September 26 - Big Monkey

Now, statistics prove, prove that you've one birthday
Imagine, just one birthday every year
Ah, but there are three hundred and sixty four unbirthdays!
Precisely why we're gathered here to cheer
A very merry unbirthday to you, to you
To me? To you!
A very merry unbirthday
For me? For you!
Now blow the candle out my dear
And make your wish come true
A merry merry unbirthday to you!

Alice in Wonderland - The Unbirthday Song

Buster Balloon is has a monkey, a big adorable monkey.

This monkey is from his Adorable DVD, and is big and goofy with it's giant ears.   This one took a couple attempts at building, though the design is fairly straightforward - when you build something this large, sizing of certain elements becomes important.  In my case, I made the face so wide that the ears were just big moons sitting far away from the head.  Plus I had built the ears separately and ended up with two sizes.

Really what one should do is watch the designs built and then build it as you see fit from memory.  I was listening to the Balloon Artist Podcast with Addi Somekh recently who said something along the lines of "Imagine someone going up to an old jazz great and asking them exactly what notes to play to play a certain song ... it would break his heart."  Balloons are not exactly jazz but the quote is good in the sense that, especially with these larger pieces - you're creating a form, how you get there is jazz ba-dee-dee-deep-ddoo-doo.  When you teach someone a design, it's oftentimes done from the efficiency of teaching it - but when you build a design it's done from the organic best way to build.

A couple friends had a party recently, they are sisters and since they couldn't have one on their birthdays so they decided to dub this their unbirthday party.  I'm not quite sure what kind of gift to give for someone's unbirthday party, so I figured a couple gigantic monkeys would be appreciated.  I confess I felt a little guilty wading through kids who 'ohhhhh! I want monkey!' - such is the dilemma of balloon twisters delivering and attending the same party.  I probably should have brought a bunch of smaller guys as well...

Unbirthday sisters, going bananas for their gifts	We've got your slippers
Ears my monkey friend!

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Other posts with Busters's designs: Show all