How do you do balloons for a carnival MOC?

[fred67]

Last Christmas my daughter and I built a Ferris Wheel together. We motorized it and everything (no, I didn't post it here, I felt like it'd been done so much better by others).

This year we thought we'd revisit it, add another baseplate, and make a whole small carnival with a pony ride and clowns... but can't figure out how to do minifigure balloons decently.

can use one of these Technic Ball Joints (in red... there's a slightly different style with lime and white):

I put them on a bar. It looks like the figure is holding a giant lollypop. Upside down cone on the bottom doesn't help - it's too big.

Moreover, the iconic look would include three balloons (or more) on slightly different lengths of strings:

I've searched for lego balloons, carnivals, circuses. There's a technic used for miniland figures - I know because I actually built several clowns for for our local store's "Brand Ribbon," but it's much too large for minifigures.

So... any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Cirkit]

Hmm.. I was about to suggest the method you just described to make minifigure balloons until I read the topic.

Could the upside-down cone parts without the ball parts, attached to a 'Harry Potter want' part work?

Forget that. Just realized how much like cotton candy that would look, instead of looking like balloons.

I wish I could help, but I can't think of a proper way either.

[splatman]

Put the Technic balls you have, on strings. Then the hard part: Reverse gravity. Someone made a clown holding a trio of balloons using this method (could not find it). How well that works, is a whole 'nother matter.

[fred67]

Hmm.. I was about to suggest the method you just described to make minifigure balloons until I read the topic.

Could the upside-down cone parts without the ball parts, attached to a 'Harry Potter want' part work?

Forget that. Just realized how much like cotton candy that would look, instead of looking like balloons.

I wish I could help, but I can't think of a proper way either.

Cotton candy... I think I've got that down.... inspired by Hagrid:

When I built that HP set, I couldn't help but think that looks less like a folded umbrella than it does cotton candy.

Thanks for the suggestions... I'm not adverse to minor modifications to LEGO... maybe I'll make my own.

[Vincent Kessels]

Have a look at this creation by P@u! +ox

65 - Legoworld, Zwolle 2012 - Day 3 by Mr. Tomato Bread, on Flickr

[PsyKater]

That is great!

[fred67]

Have a look at this creation by P@u! +ox

Best so far... I actually tried that; they are similar to the miniland figure balloons except the miniland ones have an extra 2x2 round in the middle. I felt it looked too much like a giant club instead of a balloon, but you can't always get things to look exactly right, and I think that, given the context, it'll work.

[escortmad79]

Any good to you?

[fred67]

Thanks... I had tried that one, too, wasn't really happy with the results.

[Cobb]

Why not use minifig heads? They are available in many colours and the printing comes off with a littie rubbing and toothpaste. If you're not against modding try and lodge in a piece of wire for string.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Cobb