29th Aug was a big day for many of us. To me, it was my first time making a balloon dress, and as if to make it harder for me, I was to do it outdoors, right under the blazing sun. This event took quite a while of preparations and concluded in success after a series of drama.

Wednesday – Went to David’s place to finalise the design and to meet Givan, who would be wearing the dress I’m making.

Thursday – Borrowed David’s mannequin and had a bit of practise to make sure the proportions are right.

Friday – Suffered a bad fall from handball and my whole left wrist is swollen. Rushed to the Accidents and Emergency department in NUH and took an X-Ray. The doctor confirmed that the bones were ok and encouraged me to as much as possible move my wrist so that the swell clears faster.

Saturday – Woke up in the morning, none of my fingers could move at all. Swollen like crap and hurt like no other. I called Glen and said I won’t be making the dress but will be there to see. Then I caught a cab and got on my way to Takashimaya. On they way, I kept rubbing my hand and wrist. By the time I reached there, I could, with extreme pain, move the fingers on my left hand, but the movement was very limited. So I watered down some painkillers and started working on the dress. I had a lot of help from Jocelyn and Jessica for the entire process, Joanne also came in the later part and helped me out. Initially I couldn’t even get a balloon tied, soon the pain became numbness or should I say the painkiller was working and I could carry on without much difficulty. After 4 painful hours (literally), the dress is done and I think it looks great!

After making the dress, it is also necessary to make a wand or sceptor or something along that line (you know what I’m sayin) for the girl to hold. Otherwise it’d be very awkward because she won’t know where to put her hands. LOL.

Gabriel also made a balloon dress, which was worn by Irene. He’s the guy who got me started in balloon twisting.

It was a great day and although I was totally shagged out, I left the place with an immense sense of satisfaction and a beautiful page in my portfolio.

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For future explorations, I intend to create some sort of storyline using simple sculptures in the future.

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If you wanna try stuffing something into a balloon like so, look out for the tutorial section which will be up pretty soon.

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This design is done by making the inner portion first. Start by twisting a tile of 4 round bubbles and securing the corners with pinch twists. Make 3 such tiles and then double-layer the entire cascade. Then wrap the outer colour over and go one round.

The instructions for making this can be found under the Tutorials tab.

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The base is made using roundabout weaving to 6 then 12 strands, linear spiral weaving cos I’m lazy to change balloon for every single round. Pinch twist at the top to curve in and add decorative bubbles to finish it up.

Li Sheng’s note (sorry for hijacking your post, just couldn’t help it lol) – The flower which is featured in the previous post was added to the top of the handle of the basket and a clear heart with 2 bears stuffed in it was attached to the middle edge of the basket. Finally, rose petals were sprinkled over the base after the panda was in place, giving a really wonderfully perfect finishing touch to the sculpture. Thanks Wei Lai!

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So, after 70 minutes of labour, there it is! I almost couldn’t finish it because I didn’t have many Metallic Red 260s left. In the end I was left with 3 pieces… Looks like I’ll have to restock when I go on leave in July. Need for stock up well for school

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