Which Balloons to Use?

This question comes up quite regularly in the comments sections of my YouTube channel.

And this may have happened to you!!

You purchased a beginner's kit with the following contents : a hand pump, a set of instructions and... a number of what appears to be twisting balloons.

Now, you expectantly imagine the happiness and fun you will bring to your child's birthday party and decide to practice a little bit ahead of time. Following the instructions, you start inflating the balloon but - bad luck, surely - it blows up with a loud pop!!

Hmm... after a deep breath, you start inflating another balloon again, this time a little more slowly and carefully and... with success. Yay!!

Triumphantly, you undertake the knot but - bad luck, surely - it pops again. Boohoo!!

Darn!!

But you are not one to be easily discouraged, so you try again (and again.. and again... and...) until finally you succeed in tying the knot (of the balloon). Yay again!!

Delving back into the instructions, you start twisting your very first bubble and - bad luck, surely - it pops again. Boohoo!!

You reach towards the balloons, and it is then you realize with horrified dismay that the whole pack is nearly gone and you only have 3 balloons left for your child's party.

To make a long story short, you end up utterly frustrated and you quit in despair being fully persuaded that balloon twisting is not for you and that only a very special kind of people can actually do it.

But guess what ? You simply did not have the right balloon. Yes, you heard correctly, you didn't have the right balloons!

I know, it's hard to believe that these lovely balloon kits sell with crummy balloons. But sadly, that seems to be the norm and the reason is simply mercantile; crummy balloons, or crummy anything for that matter, will always be cheaper to manufacture than quality ones.

There are actually very few companies manufacturing good quality twisting balloons.

The world leader is Qualatex. Qualatex offers an incredible array of balloons in all kinds of shapes, colors and sizes, and not only for modeling.

And a close contender here in Europe is Sempertex who also offers a wide array of balloons, notably the original link-o-loon balloons that can be attached from both sides. But I digress.

Modeling balloons are identified by their diameter and by their length: 160, 260, 321, 350, 360, 646, 660, etc. The first number matching the diameter while the two others match the length.

In other words:

• 160 represents a twisting balloon, fully blown, measuring 1 inch wide and 60 inches long.


• 260 represents a twisting balloon, fully blown, measuring 2 inches wide and 60 inches long.


• 350 represents a twisting balloon, fully blown, measuring 3 inches wide and 50 inches long.

And so on, and so forth.

A beginner will usually concern himself only with 260's to start with. Those are the ones used in my "Balloon Twisting From Scratch" tutorial series.

If these 2 brands of balloons are not always sold in brick and mortar shops, you can find and buy them easily on Internet.

One word of caution though... until you gain more experience, stay away from transparent colors which are a bit more fragile. Those are identified on Qualatex as Jewel colors. For a start, you may prefer the standard or fashion colors.

I want to encourage you that with the right balloons (and theright instructions) you too can twist balloons.

So, in conclusion: Yes... you... can !!