The technique of distorting balloons to create a differing shape or form has been around for as long as I can remember, so at least 30 years! We often see balloons manipulated to create faces, flowers and many other exciting shapes.
One of the hottest trends right now is distorted flowers: these are often used as an accent detail in 'marquee' style balloon decor as shown below. This beautiful design was made by the extremely talented duo Aleks Hernández, CBA and Nelly Mildred, CBA of Waikiki Incredible in Yucatán, Mexico. If you look closely, you will also see that the ballerina's face shape in the centre of the design was also created using a distortion technique.
In the video below, Avital Shechter, CBA of Nir Balloons, Israel, demonstrates how to make a distorted balloon flower.
I have experimented with distortion many times with varying success. It is definitely a case of practice makes perfect! A few years ago I demonstrated how to make a toadstool using the distortion technique on BMTV, along with some other cute design ideas! Check out the video below to learn step-by-step!
I know many balloon artists who are, at least in my opinion, masters of distortion. One of my favourites is the extremely talented Steven Mayhew, CBA, Owner/ Balloon Illustrator at The Balloon Workshop and Director of Marketing & E-Commerce at L.A. Balloons.
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| Steven Mayhew, designer/illustrator and author of the truly amazing ABC Balloon Book. |
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| Steven at work creating his incredible Walrus sculpture! |
I interviewed Steven for a past Very Best Balloon Blog post - A creative hobby that turned into a wonderful children's book - an interview with Steven Mayhew. One of the questions that I asked Steven was:
You have used a lot of distortion to create fantastic shapes for your animals. Do you use anything to help you when you distort your balloons?
‟Distortion was a very important technique used to create parts of the animals, as I didn't want them to all just look like the balloon animals we all know and love. I kept my tools simple when it came to distorting the balloons - a balloon straw, a basic pump, an Air-Pro inflator, the Nikoloon System by Niko Fric, and whole lot of patience.”
To read the full interview and to see some more of Steven's incredible animal designs click HERE or go to
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| Zebra Balloon Sculpture by Steven Mayhew The Balloon Workshop. |
To learn more about Steven and his amazing book, check out this video!
From a simple toadstool, to the amazing creations that artists such as Steven makes, distortion is definitely a unique and incredible art form!
To read further posts on distortion and techniques, check out these posts:
Once again I would like to thank all the wonderful contributors to the Very Best Balloon Blog! I hope like me you are truly inspired by their creativity and generous contributions and of course, and thank you to you for reading my posts!
Happy Ballooning!
Sue
Follow me @suebowler