Take a pink/blush 260. Pinch twist, 1.5" bubble, Pinch twist, 1.5" bubble, Pinch twist.

Wrap the balloon around the red 350 and twist to the first pinch twist. It should be tight enough not too fall off but not so tight as you can't slide it up and down.

Position the pink balloon about 4 inches up from the lock twist.

The sides of the head are made as shown. Twist the 260 to the 350 then down to the pinch twist on the other side.

Break off and tie off the remainder of the pink balloon. You can now see the pinch twists as an ear, nose, ear arrangement.

Inflate a white 260 leaving about 3" uninflated. Tie it to an 'ear'. Bring it under the cheek and twist it to the 'nose'.

To form the eyes twist to the top of the head (around the 350) and back down to the nose.

Twist it under the other cheek over to the other ear.

Twist a 4 inch bubble then a pinch twist

Wrap the balloon around the twist in the 350 on the top of the head and twist it back to the pinch twist. This forms the trim at the base of the hat.

You can see from the first picture how it should look.

Make another 4" bubble and twist it to the other ear.

Break off and tie off. To recap, the white balloon makes one half of the moustache, the eyes, the other half of the moustache, half of the hair, the hat brim and finishes with the other half of the hair.

Another white 260 goes from ear to ear (where to where?) to form the beard. ( Some variations on this are to use a white 350 for a thicker beard or to take the 260 across and back again to double it up.)

The beard is broken of and tied off at the ear. Use the end of the scrap you have broken off to for a bubble with a tail.

Tie this bubble to the end of the 350. This bubble will be the bobble!

Push the knot into the 350 and make a tulip twist. this attaches the bobble to the hat using a marriage twist.

This is how it should look so far. As you can see the head is finished bar the pen work.

Inflate another white 260. Make a pinch twist the wrap it around the base of the 'neck' (top of 350 lock twist) and twist back to pinch twist. This forms the fluffy collar on Santa's suit.

Bring the balloon halfway down the 350 lock twits and make a pinch twist.

Bring the balloon all around the lock twist and twist back to the pinch twist. This forms the base of his coat. Tie off then break off but leave at least 1 inch of uninflated balloon still attached.

Inflate a red 260 (also works with a 160). Make a small bubble then 2 small loops.

Twist it into a large loop that sits very loosely around the 350 as in the photo. Twist a bubble the same size as the one you started with break off and tie off

This loop forms the hands, arms and shoulders. The top of the loop sits around the top of the 350 lock twist and the hands are held in place by wrapping the white uninflated scrap left over from the coat trimming around the hands.

Inflate a black 260, twist a bubble then a large lock twist.

Twist the lock twist into 2 large loops. Break off and discard the remainder of the balloon. The small bubble is pushed through the middle of the 350 locktwist at the base to form the feet.

Arrange feet as so.

Add whatever pen work you think appropriate. Drawing on balloons is not my strong point but, as you can, see I've added simple eyeballs and laughter lines.

Ta daa.

That's him, all done.

I hope you like it. I find it a quite satisfactory model to make. The details added to a simple base is a pleasing and effective concept. The arm configuration is also one I haven't seen before but works nicely.

He can be adapted for other characters. Try a green 350 and with orange hair for a leprechaun (you'll need to change the hat).

For beardless characters there is ample enough pink left over to make a chin.

For a quicker Santa balloon you can make a Santa on a stick. Simply blow up a 350 nearly all the way and add the head design only.