I've seen twisters (like Buster Balloon) do a snake coil (pre-inflating, letting the air out, then wrapping a 260 'round the fingers and re-inflating), and every time they do it, the coils turn out tight and consistent.

I do it, and I get one good coil at the most, then some kind of mish-mash of half-formed coils.

Is there a knack to this? I've watched a ton of DVDs, and I see it demonstrated, but nobody really talks about any of the finer points. What should I be bearing in mind?

Thank you for any advice!

Josh

This is not a bad video for explaining it. I have seen an even better one but can't remember where.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VCZBGvexfM8

Unfortunately, I can't mouth inflate so have to attempt to make my curls from a fully inflated balloon. (Not tight curls)

He certainly does do it well! Again, he doesn't really talk about the finer points or troubleshooting, but it's probably just something I have to watch carefully and practice, practice, practice.

Thank you!!

Found the other one I was thinking about
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QGXnRUQkjeE

Stuart,

WOW, he couldn't be clearer about it. (And I love the things he does with the coils!)

Thank you for turning me on to this guy, he's terrific.

Josh

Nice demo fron Adi. Thanks for looking it up Stuart.

Yes it was nice to see Addi again, if you have not seen his book it is worth a look, http://balloonhat.com/

Addi's hat book is one of my favourite balloon books ever ....... a fantastic record of an amazing adventure.

I don't really use curly balloons much now, but when I did, and used a floor pump, I made them using hairdressers curling tongs.

Cut the flex off, and to make the curly balloon clip the tip of the balloon in the tong, wrap the balloon round just as you would do round your fingers, and blow the balloon with the floor pump.

Cos they are curling tongs, making a curly balloon with them it is quite fun    

Addi is one of only a few balloon artists who's work is very interesting to me!!

The Balloon Coil Stick

I don't mouth inflate either, so i invented this stick for coils!!

to make a coil balloon stick, use a plastic pipe about 15mil to 20mil outer radius and 20 to 30 centimeters long, you can either drill a small hole  3 or 4mil radius about 10 mil from the bottom of one end of the pipe, or you can loop a piece of wire like a horse shoe shape and super glue this wire to the inside of one end of the pipe, with the loop just sticking out over the bottom edge.

So you basically have a pipe with either a hole in one end or a loop of wire in one end. Now it works easy, all you do is tie a small knot at the very end  or the nipple(after inflating and deflating) of the balloon, place this knot into the hole or push into the wire, then slowly twist the pipe, keeping the balloon pulled slightly while twisting, twist all the balloon around until you get to the lip, hold the lip firmly with your thumb, then inflate, you will get a perfect coil.

Kiss them hernias goodbye!!