March 31 - Dave's Wearables 4

Insert quote here...

*** POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION ***

[Intro paragraph. Reference Tonka trucks?]

[Description of the digger. Emphasize the scoop. People love scoops.]

[Wrecking ball truck deserves a sentence or two, reference Miley song? << NO.]

[Summarize construction, attempt wit, possibly a pun.]

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These construction vehicles are more showcasing Dave Brenn's most recent video collection "Double Stuff Ride Insides" available on his Patreon site.

The size is enormous, the arm articulation is brilliant - this design is ridiculously awesome and fun to play with. 
 
(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

March 30 - Dave's Wearables 3

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed onto the sun
Till we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

It starts when you're building the hull, like a whisper in the back of your mind.  Hmmm mm mmmmm hmmm hmm hmm mm mm.

It doesn't matter if you're blasting a playlist, a podcast, or in total silence.  It finds a way in ... and grows.  It echoes inside your skull, bouncing and bouncing, louder and louder until the pressure is unbearable.  You don't want to say it.  You try not sing it.

But eventually.  Inevitably.  Resistance wears thin.  

WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE!

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Dave showed us this simply stunning pirate ship and mentioned using the cannon portholes in a submarine which was certainly the inspiration.  And yes, the earworm chanted in my head the entire time ... 

I love the pirate ship design but some of these really do look best with a human inside - and the mast can be a little bit wibbledy-wobbledy without someone's arms in the rigging.   The dinosaur looks a bit like a prehistoric camel and could have used some more work, these fatty balloons are really hard to pressure fit into each other - that neck had to be tied down to get a normal face angle.  

(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

March 29 - Dave's Wearables 2

"True teaching is not about giving answers. It's about showing the paths."

~ Noam Chomsky

I don't use 646/660s typically, so the opportunity to use some old stock balloons to practice a fun new design idea is super appealing.  Let's play around with Dave Brenn's "Ride Inside" a bit!

Dave made a great point about color choices.  My instinct is to treat every color like it matters, but in practice, some are just more usable than others.  Black, white and the natural tones like mocha or grey tend to be the most flexible.  Rainbow-y colors can actually be limiting - pink, for example, feels like it should be a pink "thing".  A pink rocketship works, sure, but without context it makes you wonder "why?" (and honestly, it was a practice attempt while watching, I wasn't trying to make a crude joke (tho ... USS Phallus?))

I feel like I've seen the bathtub idea used before, if not as balloons at least as a costume.  In fact, I bet the Spirit Halloween Store would have a bunch of corny ride inside inspiration ideas ...

(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

March 28 - Dave's Wearables

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

~ William Arthur Ward

Dave Brenn is a great teacher. 

He doesn't just teach how to make "forms of things".  His lessons are full of those extra little bits of magic - clever tricks, smart shortcuts, and unexpected details that make you better without even realizing it.  I would count his Patreon site as one of the best values in educational content out there.

His recent series, "Ride Inside" balloons, begins simple in concept - but is once again elevated by that special Dave magic and his real-world experiences using these designs. 

I cheated a bit on the length a few of them.  Since they are not being worn, I made their bodies a bit shorter - they weren't being poofed out by a torso.

(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

March 27 - Swan

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

~ Maya Angelou

The phrase "swan song" comes from an ancient belief that swans are silent throughout their lives, only to sing a beautiful, mournful song just before they die. Certainly badass - a graceful creature, a tragic melody, a final performance.

This swan design is from the Matt Falloon's BAC-exclusive "Birds" collection, and became another partial answer to the lingering question of what I am supposed to do with these remaining geo balloons?  

I also experimented with recreating the shape, which you can get close using normal balloons, but there is a certain tension in the center when using a geo that this shape really benefits from.

(view other swan)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Matt Falloon:

March 26 - Zombie

Q. Geo
(1917-2024)

"The only hole left is in our hearts."

I really like the quick and easy head shape you can get from a geo balloon. They are proving to be a good canvas for practicing some inkwork as they give a very distinct center line to use for reference.

A zombie bursting from the ground was the idea, but I would also accept "zombie pushing down his brown tutu" for an answer.

March 25 - Moli Superheroes

"You're not Superman, you know."

~ Mary Jane Watson Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Kawaii crusaders, these balloon superheroes are from the "MOLI BALLOON" YouTube channel (link). She's a Hong Kong-based artist who nails the balance of small-body, big-charm -- think "chibi-adjacent", a touch more detail and refinement to the basic chibi form, elevating it with a bit more details.

There's a moment in the Superman build that got.... At one point I realized I was gently pinching and massaging to shape his package, and now that's all I see when I look at the design. Super indeed - super awkward.  🤣

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Other Superhero balloons:

March 24 - Fred Flintstone

"I'm telling you, Barney, this is foolproof!"

~ Fred Flintstone

"Yabba Dabba Doo" /ˈyabə ˈdabə ˈdü/ (interjection)
Language of origin: Flintstonian (Prehistoric Bedrock Dialect, circa 10,000 B.C.E.)

Literal Translation: "I am overwhelmed by joy, chaos, and meat."

Definition: An exclamation of uncontainable enthusiasm, spontaneous triumph, or unearned confidence. 

Related Expressions:
- Doo Time: A celebratory event, feast, or 10-minute break.
- Yabbaling (v.): To scream incoherently while running circles.

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This balloon design is from the Sepo Balloon Brothers channel -- I don't have a "go to" humanoid form (non-princess) and tend to wing it, so it's exciting to see what people use.  The effort in this is mainly in the head and face structure, with a single color outfit - kind of like a mechanic or a police officer or ... a modern stone-age dinosaur operator who works at the quarry in the town of Bedrock and is a page right out of history?

(view other Flintstones)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Sepo Balloon Brothers:

March 23 - Toucan

"It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds."

~ Aesop

A toucan is what happens when evolution spends all its points maxing out the 'beak size' slider..

Somehow, instead of looking ridiculous, it turned out stunning.
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This balloon toucan was taught by Isopresso, his bird forms all tend to follow a similar style, but he has a great knack of being able to make them all so distinct

(view other birds)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

March 22 - Dove

"It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."

~ Author Unknown

This line originated during the anti-war movement in the 1970s and was popularized by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom who printed it on posters and bumper stickers to protest military spending and advocate for education funding.

Seemed appropriate to remember ...

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This balloon is from a Matt Falloon "BAC exclusive" on birds.  So to answer your question if there is a sidewall bubble.  Yes.  Yes there is.

(view other birds)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Matt Falloon:

March 21 - T-Rex

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

~ Charles Darwin

Imagine being top of the food chain for two MILLION years.  No predators, no rivals, nothing to fear.  If you were T-Rex, you were the apocalypse.  

Forty feet long, bone-crushing jaws.  It would take like a meteor or something to take you out.

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This is another Isopresso tutorial.  It seemed appropriate to build with a dinosaur color -- Qualatex Spring Lilac. I've never been a fan of this color.  Sempertex Lilac is so much more vibrant in comparison, this one looks "melted popsicle purple" to me.

 
(view other dinosaur)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

March 20 - Iso Shrimp

"Shrimp are the unsung heroes of the sea. They work hard, taste great, and never ask for credit."

~ Andrew Zimmern

The plan was simple, really, and it combined two of his greatest loves -- shrimp and bubblegum.

The Bubblegum Shrimp Corporation now holds the record for the shortest-lived business in history. The first (and only) investor popped a piece in his mouth, chewed once - then immediately went silent and off-color. He later described the experience as "existentially regrettable."
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The shrimp design is one from Isopresso's YouTube channel. I had avoided it thinking the weave would be complicated, but it was very straightforward and the shape makes it very forgiving.

 

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

March 19 - M&M

"We do not remember days, we remember moments."

~ Cesare Pavese

Summer camp felt endless. Late nights by the fire, whispered jokes, holding hands just out of sight. Who would have thought that an M&M and an avocado could find love? 

But there was a little bit of magic that year at the intercamp mixer.

... They wrote letters for a while, but it would never have worked out really.

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These designs are once again based on the Sung Chun-Lin tutorials.  The M&M guys seemed like an obvious thing to build.  

The eucalyptus guy was the first draft - and not having measurements he ended up looking like an avocado.  I do prefer having the limb pinch twists in the limb color, I built them into the body as I built the second thinking I was being efficient but it looks lumpy and kind of ruins the egg shape, especially in the mid section.  
 

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Other balloons by and inspired by Sung Chun-Lin: