A balloon is a curved object built from flat material. Everything interesting about making one comes from that problem.
Panels, cut flat
The shape is broken into long tapered panels, called gores, cut from flat polyurethane sheet. A 13-foot blimp is a handful of them; a 30-foot is many more.
Cut them wrong by a small amount and the error accumulates around the circumference until the last seam does not meet. This is the part that takes experience rather than equipment.
Welded, not glued or stitched
The seams are heat-welded. The two sheets are melted together and become one piece of material, with no thread and no adhesive.
That matters because thread makes holes and adhesive ages. A weld is simply the material, continuous. It is why a well-made polyurethane balloon lasts years rather than a season.
The fittings
A fill valve, a tether patch, and on a blimp the fins and the harness points. Each is a place where a load is concentrated, so each gets reinforcement behind it.
Balloons rarely fail in the middle of a panel. They fail where something is attached to something else. That is where the build time goes.
Printing and lettering
Lettering is applied to the flat panel before assembly wherever possible, because printing a curved, inflated surface is harder and less accurate.
This is also why lettering is priced separately from the envelope. A 13-foot blimp is $975 blank and $537 for the lettering, because they are two different pieces of work.
Ask for a quote. Call 1-800-791-1445 or email sales@arizonaballoon.com and tell us the size and whether you want it printed.
More at arizonaballoon.com.