Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 14:11:02 -0800
To: balloon@balloonhq.com
From: Mark Balzer <mbalzer@balloonhq.com>
Subject: Bruce Walden's "Distortion Effect"


I was trudging through some old email when I came across the following post
from the decorator list last week.  Though a demonstration of Bruce
Walden's "distortion effect" has been available in one of his videos for
well over a year, this is the first time I've seen it described in text.
Since important innovations like this (think of a hook-twist gone wild) can
revolutionize complex balloon sculpture, I am forwarding it to the twister
list.  (Personally, I can't believe that someone else didn't forward this
days ago!  Shame on all you twisters who read the deco list.  And no, I
will not accept attending T&S as an excuse! :-)  :-)

I hope this helps,

Mark

--

     Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 09:32:38 -0500
     Subject: Spuds!
     From: "Bruce Walden" <walden@idirect.com>
     To: balloondeco@balloonhq.com

     Yesterday "Creativeja" asked how to make a potato
     out of a balloon. It will likely look best as a
     distortion effect, so here's my suggestion...

     1. Take a 3' ivory.
     2. Turn it inside out.
     3. Attach 3 or more bellybuttons (see below) in
        different areas.
     4. Tie the bellybuttons together with cord - leaving
        several inches (maybe 18 - 30") of slack between them.
     5. Turn the balloon right-side out.
     6. Inflate SLOWLY. As the balloon inflates, the cords tying
        the sections together internally will stop them from
        inflating first and distort those areas into "eyes".
        Tie off the balloon when the desired shape is obtained.
     7. Use just a little brown spray paint (Design Master works
        well) and spritz the eyes so they look like dirt. Add a
        little to the other areas as desired.
     8. Please pass the butter and sour cream!

     Re: Bellybuttons This effect is also known as a
     "raisin twist" by the twisting community. Basically
     it involves dropping something smooth (like a small
     clothing button) into the balloon, then grabbing it
     from the OUTSIDE and tying a loose loop (smaller
     than the button) around it to trap it inside the
     balloon. Once the object is trapped there, you have
     a way of tying onto that section of the balloon. A
     single bellybutton can be used to distort balloons
     into apples or cherries. More make cool Martian
     heads or potatoes as I've described above.

     If you want to learn more about bellybuttons or
     other distortion effects, I'll be teaching a
     hands-on distortion lab at IBAC. The information is
     also on videos #3 (Exploding Balloons and other
     Special Effects) and #11 (Balloon People with Jim
     Skistimas) of my Balloon School series of
     instructional tapes. Hope this helps!

     Bruce Walden
     Walden Productions Inc.
     Toronto, ON Canada


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