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John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
I'm new here, and noticed that this section could use a "sticky" section on good books, dvds, and basic terminology, (like what's a 160?)
So, I would appreciate comments or links to a good existing thread. John
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
Jestnjoker Elite user 440 Posts |
John,
Do you own anything yet? And just a heads up, a 160 (which is a balloon that is 1" in diameter and 60" long) is definitely not "where to start". 260s are the way to go.
Jeff Wright
www.WrightEntertainment.biz Voted Best Party Entertainer in Cleveland, Nickelodeon Parents' Picks Awards |
John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
Nothing but some balloons I could fill up for water fights
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
Jestnjoker Elite user 440 Posts |
Do you know a brick and mortar that can help you get your feet wet or will you need to order everything online?
Jeff Wright
www.WrightEntertainment.biz Voted Best Party Entertainer in Cleveland, Nickelodeon Parents' Picks Awards |
John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
I'm not aware of a store that would sell this stuff, not sure who might have it, so I would probably buy online.
I did find a friend that showed me some simple stuff, and I made my first dog, or was it a cat, or squirrel, or over grown rat? He recommended Balloon School for starting.
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
Danny The Idiot Regular user London, UK 170 Posts |
I would suggest looking at Youtube for some tutorials before spending any money apart from a pump and balloons.
BusterBalloon, HollyBearyHaleyStar, warrenann and gilballoon have some basic to intermediate videos. Otherwise check out TMyers online shop for DVD's or just get Mark Byrne's Bad to the Balloon 1 & 2, direct from him. I hope this helps |
Robynhood Regular user Charleston, SC 166 Posts |
I wish I could find a brick and mortar store near me, the internet is taking them all down. It's just cheeper, but of course not as fun as going in and getting the supplies yourself. But thankfully after ordering from several different online stores I found one that is so close to me, La Rocks, that I can get my order the next business day with regular ground shipping if I just order by 2 pm, which is great if I'm in a bind. So when you want to start investing in a good stock of balloons there are plenty of options for online ordering. I started with 260's because that's your bread and butter of balloon, you can play around with others later, but JestnJoker and Danny are right, start there and watch tutorials on you tube. I do have balloon school, and it's a wonderful dvd for when you are just starting out.
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preston eakins Regular user battle creek, michigan 184 Posts |
Whne you really want to do it I suggest qualatex or betallitex but for just starting out if you have a hobby lobby use those gala 260's I wont go back to them but when I jsut started out they were there for practice and no shipping costs larocks is great even better when you start ordering over 150 worth of balloons but for just getting started that 795 shipping on even a 1 dollar item is ridiculous
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Robynhood Regular user Charleston, SC 166 Posts |
Yeah, your right preston, I get a good bit when I order to make it worth it.
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John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-04-29 14:55, Danny The Idiot wrote: I was wondering this too, I'll start with getting some balloons & a pump. John
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
Leland Inner circle St Louis 1180 Posts |
You need to first get supplies then play with them. The more you play with them, the better you'll get.
You'll be surprised how quickly you'll go through your supply. I first purchased a couple bags of 100 count 260 balloons and went right through them. My next order I knew to make it bigger, now I'm at the point where every month I order large quantities! I have a room dedicated to balloons only! Who knew!
Life of Magic!
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TheGreatNancini Veteran user Ohio 373 Posts |
We actually got our start with a dvd set called Twist with Sam.
He was very easy to follow and we bought several bags of 260 qualatex balloons and a couple of pumps and just practiced, practiced, practiced. We were able to stop the dvd and back it up until we got a particular twist right and then move on. From there, we just picked the things we wanted to learn and worked on them until we got them. The possibilities are endless and there are so many things you can make with balloons if it is what you are interest in. For us we are first and foremost magicians, so we only wanted to do a few things that would be good for birthday parties and such. For a friend of ours though, he is an artist with balloons, creating things like Sponge Bob, and Mario and many more. Balloon art is truly amazing and if you are willing to put in the practice and learn, you can most likely design anything you want with balloons. ~Nanci |
Samriklown New user 15 Posts |
John
You can check out LaRock's Fun and Magic Outlet (http://www.larocks.com/) for great videos and balloons as well. Captain Visual has some great tutorials. Now if you need help with pumps and brands of balloons I'll be more than happy to advise I might even have an old article or 2lying around I could forward to help with your decision. feel free to PM me Professor Twist |
The Amazing Pog Veteran user 372 Posts |
Good thread ... I'm a balloon beginner (well, I'm beginner in everything!), and I bought a cheap pump and selection of modelling balloons from a pound-shop. Perhaps not the best investment - the balloons seemed so much shorter than the ones on the vid clips I was using (birthday-party-magician.com.au), and the pump broke in a very short time All I got to do was a few balloon swords for my son - at least he enjoyeds them
Yes, a balloon-beginners sticky thread would be awesome! I have little idea of what DVDs, resources, etc are out there. I think a decent pump and a large number of quality 260 modelling balloons is the way to start ... Cheap didn't pay for me.
'One of the safest ways to make a good performance is to have tricks which work so easily, that mechanics can be forgotten and every attention devoted to presentation' - Corinda
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John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
A bit off topic, but the Balloon School DVD that I bought was very cheap, and the graphics on the plastic case appeared to be lower resolution/quality than a copy of a friends.
This made me wonder if it was an illegal copy. Is there a way to find out? John
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
Leland Inner circle St Louis 1180 Posts |
You can also jump on YouTube and find lots of information on 'Balloon Twisting'.
Life of Magic!
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Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
John Holmes recently put five or six of his DVDs up in segments on YouTube. Lots of good stuff there. Search YouTube for "balloonacademy".
Ed |
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