Tension

Tension, its what holds all balloon sculptures together. No, not the kind that causes headaches or muscle strain, but the tension that creates twists and bubbles. Balloon artists make great use of this tension to form sculptures but we seldom take the time to think about what uses we could put it to.

Tension in balloon sculpture comes in several forms. First is the tension that is there from the inflation of a balloon. How tight do we make the bubbles? We can vary how tight these bubbles are by varying the pressure we put on the balloon beyond the twist being made. We can release some of the tension on the first bubble next to the knot by grasping the balloon just past the knot itself and pulling the knot (not the nozzle but the knot itself) to create more space in the first bubble. This is a useful technique when you wish to add an extra something to the front of a balloon.

We can release some of the tension by burping or squeezing a balloon. Burping a balloon creates a balloon of slightly shorter inflated length while squeezing increases the inflated portion's length. This can be an important difference.

You can squeeze a balloon after a bubble to release tension beyond the point where the twist was made making the remainder of the balloon softer (less tension). Varying the tension in a bubble can change it's shape. A pinch-twist will have more of a limabean shape when it is created from a series of bubbles the have a greater tension. When the same pinch-twist has a low amount of tension the pinch twisted bubble becomes more rounded. This can be useful depending on the shape we wish to create from the pinch-twist. A pinch-twist used in the pop-twist series will hold better if it is made with high tension (it is the tension that keeps the twist from unravelling).

Bubbles used in groups have different shapes depending on the tension. When making a bird's head using two bubbles: if you have a low tension on one of the bubbles you can shape this bubble into more of a beak. Hook twists and all related twists (those with an interior portion) are all very dependent on tension. A great deal of tension on a long hook twist causes the curve of the twist. More tension equals more curve. Sean Rooney uses an extreme amount of tension on a hook twist to create his famous tight spiral.

High tension at points where multiple balloons are connected stablizes the connection and allows us to position the various balloons. This tension can be increased by adding a stand alone double pinch-twist to the junction point. This technique is very helpful when working with larger balloons which tend to have less tension when tied together. Royal Sorrel uses a similar technique by making clusters of round balloons as collars to stabilize large sculptures.

When creating a surface to cover an odd shaped area we can use a cross weave pattern to make a flexible panel. If we use a very low tension on this cross weave the panel becomes extremely flexible and can be made to conform to almost any shape we desire. A soft (low tension) bubble can be twisted again or split to make two or more bubbles. This could be used when making fingers or toes with a heart.There are many different reasons for altering the tension in bubbles when creating balloon sculptures. Take some time to experiment with variations in tension. You will be suprised at what it can do for your artwork.

Until next month ...

Best of luck,
Patrick Brown