blowing up a hundred or so.  Next time, I'll make 1-2 of these ahead of time.  I'll probably use a hardwood dowel in place of the Sharpie body.

I'm glad you posted the video or I'd never figure it out.  The video could be improved by appending a slow-motion version to the full-speed version.

[Covo]

 I thought there might be a way to do that...I am bummed I did not think of it first!!!.  Good job kiteman, working with kids who do not have the dexterity of adults, this will come in HANDY!!!

[AustinMiniMan]

That is magnificently elegant. It's easy to design something complicated and obscure, but sometimes it takes the most skill and poise to design something simple in both concept and conception. This shows a real knack for creation, engineering, etc. You should be proud.

[limonchi]

nice and simple=>10
only need better decoration
thanks, i ´ll make one

[Greasetattoo]

GREAT job..
You should draw a couple of colored balloons under the pen...
Put some graphics on the board!

[2ndopinion]

Simply amazing. Thanks for the video also. I have several Gran Kids and this summer we'll have to have at least a dozen water balloon wars!

[lieuwe]

 awesome, clever contraption, just made one myself, pretty simple, but it's really important that the slot on the bottom has a j-shape behind which then end of the balloon gets stuck, it won't work otherwise