I now have one application for membership into the Melha Shriners, A 100 count bag of Qualatex 260Q Ballons, 1 Qualatex purple hand pump, and 1 copy of Shar Levine & Michael Ouchi "The Ultimate Balloon Book".

I am ready to start Learning. Sadly the Shrine Membership will have to wait as I do not have nor do I know when I will have the Dues ammount. With luck I will find another job in short order.

Dartel

And so it begins ;) Keep us posted on your progress! What balloon sculpture are you going to try first?

Heck I still have to learn how to blow them suckers up. Dont Rush me! <wheeze gasp pant> Actually I have not opened the bag yet, trying to decide decided if I should try the book on my own or wait till I meet live people to learn from.

Edward

My advice is get a pump to blow the 260's. It is the easiest way and a simple hand pump is cheep

I agree with Loki. Be very careful if you are doing this by mouth as if done improperly you can actually injure yourself! If you do it by mouth, make sure to stretch out the balloon vigorously so you won't have to blow as hard...

If you read my first post you will see I do have a pump, I was making a joke. :-) Darn If I can't make a clown laugh I am in BIG trouble. Who took my Giant feather?

Dartel

Sorry Dartel! That is a gut reaction that all of us have When we here blowing up balloon by mouth.

I do it [blow one up by mouth] once in a while as part of a routine, but I blow it up in advance, then let the air back out, people don't have to know I can't blow then up by mouth [without busting a lung] lol. 8)

I have the ability to inflate 260's by mouth. But I have stopped
doing it because of the health considerations (when they pop,
where do the germs go?)

Ashes

I agree. I can also do a couple by mouth before I can't take any more. If challenged to inflate by mouth, I hand a balloon to the challer and ask if they want to try it. Most of the time they won't. But there's always one in every crowd.

I can do pretty much as many as needed for a gig...

When the firemen snicker, I hand them an uninflated 260 and
challenge them. Ends the snickering!

Now thay know better and tell the rookies that it isn't easy
to inflate the balloons.


Ashes

I have the ability to inflate 260's by mouth. But I have stopped
doing it because of the health considerations (when they pop,
where do the germs go?)

Ashes

Now this has been years ago, but in our local Magic Club there was a Clown who performed fulltime as such doing Clowning & Balloon Twisting. At this particular time at an event, he was blowing a balloon up by mouth and it POPPED while inflating. A piece of the balloon seemed to have flown up passing his cheeks and scratched his coronea (Sp?.) of his left eyeball. He had to be rushed to the hospital but turned out fine. However, he always preached from that point on that it could have been worse.

Just thought I'd let Ya'll know.

~SAM 8)

I would go for the pump. Last time I tried to blow up a 260 (stupid little girl) my ears popped something wicked and I had to go to the emergency room. Nothing serious, it just HURT.

While I don't advocate doing it. I iwll teel you that the secret to blowning up by mouth is........
Don't do it!


Actually, I pull on the tail while blowing.

Here's my take on it:

It's something you have got to do right if you're going to do it, just like anything else in this bright blue ball of ours. Most importantly, BE CAREFUL! You can injure yourself seriously if this is done incorrectly.

I only blow up one or two to start with, because it is rather impressive to the kids, and to avoid the popping issue I give these to the other children.

I am eventually going to quit doing it altogether, but I need to get one of those big pumps....

www.macpump.net I've had great luck with mine. for the price you can't go wrong.

A word from the mouth of experience: Use spray silicone to lube the pump and For my money, nothing else.
WD40 leaves a residue that will cause you balloons to pop.

I use my mouth sometimes, and my pump other times. It just depends on if I'm doing one balloon for the teller at the bank (or a co-worker, or a child in line at the grocery, that sort of thing) or if I'm doing a large function.