Continental Sales - Wholesale balloons and carnival supplies

5" Cool Eye TopPrint

Hello again everyone, this time we are looking at the new "Cool Eye" TopPrint and the Smile Face TopPrints. Now unlike last time there really is not just one sculpture that can be built around these. They were great for my Pirate Mask. (See my DVD for instructions.) This is a big one. I know it looks like a White 5" Round with eyes drawn with a Sharpie, but they save you the drawing time.

I highly recommend buying these and trying them with the sculptures that you already make like the Caldwell Octopus. I actually came up with this idea when I was working at a restaurant and a little girl asked me specifically for a sleepy octopus. It was an odd request, but it occurred to me that these eyes would be perfect!! She loved the demonstration I did for her, showing her how the octopus could be sleepy for now, but later when his girlfriend comes over he'll be really happy (then I adjusted the eyes for her) and when she leaves he'll be sad (and adjusted them again) and when his alarm clock doesn't go off tomorrow morning he'll be angry (another adjustment) and she was thrilled. Now with just one sculpture, kids can feel like they have four.

For the octopus (and also for my pirate mask shown above) I decided to color the middle in to make it look more solid, but for some creations they work better as they are. They work really well for lizards and toads and frogs too, and anything else your imagination can think up!

If you do ANY balloon faces (Football Face, Standard caricature head, etc.) you need these balloons to fully complete your figures. As you can see from the photo they make wonderful eyelids or eye lashes.

Another tip, aside from coloring them in to make them solid when you feel it's necessary, you can also color in the middle with an eye color, such as blue or green, or another color to match the rest of the sculpture. In the end these are as versitle as the other two eyeballs on the market but go beyond due to the ability to change the expressions.

5" Smile Face TopPrint Jewel Tones

I will be the first to admit I like the 5" Smile Face Yellow Top Print more than the Jewel Tones but the Jewel Tones give you a bit of flavor. I use these really for only a few sculptures but I do them at almost every gig, you really need to pick them up.

On the website Continental Sales pictures the 5" Smile Face TopPrint inflated inside a 16" Geo. I make a smaller version 2 ways. Five 5" rounds blown up to about 4" and all tied together. The easy way to tie them together is inflate and tie 2 5" rounds into a duplet. Repeat and twist them together. Tie the fifth 5" round in to the duplets. And sometimes I use a 6" geo. Inflate 5" Smile Face TopPrint to about 3" and tie off. Put the nozzle of the 5" Smile Face TopPrint through the hole in the 6" geo and tie it to an inflated green 260. Blow up the geo and tie off. You can easily get the colors the audience asks for by using the Geo or 5" rounds and 5" Smile Face TopPrint Jewel Tones.

The best thing about the Jewel Tone smile faces is they match the 321s (Orange and Yellow anyway) but that's the colors that make great bees. Blow up an Orange Smile Face TopPrint to about 3" and tie it at the tip of the mouth. Make a 1 to 2" ear twist in the Smile Face. Inflate an Orange 321 leaving about 2" before the black tip, tie it and make another 1 to 2" ear twist. Twist the ear twists around each other to form his neck. Leave one ear twist on each side not up and down. Inflate a Black 260 to about 10" and tie it off. Make the bubble into a loop and split the bubble in half forming two wings. Tie them between the ear twists for his wings. Notice I left the tail on, I do not cut this off I form a loop under the ear twist as a braclet strap.

OK onto the next one. Make a standard hat base but split the hat base at the top. Inflate the Smile Face TopPrint to about 4" and tie it off. Make a 1' ear twist and lock this to the hat. I like to add to this with either a 428 or another 260 and spiral it. Lock it to the ear twist in the Smile Face TopPrint and to the back of the hat.

Another version is what I use as my Flower Princess outfit. Inflate a Smile Face TopPrint to about 3" and tie it off. Run it through the hole in a 6" geo and tie it to a Lime Green 260. Inflate the Geo and make a standard hat base but using the knot of the 260/5" smile instead of a 1" bubble. About 2" up on the hat (the middle bar) make a twist and tie the knot of the geo to it. This will help hold the Geo upright.

Now fully inflate a Lime Green 260 and split it in half. Make two 4" bubbles, one on each side of the split, and make them into loop twists. Here's the Fun part. Stuff a gold 5" round (or a 6" heart) into a 5" clear Flowers Around, blow up the 5" flowers around halfway and then blow up the gold 5" to about 3" around for a great princess wand. (learned from Don Caldwell)

Hope you were able to learn some new uses for these balloons.

Michael Philo

Magical Balloon Michael