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Most ballon sculptures-world record set by John
Cassidy
[Feb
8]Mont Clare, PA,USA--Montgomery County balloon artist John
Cassidy broke the world record for balloon sculpting
by inflating and twisting 747 balloons in an hour,
''I hope I don't have to do it again,'' Cassidy
says. ''I don't know how much faster I can go. But I said
that the last three times.'' Photo by: Chapman Baxter,
Allentown Morning Call
(enlarge
photo)
Cassidy,
who has broken the balloon sculpting record three times before,
doesn't take any chances.
When he broke the record Nov. 14 at Bucks County
Community College, a video camera recorded the entire event.
It also captured a clock set prominently in the foreground
and two volunteers independently keeping count of the balloons.
The video and signed affidavits from the two
counters were sent to for the verification.
Earlier
this year, Daniele Bottalico of Italy broke Cassidy's previous
record by inflating and twisting 722 balloons in an hour.
Breaking a record isn't as simple as it
seems, says Cassidy. For balloon sculpting, there are many
rules. All the balloons have to be inflated by mouth, and
he has to make at least 30 different designs.
To break the record, he did the 30 different
balloons right away and then alternated between the two quickest
sculptures -- a sword and a fish -- because under the rules,
he cannot do the same sculpture two times in a row. Cassidy
says he also had to make sure each sculpture touched the top
of the table before Jennifer pushed it out of the way and
onto the floor.
Cassidy, who recently was the headliner
at the DaVinci Science Center's inaugural New Year's Eve party
in Allentown, also holds world records for inflating 717 modeling
balloons in an hour, fastest balloon sculpture at 6.4 seconds
and most balloon sculptures in one minute with 13.
At this point, the only way to be faster,
he says, is to streamline pieces of the process -- things
like adjusting the height of the table on which he puts the
finished balloons to help make his time a little faster.
If he hears Bottalico or any other balloon sculptors
have beaten his record, he admits he will try again.
''No one wants the second fastest balloon guy,''
he says. ''Everybody wants to feel they have something special
about themselves. This is my thing.''
Links: John
Cassidy's website ; John
Cassidy's MySpace
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