Balloon Props - Final

 Who lurks behind them beach ball balloons?
Being the thorough fellow that I am I needed to inflate all of the beach balls almost full of air in order to glue the suction cup assembly to the bottom of each as well as check each one for any leaks, etc.
Sure enough one of the green ones wasn't holding air! I used a plastic patch kit for little kid's swimming pools and it is just fine now. This vinyl cement has to cure for 24 hours to form a strong bond to the balls.

 The handles sorta look like fencing foiles, but are actually made of pine with a 1" thick dowel inside the PVC pipe grip. This allows the whole thing to be rotated on it's axis by nimbly turning the little wooden ball at the bottom. The central balloon dowel is attached in the center of the handle and the four other dowels of various heights will be glued in angled holes drilled in the larger of the two circles.

I screwed a 1/4" hex nut into the top of each dowel and cemented that in place before using epoxy resin to cement another nut on top of that one ( the epoxy really bonds the two metal nuts together ) and when dry I wrapped black electrical tape around both nuts.
Above you can see how my evil plan works. When fully inflated the "balloon" is simply screwed into the top nut securely and it stands quite firmly at attention on it's dowel "string".

TA-DA!
Both props are finished and ready to transport to Fort Worth. The "balloons" will be slightly different colors and arrangements on the two props. Once there, I will glue the four outer dowels firmly into the handle, inflate the beach balls fully and screw them in place. To hide the nut and bolt connection I will fasten some brightly colored wired ribbon to the base of each suction cup like little streamers.

If my inflation tests are any indication these should hold their air pretty much through the entire month long run of the show. If they do start to "wilt" the inflation nozzle is easily reachable on top of each ball.
 Much easier to deal with than having to mess with helium before every performance, and not likely to pop!

The brackets which will hold these on the set will be fairly simple 18" X 18" wooden constructions with an outer section just wide enough in diameter to firmly hold the handle in position without tilting.