Building With Balloons

Balloon lovers unite at the World Balloon Convention, which takes place every other year. Together, they build colorful balloon sculptures. The biggest can be up to 15 feet tall. Dozens of sculptures are on display. You might see a warrior tiger, a magical Ferris wheel, or the Hulk!

Connie Iden-Monds is a balloon artist. She competed with Team USA at the 2018 convention. The stakes were high. The World Balloon Convention “is like the Olympics of balloon art,” Iden-Monds says. People come from all over the world to compete in nine different categories.

Balloon lovers unite at the World Balloon Convention. It takes place every other year. Together, people build colorful balloon sculptures. The biggest can be up to 15 feet tall. Dozens of sculptures are on display. You might see a warrior tiger. Or you might see a magical Ferris wheel. There is even the Hulk!

Connie Iden-Monds is a balloon artist. She competed with Team USA at the 2018 convention. The stakes were high. The World Balloon Convention “is like the Olympics of balloon art,” Iden-Monds says. People come from all over the world. They compete in nine different categories.

In 2018, the theme of the competition was Disney characters. Iden-Monds assembled a team of 15 balloon artists from across the country. They decided to create the character Ursula from The Little Mermaid for the large sculpture category. “You want something that’s eye-catching and interesting,” she says.

First, they sketched their design. Then they chose different balloons to use for each part. The planning of the project took six months.

The day of the competition was a huge challenge. It was the first time the team actually built their sculpture!

Disney characters were the theme of the 2018 competition. Iden-Monds assembled a team of 15 balloon artists. They came from across the country. They decided to create the character Ursula. She is from The Little Mermaid. They would compete in the large sculpture category. “You want something that’s interesting,” Iden-Monds says.

First, they sketched their design. Then they used different balloons for each part. The planning took six months.

The day of the competition was a huge challenge. It was the first time the team actually built their sculpture!

To create a specific shape or texture, the artists stuffed balloons inside of other balloons. For example, Ursula was made out of a 6-foot-long purple balloon. It had four balloons inside to stretch it out. Dozens of gray balloons were stuffed with other balloons to look like rocks.

In total, the team spent 22 hours building their sculpture. They were careful to hide all the knots on the balloons so their sculpture looked smooth and flawless.

Their hard work paid off. Team USA won third place! Iden-Monds was pleased. “We had never won in this category before,” she says. “It was a big accomplishment.”

The artists stuffed balloons inside of other balloons. They did this for shape and texture. Ursula was made out of a purple balloon. It was six feet long. It had four balloons inside to stretch it out. Dozens of gray balloons were stuffed with other balloons. That made them look like rocks.

The team spent 22 hours building their sculpture. They were careful to hide all the knots on the balloons. That way their sculpture would look smooth and flawless.

Their hard work paid off. Team USA won third place! Iden-Monds was pleased. “We had never won in this category before,” she says. “It was a big accomplishment.”