Cheers again your fan in Blighty.

Instead I create an ellipse using white underneath my text, adjust it to size as described above. Then I simplify the layer and using the Polygonal Lasso tool, draw my tail on the same layer (overlapping my original ellipse) and fill it with white. Finally I use the magic wand to select the entire white area and stroke the outline with black.

I have a tip for you that might slightly speed up your tail-making task. Instead of hand-cutting the ellipse balloon shape and then adding the tail as you describe, you can use the Pathfinder function. This will let you just very quickly draw your tail as a separate object – I usually start by de-selecting the ellipse, then clicking inside it to create the first point of the tail, then making the point at the tip of the tail, then going back inside to create the last point. This makes a tail-shape that overlays the balloon slightly. I don’t bother to close the shape.

Once you have the two shapes you can select them both and then use Pathfinder to turn them into a single object. The Pathfinder palette can be opened by using the Window menu; the “unite” function is under “Shape Modes,” the leftmost one in the row.

It’s a bit less painstaking, and gives you the same results.

I also like to add a variable line weight to the balloon using the Art Brush feature, but that’s a bit more complex!