  We introduce an analogue of the inflation technique of Lalonde-McDuff,
allowing us to obtain new symplectic forms from symplectic surfaces of negative
self-intersection in symplectic four-manifolds. We consider the implications of
this construction for the symplectic cones of K\"ahler surfaces, proving along
the way a result which can be used to simplify the intersections of distinct
pseudoholomorphic curves via a perturbation.
