Materials Required:
11 - 4 oz Bank sinkers
8 lb test Monofilament fishing line
11 - 16" Latex balloons (Qualatex)
3 - Tiki torches
3 - torch stands
Lamp oil
3 - Aim-n-Flames
Hydrogen cylinder with regulator
Pre-demonstration Preparation:
1. Mark locations for placement of
balloons on stage. In the
following staggered pattern, there are 3í between the two rows
and 7í between the Xís in a row. Using glow-in- the-dark
tape mark the back row (6 locations for the Heat Wave balloons) with
horizontal pieces of tape. Use vertical pieces to mark the front row
(location of 5 additional balloons used for 1812 Overture).
Alternatively, zinc sulfide on Scotch tape can be used to mark the
locations.
2. Prepare 11 sinkers by attaching 9í
of fishing line to
each. Tie the line securely through the hole at the top of the sinker.
Wind the line around the neck and secure the end with a small piece of
masking tape.
3. Inflate 11 balloons with hydrogen. Tie a
single knot at the end
of each balloon to hold the gas.
4. Securely fasten each balloon to a sinker
(as prepared in step 2).
Tie the line outside the knot on the balloon.
5. Place the balloons fully extended on the
marks onstage and set
all of the balloons to the same height (around 8í). A good
technique is to adjust the height of the first balloon to the height of
the shortest demonstrator making sure that this demonstrator can
comfortably touch the wick of the torch to the middle of the balloon.
The rest of the balloons are set to this height. Height is adjusted by
winding the line around the neck of the sinker. Once the desired height
is set, the excess line is taped securely at the neck and the rest of
the line is wound onto the neck over the tape.
6. Secure the sinkers with balloons off
stage by taping the base of
each sinker to the floor or to a table. Tape should not touch the line
wound around the neck of a sinker. Four balloons are stored on one side
of the stage and seven on the other.
7. Each demonstrator secures an Aim-n-Flame.
The Demonstration:
1. As the music begins, the lights are
turned off and the 3
demonstrators enter (one from one side and two from the other) each
carrying two balloons, one in each hand.
2. Balloons are placed on the marks and
extended to full height.
Grab the line and lift up repeating until you feel the sinker lift off
the floor. Set the sinker back down on the mark. Demonstrators must
return off stage to get the rest of their balloons. To facilitate this
process people are assigned to hand balloons to the demonstrators when
they return.
3. When all of their balloons are in
position and fully extended,
demonstrators walk back to the torches and light them at the same time.
Demonstrators keep their lighters with them in case a balloon blows out
their torch.
4. Demonstrators position themselves in
front of their first balloon
and ignite them according to the following sequence (L refers to
demonstrator stage left, C is the one in the center, and R refers to
the demonstrator stage right):
Fast music starts (4 measures)
1234 1234 1234 1234
Balloon cannons begin:
NOTE: The center demonstrator only ignites 3
balloons while the
others have 4. Each demonstrator ignites balloons from left to right.
Hydrogen balloons ignite easily. Position the flame near the base of
the balloon so that it can be ignited at the correct time with a slight
forward motion of the torch.
5. After the last explosion, lights are
turned on and the whole cast
comes out for a bow.
Safety Precautions:
The hydrogen balloons can be different
colors by none are the color
of the balloons used for Heat Wave (orange).
Once the balloons are filled close the
hydrogen cylinder, vent the
regulator, and move the cylinder well away from the stage.
Once balloons are secured off stage, no
flames are permitted (i.e.
no testing of the Aim-n-Flames).
Ignite the hydrogen balloons at nearly full
extension of the torch.
Never ignite a hydrogen balloon that isnít above your head (i.e.
the line got tangled somehow and did not fully extend).
Disposal:
Sinkers are reused. Balloon pieces are
disposed of as solid trash.
