Tips On Making Balloon Animals
If you've ever been to a party with a balloon twister as the entertainer
, you may think that although making balloon animals looks like fun, it's too difficult for you to do. However, that's not true. You can make balloon animals yourself, and you can do so quite easily. It's not an impossible task, meant for a special few. You just have to learn how to do it right.
First, you'll need the right materials for making balloon animals. In general, you're going to want high quality latex balloons, specially manufactured to be twisted. In other words, you're not going to have much success if you simply go to your drugstore and get some average balloons. Typically, they come in a wide variety of colors, with counts of 100 to 500 per bag. You'll pay about five dollars for a hundred balloons.
Most often, you'll buy balloons that are called "260s." These are long, skinny balloons that are great for most situations in which you'll be making balloon animals. There are also other sizes, like wider "360" balloons, or "160" balloons that are thinner. If your hands are of average size, you'll do good to start with the 260s, because these are what many sculptures are made of. If your hands are smaller, you can probably better manage the 160 balloons.
Although you can technically blow balloons up yourself, this isn't considered proper if you're going to be giving them away, since you will be passing your germs onto other people, too. Therefore, you'll need a good quality pump to more easily and properly blow up your balloons. Typically, a hand pump is a good "middle ground" pump that won't cost you a lot of money but will still do the job right.
Next, learn the art of proper inflation. One of the cardinal rules for making balloon animals is to keep proper proportions in mind. Since an inflated balloon is going to be very difficult to twist, and may even pop if you put too much air into it and then try to twist it, you'll need to keep a significant portion of it uninflated so that the air has someplace to go as you twist.
In general, the more complex the art form you're making, the more twists you'll make, and the less you will inflate the balloon. Any uninflated balloon simply shows up as a "tip" on the balloon.
There's a basic twist that goes into making all balloon animals. Grasp an inflated balloon near one end, probably with your non-favored hand. Place your dominant hand palm down above your non-favored hand, and twist away from you. Pretend you are turning the lid on a peanut butter jar. As you twist, the balloon will "segment" so that it has two parts.
It is then helpful to do a "lock twist" to keep segments in place. To do this, grasp your now two balloon segments in your non-dominant hand, holding tight so that they don't untwist. Create at least two more segments; then you'll do the lock twist.
The "lock twist" is going to enable you to keep the twisted parts of your balloon twisted so that you can move on to making your balloon animal without having the entire thing unravel.
With a lock twist, you twist two segments of balloon together at their "joints," twisting at least three times until they are "locked" together. When you do this, you keep air in the balloon so that it can't escape. This gives you the freedom to go on and complete your animal instead of having to hang onto twisted segments so that they don't deflate.
As you apply these tips, remember to keep practicing. You will continue to get better and better at making balloon animals, and soon you'll be having a blast entertaining your audience.
by: Jonathan Hostetler
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