January 22 - Jörmungandr - T&S Post-Mortem

There is no way I could encapsulate or summarize all of Twist & Shout, so the general message would be - if you work with balloon art at all, you should attend.  Beyond an individual design or technique you might learn, you are surrounded by amazing and passionate artists, willing to share - welcoming you to a family.   These are people who 'get you' without any need for explanations.

This goes for many disciplines though, every so often we take a trip to visit family in Rhode Island and it coincides with some sort of rescued greyhound festival.  Walking up and down the streets and beaches are people with their rescue greyhounds, wearing greyhound t-shirts and wearing a greyhound fanny pack, willing to talk to you about all things greyhound. 

This Jörmungandr is the second of the two designs I thought I might try to build while attending.

Jörmungandr is the sea serpent in Norse mythology, one of the sons of Loki. It is said that when he lets go of his tail to battle his arch-enemy, Thor - Ragnarok will begin and the and the world will cycle to the next age with two surviving humans and the sons of Odin as new gods. I felt it's a good message as well as it's an example of an ouroboros, from ancient Egyptian iconography to symbolize introspection and "cyclicality".

I was so inspired by the people here that I can't wait for the next cycle to see everyone again next year and show them what's I've done that's new. If you were there I hope I got a chance to meet you, and thank you to everyone who introduced themselves.  Is it too early to start planning next years trip?

There was a wall built in the jam room with connection points for people to attach any designs they consider worth saving. I was pretty thrilled when I was doing something else and heard "whoaaaaa! Look at that one!" in reference to mine. In hindsight I should have made it bigger, the ring was built before finding they were out of large globe prints - and my only other option was a 3' giant round balloon and lots of ink-work.