The following article first appeared in the January/February 1997 issue of the Magic Menu. The Magic Menu is a bi-monthly magazine for restaurant entertainers. For subscription info, contact jsisti@ibm.net.
I have often heard magicians complain that they can't use balloons because of the added bulk they'd have to carry around. This, of course, from the same people that carry no less than 12 packet tricks and 5 stacked decks. Well, how much other stuff you carry isn't really important to me. What does matter to me is that balloons are getting smaller. There is now a new Qualatex balloon. It's the 160Q. It's a one inch diameter twisty (or spaghetti) balloon that's the same length as the standard 260Q. You can carry quite a few of these in the same amount of space that a deck of poker sized playing cards uses. Most importantly, they are the same quality as the 260Q that most of us have been using for some time. Anything that can be twisted with a 260 can be twisted with a 160. The 160, however, is as flexible, and about as likely to break, as a piece of rope (or so it seems when working with them).
The 160Q isn't the only new balloon out there. BSA just released a new 260. Those of you that have previously tried BSA 260 balloons know that the old ones weren't worth using, even if they were given to you. The quality was, at best, awful. The new balloons are, well, new. They don't behave anything like the old ones. They do require a slightly different touch to use than Qualatex balloons, but the added effort in learning to work with them is worth while. These balloons are strong and the color selection is fantastic. They have new colors that Qualatex doesn't offer, including peach, lavender, silver, and gold. One of my favorites is the opaque green.
Okay, so you don't use a lot of balloons, or you do use a lot and you're happy with what you've got. Why should you care about these new balloons? Like I said before, 160's are easier to carry around due to the smaller size. The size makes it possible to leave these on a table during a meal without them getting in the way. Since they are narrower, but the same length as 260's, many more twists can be put into a balloon. Many more elaborate creations can be made out of a single balloon. One of the first things I made when I got them was a one-balloon teddy bear on a rocking horse. Balloon jewelry is often a popular complement to a balloon hat. Now the jewelry can be sized proportionately to the hat. Finger rings, bracelets, and earrings can all be made with 160's.
The new colors of the BSA balloons should make them immediately appealing to anyone interested in realism in sculptures. Vehichles can have chrome colored bumpers. Plants can have a more realistic green stem. The peach is a reasonable skin tone. (Sorry, there's still no light brown or tan.) The added strength of these balloons will help people that tend to break a lot of them because they stress them too much. The more opaque colors are great for photos. I always have trouble trying to get good pictures of Qualatex jewel tone balloons.