November 7 - Old Man

"Lesson not just karate only. Lesson for whole life."

~ Mr. Miyagi

There is science to balloon art - pressure, friction, ... ... other stuff.  When you are first starting out, lessons feel very mathematical - a dog is 4 finger bubble, 3 finger flower petal, etc.  

Then someone comes along and makes it all magic.

Today I'm thankful for Dennis Bauyon.

I could do the basic moves - like Daniel-san I had been painting the fence and washing the car.   Dennis hosted a balloon twisting webinar that showed me what else I was actually rehearsing for.

I was dutifully following along, loop twist here, okay - feed this through, got it - and all the sudden there was this amazing, stylized hippopotamus, and counts as the first "run downstairs to show off what I just made" balloon.

Dennis is the one who first showed how magical this could all be.

This face is based on a witch he taught in a different webinar and has become my "go to" face doodle, usually ends up pretty grumpy but you can get some decent expressions.

(view other old men)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dennis Bauyon:

August 25 - Baunnies

Alice: "How long is forever?"
White Rabbit: "Sometimes, just one second."

~ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Bling Bling had an interesting set-up in their jam room - instead of a sponsor, they had 3 balloon companies with their wares set out in front of them and All-American Balloons set up right in the middle of it all.

Ignoring the fact that there was an actual vendor in the jam room, the fact that each of the tables had a representative at them made me feel like I was ... sampling product rather than playing?

I can't simply "use" the balloon, I have to consider it. Note the yellowness of the color, the texture - the pressure, the length. Stare at it like a woodcarver trying to see the little wooden boy inside. THEN twist.  Its way too many steps for one prone to overanalyze things...

These bunnies were something that the always amazing Dennis Bauyon threw together in the Bling Bling jam room, two-balloons only if you practice!  (or if you're been saving your scraps like you should be!)

 

(view other bunnies)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dennis Bauyon:

August 14 - Eyes

“If someone says something about your art that makes you feel bad, disregard it and joyfully make more art.”

~ Gayle Wray

This was some playing I was doing with Dennis Bauyon's dragonfly eye.

I knew it would work well as flesh and as an open eye, but I had seen some images posted recently (TwisTEE maybe?) where they used a similar technique with the same color balloon and it looks like closed eyes.

I colored both of them, but got the face a little lopsided in the other so I redrew it upside down for extra practice before this one.  I had a marker go rogue when making the right (left) eye - but it gave sort of goth mascara look so I added a skull headband.

This vacation reel shot is me packed and ready to leave.  I had an early flight which meant I had to be checked out and at the airport by 4am.  The final day, the awards ceremony and I left early to sleep. 🍺🍻PARTY!

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Other balloon designs from Bling Bling Jam 2017:

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Other balloon designs from Dennis:

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August 13 - Elephant

“We must join forces everywhere to stop the slaughter of elephants and rhinos. They feel pain, they know suffering. We must stop people from buying ivory.”

~ Dr Jane Goodall

Here is another awesome use of big bear head balloons by Dennis Bauyon, this elephant is huge and has nicely shaped, movable legs.  It's like an gigantic elephant action figure.

I made the trunk too large, or possibly could have angled the head a bit better, but he didn't stand up too well.  I had to have him standing on things so his trunk could hang down.

The Purple shot is from the travel reel.  I find it amusing that the slippers are on the wrong feet, but I'm working with the limited resources of "what's in the room".

Newly built!

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Other balloon designs from Bling Bling Jam 2017:


Other balloon designs from Dennis:

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August 11 - Dragonfly

 Fly through illusion to reach the magic of life.

 ~ Unknown    

Dennis Bauyon really had some interesting and advanced things to show at Bling Bling Jam.  This dragonfly face was a bit of a finger burner and it took a few tries to get something I liked, but I was able to get a couple to work.

I've been wanting to learn this sunken eye technique for a while and have spent a lot of time experimenting with different techniques to do it.  I am looking forward to playing around with things.

I also love how silvery Betallic silver is, it's great as bug eyes.

That's a quick picture of purple on stage snapped right before a the next class. Which was ...

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Other balloon designs from Bling Bling Jam 2017:

 

Other balloon designs from Dennis:

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August 5 - Dennis Fabulous Faces

When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange

The Doors People Are Strange

Dennis Bauyon was first to blow my mind with what you could make with balloons.  Long before I discovered Facebook balloon groups or knew anything other than some youtube searches, I somehow stumbled across Steve Klein's webinar with Dennis.

He taught how to make an elf and a hippo.  I don't remember how to build them, but I do remember that feeling inspired that I was able to follow along and ended up with something I could brag about.

I wonder if I can find a picture of them ...

These faces are from his class entitled "Fabulous Faces", and make for a nice melon sized head.  The red ball guy was who we made in class, then I played around with it a bit in the jam room to add hair and play with the base structure a bit.

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Other balloon designs from Bling Bling Jam 2017:

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Other balloon designs from Dennis:

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February 17 - Rose

Moses supposes his toeses are Roses,
But Moses supposes Erroneously,
Moses he knowses his toeses aren't roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be!

~ Gene Kelly Moses Supposes

A last balloon before I get back on track exploring more balloon concepts here.

This bundle of balloons was something I made for my lovely wife on Valentines Day earlier this week - a dozen rainbow roses.

One thing I love about making balloon art is that I have a palette for creating most anything, given a holiday or occasion - there is something appropriate to build.  It might not be fancy, but it shows effort.

This type of balloon rose is one that I've made before (link), I believe I learned it originally from Dennis Bauyon - though this is not his "Twixter Rose".

February 14 - Rose

I've been making this rose design for a while, but I've never tried it this size.  It ended up working out very well I think.

Special thanks to Dennis Bauyon for this rose design!

A rose by any other name would smell ... well .. maybe not this one.

January 31 - Purple Pig

When I started twisting balloons, the very first balloon webinar I attended was taught by Dennis Bauyon - I had no idea you could make such incredible things.  He showed us how to make a hippo and an elf, big cool designs I wouldn't have dared myself to try - and I knew I was hooked.  I think the effort to get the video replay of that webinar was what helped spur me to attend my first balloon jam (where I certainly drank the Kool-aid).

Recently he hosted another webinar where he showed a couple new designs; a witch, a bat and a pig. I thought it appropriate to build in purple.

"Are you my mommy?"

Curly-que tail <3

.. from October webinar

End of the month thoughts:
Well I've made it through a month of entries without too much effort, hopefully it will remain so in the ensuing months.  It's been a fantastic learning experience in a number of ways - it has helped me organize and work through designs that I've been meaning to but most importantly I am feeling a need to take better pictures of more precisely twisted creations.  Previously I was happy with one build/test and to get the approximation of the design - now I twist multiple until I get one nice enough for a picture (enhanced if possible).   See you in February!