January 16 - Pumpkin Spice Virus

And would, if you could, turn that mighty clock back,
To that long, fateful night. Now, think carefully, Jack.
Would you do the whole thing all over again,
Knowing what you know now, knowing what you knew then?"

And he smiled, like the old pumpkin king that I knew,
Then turned and asked softly of me, "Wouldn't you?"

~ Danny Elfman ~ Closing
  (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Researchers have now discovered that pumpkin spice is indeed an annual virus that afflicts society.  A hyper-intelligent mutagen that has been systematically ravaging our world in a yearly assault, turning us into orange incubators for the next seasonal wave.  Year after year the virus has spread as you can surely tell by the quantity of pumpkin spice creations available; oreos, cereals, candies, ice cream, beer, english muffins, etc.  It's an epidemic and the world is no longer safe.  Our Commander in Chief has been identified as patient zero.  Resist!  #notmypumpkinspice

That was the original idea for this blog post, however, this will be a little different than others in that I'm going to add my personal review for one of the newer Betallatex colors, Pumpkin Spice.

I get a bit excited when a new balloon color releases.  As balloon artists, our palette is somewhat limited in shape and colors - frequently we have to cheat around the limitations of our media.  I am a fan of Betallatex, typically they have proven to be more consistent and vibrant colors than many of their Qualatex counterpoints, they are my go-to when given similar colors.

I bought a bag and played around with making a few creations, and was quick to form my reaction.  These balloons are quite fragile, not thin - but similar to the old Betallic Pearl or Metallic balloons.  I had to work with them very soft and try to minimize the unavoidable friction because they were quite susceptible to forming a leak at a twist point.  My floor is littered with more failed attempts than balloons used in these final forms.

There is a sound that I'm sure haunts many balloon artists, and that's the faint little 'tic' that lets you know something is deflating ... that was my night.

You can gauge color difference to orange in the close-up of the eyeball from the spice-virus.  The ring around the eye is an orange 160B.  The pumpkin spice color is a ruddy orange, and it wasn't long into this exercise that I started thinking that this was more of a novelty color designed to capitalize on the name "pumpkin spice" more than an actual attempt to create a new color.  I wanted to like them, but in any event, the latex formula is off.  I know where to store the remaining of these...