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Balloon Twisting From Scratch 11 - Skill 6: AirPressure Control

Equipment:

2 modeling balloons1 pump1 felt-tip marker (optional)

Level:Very easy

This photo tutorial is a companion piece to the video Balloon Twisting From Scratch 11 - Skill 6: Air PressureControl which you can also find on Môssieur Ballon's YouTube channel.

This is probably the most important basic skill you need to know and master: air pressure control. How do youavoid the balloon bursting if there's too much pressure, or on the other hand, avoid it getting undone if there'snot enough?

Once you know how to manage both worst-case scenarios, all you will need to do is to keep an eye on thepressure of the air in your balloon at each step of creating your models so that you can spread it out evenly fromstart to finish. You can very well use both of these skills one after the other, while making a single balloon model,in order to modulate how the air pressure evolves to match your assessment of what's needed at any givenmoment.

1- To practice, we are going tomake two versions of the classicdog sculpture (see the balloondog tutorial). The first balloonwon't be inflated enough, whilethe second will be far too much.

2- Take the under-inflated balloon(with a margin much wider thanyour hand). The tactic will besimple, you'll have to use asmuch latex as possible... and aslittle air as possible!

3- Start by squeezing the balloonnear the knot, to displace airpressure towards the end of theballoon. Use both hands, ifnecessary, to push the air evenfarther.

4- When making the first bubble,twist the balloon 2 or 3 timesmore than usual (turn it 7 or 8times at least) to "use up" themost latex as possible.

5- Once the first bubble isfinished, squeeze the balloonagain to push back the pressurethat built up again after you madethe first bubble.

6- Make a second bubble, againtwisting the balloon far more thanneeded, with the purpose stillbeing to use more latex thannecessary.

7- Next, don't forget to push backthe air pressure towards the endof the balloon again,

8- Then the third bubble in thesame way.

9- And so on and so forth, foreach of the following bubbles.

10- After several bubbles createdthis way, the margin at the end ofthe balloon has shrunknoticeably.

11- And in the end, you get asculpture with pressure that'sperfectly balanced throughout thedesign.

12- For the balloon that's beeninflated too much, the tactic usedwill be exactly the opposite. You'llhave to use as much air aspossible... while using the leastlatex as possible.

13- One starting trick is to latchonto the knot of the balloon...

14- and tug it back to displace itand free up the inch or so of latexthat's caught in the knot (as longas the knot wasn't tied too tightlyin the first place).

15- Then, turn the balloon over,

16- And firmly press the end ofthe balloon so that the air goesback into the space that's beenfreed up by the knot.

17- With a bit of luck, by doingthis you can get an inch or so ofyour margin back.

18- Here is the somewhatdeformed space where the airwas able to move back to, justnext to the knot, freeing up thatmuch space at the end of theballoon.

19- When starting the firstbubble, twist it as little aspossible (once or twice at most).

20- Make the second one in thesame fashion. The air pressure inthe bubbles being higher, theywill be a little more prone tobursting, so you will need tohandle them a little moredelicately.

21- Go on like this with the nextones… whatever you do, donot squeeze the balloon inorder to push the air pressureforward, since it needs toremain as compressed aspossible.

22- Several bubbles have beendone in this fashion and you'llnotice that there's still somemargin left at the end of theballoon (practically as much asthere was on the first balloon atthis stage of development).

23- And in the end, here too, weget a sculpture with pressurethat's perfectly balancedthroughout the design.

24- Here are the two sculpturesside by side. The only noticeabledifference is that one is largerwhile the other is smaller, but theproportions of both sculptures areharmonious, and much the same.

25- There you go, now it's yourturn! So, see you soon! For another lesson... with Môssieur Ballon!