How do I blow up one of those skinny long balloons?

First, stretch it out by grabbing the ends and pulling it out to its full lenght a couple of times. This relaxes the latex so it won’t fight you so much.

Then don’t try to start the inflation using your lung power. Your lungs are pretty limited in the amount of pressure they can generate. You want to just use the muscles in your lips, cheeks and jaw to get a mouthful of air in there to start with. You can get considerably more pressure that way. So you enclose as much air as you can with your mouth, close off the air passage back of your throat, and then compress all that air using all your mouth musculature, as if you were squirting a mouthful of water out of your lips.

Once that first mouthful off air has begun opening up the balloon, your lungs can take it from there.

The vast majority of professional balloon sculptors choose to use pumps (either small hand pumps or portable electric ones running on rechargeables) in order to spare themselves the unneccessary constant pressure on blood vessels and lungs. I have several of both types. Anyone who has problems with migraines should definitely avoid blowing them up by mouth. One also increases the odds of developing a latex allergy or inhaling too much talc over time. Obviously I’m referring to those who do hundreds or thousands of balloons as part of their working schedule not someone using a handful for a celebration.

The skill for which one is being paid is NOT inflating the balloon. Anyone or anything can accomplish that with zero skill level and it proves nothing other than a desire to appear macho.

The real skill is in the vast number of creations that are made once the balloon is inflated. That’s why they’re called balloon artists :)

If you value the blood vessels in your eyes and not raising your blood pressure unnecessarily, spend the $5 for a hand pump if you plan on blowing up more than one or two of these.

Also, the more you mess with weakening the latex, the higher the incidence of pops or quicker deflation from air escaping.

But whatever you decide, have fun !

That’s actually a called a condom. You aren’t supposed to blow those up. It’s a contraceptive to help prevent the spread of STDs and provide somewhat effective birth control.

:)

Someone would have to have the skinniest Dickinson in the world to fit one of those balloons on. Plus, he’d better hope that the balloon neck doesn’t permanently cut off circulation.

:D