From the Wall Street Journal

TAMPA, Fla. -- Jonathan Fudge studied his subject closely, furrowing his brow and taking it in from different perspectives. Then he dipped into his palette: a bag containing 2,000 balloons in 19 colors.

For the next 10 minutes at a birthday party here, he blew up more than 15 balloons, each with a slightly different amount of air, and twisted them in pairs and triplets.

"Getting one step wrong could be the difference between a masterpiece and an unrecognizable mass of balloon bubbles," says Mr. Fudge, a gregarious 23-year-old.

Finally, he handed the birthday boy the finished product -- a ...

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