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TJAM 160s - A Winning Combination
TJAM was a wonderful experience both for those who were able to attend and for everyone who has read the many posts and browsed the photos posted on BHQ. It was so much fun jamming with old friends and making new friends. Serious twisters learned, shared and helps our art form grow by leaps and bounds. Eating and sleeping were sometimes forgotten because twisting balloons was our goal and we didn't want to miss anything.
Thanks to Tom Myers, I had the marvelous opportunity of sharing my love for 160 twisting as one of the featured lecturers. My goal was to encourage everyone to use 160s to enhance their twisting. The small size, ease of twisting and possibilities for intricate detail make the miniature balloons the right choice for enhancing 260 and 350 figures, too.
As you browse through the competition photos at BHQ, you will notice that 160s were everywhere. All week long TJAMers came up to me to tell me that I would like their competition entries because the used 160s.
One of the highlights of TJAM was the debut of the Betallatex 160 line. Including clear, metallic, crystal and fashion tone colors, these new colors provided many twisters a new burst of creative options as they created their entries in the fancy figure contest.
Having had a pallette of only 10 colors for the past 5 years, I was very excited to see all the new opaque colors (the color names are what I call them) - a blush, goldenrod, yellow, orange, red, greens including teal, several pinks and lavender, blues, and black. The clear, metallic gold and crystal colors (that have a bright neon look) will be an asset to the creative process. As you can see from the photograph, one color (the color I have been requesting for more than 5 years) is missing - brown. Hopefully, brown and other colors will be available from Betallatex soon.
Anxious to try the new colors? Check with T. Myers or your nearby Betallatex dealer. I'm crossing my fingers that all the colors will be available in solid color bags, soon.
Qualatex representatives told me that they will be adding to their 160 line soon and I will report more about the latest in 160 twisting in future columns.
I've included a new butterfly design that looks good in almost any color combination. You could use pipecleaners for the antennae or use the new colorful fun wire available where jewelry making supplies are sold. The butterfly looks great when flying from a clear or metallic 160.
2 Tone Butterfly
Materials: 2 160s, scissors, jewels for eyes and adhesive, fun wire and wire cutters.
Step 1: Inflate the 1st 160 leaving about 3" uninflated. Twist 2 6" fold twists, then twist 2 4" fold twists. Position the top and bottom wings as in the photograph.
Step 2: Inflate the 2nd 160 about 15". For the head, twist a 1" bubble and 2 1/2" bubbles for the eyes. Lock twist the 1/2" bubbles together.
Step 3: Twist a 3 1/2" bubble for the body. Position this bubble on top of the wing sections with the head just above the larger wing section. Twist another 3 1/2" bubble. Fold this bubble under the wing sections and lock twist the bubble to the 2 1/2" eye bubbles. Pinch twist a 1/2" bubble to hold the head in place. Deflate the 2nd balloon, wrap the balloon around the head section several times to secure and remove the excess balloon.
Step 4: Finishing Details. I added 2 jewels for the eyes with rubber cement. For the antennae, I cut a section of the fun wire with the wire cutters and turned the ends under. I positioned the wire under the head and behind the eye bubbles.
See you next month,
Linda Berman
You can find single and multiple-balloon 160 designs in my books, "Marvelous Miniatures," "More Marvelous Miniatures," " Even More Marvelous Miniatures," "Marvelous Miniatures for Beginners," "Wearable Marvelous Miniatures Other Detailed Designs," and "Crowd Pleasing Marvelous Miniatures." Details about the books are at http://www.wizvax.net/smiles/BALLOON.HTM
You can contact me at heartthrob@pacbell.net or balloonlady@pacbell.net or at (626)581-7690. I live in Southern California in the Pacific Time Zone. You can write to me at PO Box 1404, Walnut, CA 91788 USA (this is a new address).
