May 10 - Cockatiel

"All I know is something like a bird within her sang,
All I know she sang a little while and then flew on,
Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain."
~ "Bird Song"

I was taught this design at Florida Super Jam by Nathalie "Miss Ballooniverse" Haverstock.  She was showcasing designs from Tony Twists Real World Wow DVD (link).  Nathalie is a fun person to learn from, she is the type of person that the spotlight demands (not the reverse), has an infectious confidence and you can tell that she would be entertaining while performing - "fill it up with ... oh, just the right amount of air".

Recently Tony made his tutorials available as downloadable files, but I figured if I built anything I should start with this one because it really was my introduction.

Tony is very precise in his instructions, it was really easy to relearn this, so I'll look forward to the others.   In the end I tried four different eye styles ... not sure which my favorite really is, but I know I like the yellow crest bird the least.

One thing I've noticed recently is that I'm having a difficult time taking good pictures of painted eyes, the actual light reflection is adding to the painted reflection creating a bigger spot.  I have the light muted but it's not completely reflected light ... I should experiment, this should be fixable.

Simple white on black eyes	Falloon eyes
Michael Floyd 3-D eyes

"I call him Bargain because he was going 'Cheep!'"