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Subject: Swords
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 1995 09:21:19 PDT
From: Edward Cardinal <cardinal@informix.com>
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Thanks to Marvin for his tips on unravel-proofing.

Marvin mentioned swords, so I thought I'd put in something I have been
working on for thge past few days. It duplicates his tip about the triple
handle, but I'll include it anyway.


SWORDS: Once you make one, everyone wants one (to keep parity, I guess :-)

Well, if I am going to give in and make them, they might as well be good.
Here are two models I like. On both, start with a _fully_ inflated 260 (no
tail), then bleed out a little air -- just enough for a few twists. There
are few things worse than a limp balloon sword. :-)

* "Foil" type:

I make the "guard" with THREE loops instead of the usual two, and the blade
part seems more stable.  I use a sword-making trick mentioned in a past
post, and take it one step farther:

                      Twist all together
                             |
                             V
              ______________________
 knot end-> o(___________________   )
                    (   ____________)
      ______________(____________   )
   ...______________________________)
 "blade" end

Fold the balloon back and forth 3 times, ending with the remainder pointing
in the same direction as the handle. Twist all together in the center of
the bunched up part. Straighten the handle and blade in opposite
directions, and arrange the three fold-twists flat around them.

You could apple twist the "hilt", but I found the kid's rough play tends to
undo this, and they keep coming back to have it "fixed". After a while, I
just stopped doing it; no one seemed to notice.

* "Sabre" type:

(Developed by me, or at least independent of anyone else.)

Apple twist, followed by two 4" hand guards. Lock twist the end of the
second guard back to the apple twist. Make a 3" handle bubble, then push it
between the 4" bubbles, like a bird body. In this case, one of the elements
is shorter, so the other two arch outward. You can leave it at this, but
the "blade" tends to flop around, so I add a 1" ear twist and position it
on the opposite side of the blade from where the two hand guard bubbles
meet (twist "B" in diagram). Add a gentle curve to the blade and it's Aladdin's
scimitar.

{Using notation method #4 from the FAQ.}

+ apple twist
|  + 4" hand guard
|  |   + 4" hand guard
|  |   |   + 3" handle
|  |   |   |   + 1" ear twist
|  |   |   |   |
V  V   V   V   V
@A(4)B(4)A(3)B[1]B(...blade)
 |   |   |   |
 +---+---+---+
   bird body 


                 ||
                 ||
                 ||      Blade
                 ||
               ((BB}} <--Supporting ear twist
              (( ||
             ((  ||
   Hand     ((   ||      Handle
   Guards   ((   ||
    (2)      ((  ||
              (( ||
               ((AA
                 OO <----Apple twist
                 OO