Fingers rubbed raw?

[Sherry]

I have a big 4 1/2 hour ballooning event coming up this next weekend, so I'm a bit worried, because it seems like I can't do too many balloons before my fingers get sore.  After one event, I formed a blister.  I'm thinking about taking band-aids to protect my fingers, but am wondering if anyone had any other tips or tricks for this?

[Kristal]

I know your event's already over, but I thought I'd reply anyway. Some people wear gloves - I don't know how! I feel like they'd constantly be getting caught - maybe you'd need super tight ones? I've tried bandaids and they worked for a while, but I don't think they lasted more than a couple of hours. I guess keep replacing them?

What did you end up doing?

[Sherry]

I ended up taking turns with Whitney, an artist that was doing the event with me.  I also watched a balloon DVD a few days before the event.  It showed me a better way to tie off the balloon... first burp it, then twist off a section at the end and let the air out... this REALLY made it easier on me and I think it helped me go much longer before my hands got sore.  It made the part I had to tie off really loose.  I also, toward the end of the event switched to using two different fingers to tie around.  All in all, it turned out pretty good.

[Alison]

Slow down.

[Emuttit09]

toes, paws and eyes crossed here for you. We know which ever one you get it will have a great forever home with you all.

[Alison]

I wish there was a way to confidently tie off balloons without having to make a knot.
I Think you can just slide the nipple into a piece of cardboard if you are not going to twist it (so what's that going to do for us), but even then I wouldn't trust it to last long enough.