# The Lock Twist

1. Grasp the balloon in one hand near the end. You'll probably want to do this with your non-dominant hand.
2. Using your free hand, grasp the balloon with your other hand and twist the balloon until you're left with a segment in your hand (think of turning a lid on a peanut butter jar)
3. Now you will have the basic building block of balloon sculpting.

Important! Try to hold both newly-formed sections of the balloon in your hand. If you let go of the second segment, the balloon will untwist. To keep the balloon twisted, you'll need to learn the lock twist.

After the basic twist, the second fundamental skill in balloon twisting is the lock twist, which you'll learn here.

After creating a basic twist, you'll notice that unless you hold the two sections of the balloon, it will tend to untwist itself, which is why you need to learn the lock twist.

The lock twist effectively holds the balloon's segments in place so you can continue to twist and form a sculpture. You'll also find that the lock twist forms the basic for such things as the head and ears of dog sculpture, as well as the legs and body and more.

1. To start, apply two consecutive basic twists to create two balloon segments. You'll now have four balloon segments. To make this easier, try and create two small segments, as shown in the picture. When starting out, it's important that you try to get the two sections as close to each other in size as you can.
2. Take the end of the balloon and bend or curl it against the first part of the balloon. You'll want the bend to occur between your two balloon segments (the second and third) that you created with the basic twists.
3. Grab the two segments and twist them as shown by the arrow. As with the basic twist, think of twisting off the lid of a peanut butter jar. You're effectively twisting the two balloon segments together and isolating them from the rest of the balloon. You'll need to make at least three twists.
4. You'll find that the twists now stay in place. This is the foundational twist that forms a dog’s head in a dog balloon figure and more.