April 30 - Dangly Sheep

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

~ Dr. Seuss

I'm not sure why black sheep get a bad rap.  

They were the ones with the wool -- three bags full.  Enough for the master, his dame and the even little boy that lived in the lane.

Seems like the black sheep were pulling more than their weight.  

"Different" was all anyone saw.

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This dangly limbs design is from a recent YouTube video by the creator behind the Creative Balloon Handmade channel.  These are meant to be on a stick, which give them a fantastic sort of hand drum motion with the swinging limbs.  

Putting on a flower base makes it look wrong, like it's ... feeling gassy?  (or worse...)  I swapped to clear when making the black sheep which works great as it gives a base for the feet to anchor on as well.

(view other sheep)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Creative Balloon Handmade:

April 29 - Deer

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

~ John Muir

Seeing a deer always seems to bring a little bit of magic with it.  Like they're standing on the edge of nature, observing you - a reminder that there is a whole hidden world just beyond the horizon.

This one's from the Isopresso members collection.  They have a knack of bringing a quiet elegance to their designs - it took a couple attempts until I was semi-happy because the source is such perfectly proportioned masterpiece. 

Those dainty back legs were an exercise in patience I did not win trying to get everything to stand correctly - hence the enormous flower patch (and feet deep in the water).  

(view other deer)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 28 - Grasshopper

"A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener."

~ Henry David Thoreau

I suppose I was the real monster in the grass.

A big hand.  A mason jar.  Holes in the lid? ... Probably.   Didn't change much in the end.

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This is one of the amazing designs Isopresso teaches - clean lines, clever structure (and none of the quiet kicking..)

(view other insects)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 27 - Bee

They build their castles in the heads of kings
And honey will flow once more

~ Amorphis The Bee (link)

This song transports me.

Right when the opening riff hits - it's like stepping through a gate carved from bone and gold, out onto wind-scoured dunes. Time collapses. Centuries blow past in clouds of grit, exposing the sun-bleached bones of forgotten kings.

It's not grief, exactly. It's older than that.

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This design is another from the Isopresso advanced section, one of my favorite so far!

 
(view other bees)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 26 - Baby Powerpuff Girls

Sugar, spice and everything nice
These were the ingredients chosen
To create the perfect little girls
But Professor Utonium accidentally
Added an extra ingredient to the concoction
Chemical X
Thus, The Powerpuff Girls were born
Using their ultra-super powers
Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup
Have dedicated their lives to fighting crime
And the forcеs of evil

~ Powerpuff Girls Intro

The city of Townsville... was quiet. Too quiet.

That usually means someone's about to get glitter in their eyes.
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These designs were posted recently by the Creative Balloon Handmade YouTube channel, and I'm a complete sucker for technique-based twists.  Show me a "teams of things" and I'm powerless to resist.  Plus, they're 'baby' Powerpuff, so they pack like 10x the lethal dose.

I think Blossom's hair is my favorite part - smart and simple pigtails.  I also enjoy that the way the bodies are constructed makes them sit very easily, but you have to be careful to keep things small to avoid a badonkadonk.  

<

(view other superheroes)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Creative Balloon Handmade:

April 25 - Anenome

"Little shop -- Little shop of horrors!
Bop-sh'bop -- Little shop of terror!
Watch 'em drop -- Little shop of horrors!
No, oh, oh, no - oh!"

~ The Little Shop of Horrors

When I brought home the anemone, it was just pink. Harmless. A little wiggly, sure, but no more than you'd expect from something plucked out of tidepool slime and dropped into a cheap plastic pot.

That was four days ago. Now the stem is thicker and something has changed. The cilia don't move with the wind anymore, they move when I do.

At first, I thought it was coincidence. Static cling maybe? A draft? But it follows me now. Just slightly. The eye in the center - because yes, there's an eye - tilts to track my movement. I tested it once darting from one side of the porch to the other. There was a slight ripple across it's ... skin?

It's like it's waiting for something ...

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I plan to make my way through each of the Isopresso advanced tutorials - even the "less exciting" designs.  There's always something to learn about building cleanly and precisely, and there's real value in getting simple things to look right - say twelve angrily waving tentacles.

(view other alien)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 24 - Toucan

Tell me who can catch a toucan? Lou can.
Just how few can ride the toucan? Two can.

~ Shel Silverstein

It was less than a month ago that I built the previous toucan - but I'm working through these Isopresso advanced tutorials more or less in order, so here we are: same bird, same artist, very different build.

There are multiple interesting weaves at play in this one.  The beak is a fairly straightforward weave, but the body is downright fascinating.  

Again, weaves are all about trusting the process.  You follow a pattern, then at some point it clicks into place.  I needed a few tries to get the beak right, but this was the first attempt at the body - I could/should probably have rounded off the back section a bit more to give more of a sitting pose.

(view other birds or specifically toucan)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 23 - Octopus

"If you want to see a truly otherworldly creature, look no further than the octopus."

~ Peter Godfrey-Smith

'Astorolus - The Great Octopus' is a song by Candlemass, guest featuring Tony Iommi that absolutely drips with 1970s Black Sabbath energy. If nostalgic metal isn't already a genre, it probably should be. The lyrics are a bit "someone just read Lovecraft?" but it's a nice throwback if you're an metalhead going a bit grey.

This design is from the Isopresso members channel - it's the 5th(!) and final(?!) octopus he teaches - and it comes together fairly smoothly despite being one of the better ones that I've seen.

 
(view other octopi)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 22 - Earthworm

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?

~ Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

I can't see the official release date of when the worm instructions were posted in the Isopresso members channel, but I have a sneaking suspicion it might have been April 1.

That said, rosewood certainly makes for a great earthworm color and looking at these as actual worms in the image, they're kind of spot on.

Some facts I learn feel a bit dirty to share, so I'll just say I had no idea that's what you called the "face" of an earthworm.

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(... -- forgot the purple pig before posting! .. fixing here instead of getting myself into a time loop by going back and fixing it there.)

Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 21 - Bunny

"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming."

~ Pablo Neruda

It's the day after Easter. The cleanup has begun.

The egg launch system is smoldering in a ditch. Three rabbits are missing.  The jellybean reserves were practically depleted.  We've recovered 42 baskets from rooftops, but no one is admitting they put them there.

We're starting crunching the numbers to calculate how many actual days until next Easter.

We're tired. We're sticky. We have glitter in places that should not be sparkling. The elves have it so easy.

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I first tried to build this bunny about nine years ago (link) - back before Isopresso had released any instructions. Now it's the first design in their advanced tutorial series, and great to finally see how things are built.

Looking back I feel like I did a pretty good job ... but it's definitely a little clumsy around the leg area.

(view other rabbits)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

April 20 - Blayze Herbington

"Adulthood is learning to look both ways before you cross the street and then getting hit by an airplane when you do."

~ Unknown

Today is Parent's Day, and Blayze Herbington was doing damage control.  He'd cleaned the bong water, hid the novelty lighter shaped like a penis, and swapped his playlist for something more easy to listen to.

He was aiming for "functional adult".

The knock came.  He took a deep breath and opened the door. 

"Do I smell incense?" his mom immediately said.  

This was going to be a long visit.

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This design was inspired by a little balloon flower guy made by Su-Hui Wu on her YouTube channel.  I love the simplicity of it, like putting googly eyes on something and bringing it to life.  ... also weed. 

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Other balloons by and inspired by Su-Hui Wu:

April 19 - Bunny Mini-Doll

"Easter is the only time when it's perfectly safe to put all your eggs in one basket."

~ Evan Esar

It's the day before Easter. Final preparations are in full swing. Eggs are sorted by pastel gradient and spiritual ambiguity. The delivery catapult system is locked and loaded, if mildly unstable.

Each rabbit gets a final fluffiness inspection - fur brushed, paws polished, ears aligned to regional specifications.

Launch windows have been calculated to avoid migratory birds and brunch traffic. Backup baskets have been staged at all major municipalities. Emergency jellybeans have been bagged and distributed. By the time the ceremonial egg timer dings, the operation will be a go.

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These balloons were inspired by MeyiaArt balloon tutorials, this was in the background of a different video and seemed appropriate to build for today.  They've shown a rabbit on the channel that is slightly different than this.
 
(view other bunnies)

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Other balloons by and inspired by MeyiaArt:

April 18 - Hornet

"The only difference between a hero and a coward is what they do with their fear."

~ Cus D'Amato

At my high school, the lunch area was an open-air arena - and on warm days, the hornets would swarm the trash cans like it was a buffet.

Occasionally, someone would sneak up behind you and tap the back of your neck lightly with a stick. The reaction was immediate: full-body spasm, windmill arms.  Of course you knew ... this meant war.

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This design was taught in the Isopresso members section, I continue to marvel seeing these shapes reduced to their building blocks.


(view other insects)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso: