October 11 - Baby Dragon

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

~ G.K. Chesterton

At what age do you stop calling something a "baby" when it lives for a thousand years?

I feel that for anything long-lived, it's all about the mid-years.  You age up to a point where your organs are large enough to support your system and don't deteriorate.  When that system finally starts to fail, you enter the elder years - when your organs can't repair damage fast enough anymore.

So this little guy must be just a few months old ... 

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This is another design shared by Marina Filatova from her collection of double-stuffed creatures.  Double-stuffing is a bit of a finger burner, and my small pump is not giving consistent air - I think I was breathing flames at one point.

(view other dragon)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Marina Filatova:

August 31 - Gemar Purple

I only wanted to see you
Laughing in the purple rain

~ Purple Rain - Prince

When I think "purple" for balloons, I think this dark end of the spectrum - violet color, and seeing the comparison chart, wow this one has a great rich color. Is there such thing as a royal purple?  If so, this must be it.  

The balloons have a great feel, super spongey all the right ways, 

I made the usual suspects, but of course I had to make the unusual suspect as well.   What is Grimace even supposed to be?  Let's look together ... to the wiki! 

Grimace started as a four armed evil shake stealing villain and was rebranded and colored purple to be "the embodiment of a milkshake's taste"....  hmmm, arguably a pretty glorious heel turn marketing pivot.   

Overall assessment of Gemar Purple, I like them a lot - a great purple-y look, great purple-y feel, great purple-y blob.  

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Other "color day" balloons:

June 1 - Gemar Green

Do you have the time to listen to me whine?
About nothing and everything, all at once
I am one of those melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it

~ Green Day - Basket Case

These particular balloons are a few years old, so this isn't exactly a fair test.  I got a few samples for entering a Gemar contest back in the before times so it's high time they see daylight again.

I'm realizing that for these single-color challenges, weaving is going to be a critical component to finishing the goal.

Gemar Green has two numbers - #12 & #13.   12 is slightly lighter than 13 -- 13 is slightly lighter than forest green.  (comparison image on blog)

Gemar balloons have a really nice "spongey squish" to them - if they were easier to get, I probably would have already adopted them into my kit.  They don't come as heavily powdered as other brands, though, and that causes some initial "stuckness" that has only gotten worse with age.  That said, these were stored in a sealed plastic container for five years and most still inflated cleanly and held up well during twisting.   

Quck take:  Gemar Green (#12/#13) are pleasant mid-tones with a nice feel.  Old stock still performed admirably, and the only real problems I had with sticking were when the stuck bit was right near the nozzle, but I can only blame my own neglect for that.  They had great twist integrity despite this age.  Gemar is a beast in all the right ways.

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Other "color day" balloons:

January 16 - Loopy Dragonz

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

~ Neil Gaiman

Well it was only natural after building a bunch of dinosaur that I would need to build a dragon or two.  I played around a bit with the body this time, remembering two different ways to do a pinch line.

I had thought the green neck way too big initially, but now that I assemble the picture I see it could have used a few more visible slats.

The whiskers give it a bit of an Asian dragon feel and it got me thinking about the differences in cultures.  Many of the Asian myths of dragons have them as wise and powerful, oftentimes bringing good fortune or bountiful crops.  Western dragons are no less wise, but they hoard treasure mainly and sleep and gobble you up.

(view other dragons)

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Other balloons by and inspired by David Brenn:

December 29 - Boy Tiara's

"What is lovely never dies, but passes into another loveliness, star-dust or sea-foam, flower or winged air."

~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

This post was in my half-finished-need-to-get-back-to-work-on bucket, but I feel like I need to let it go now.

I pretty much fell off the face of the earth in regards to social media and the balloon world, so it was only a couple days ago that I stumbled across a video that referred to a "Jeff Hayes memorial fund" -- ...   I need a minute ... 

Jeff was indescribable in one word.  Uncanny?  

I first met him in the very beginning of this balloon blog when I attended a Steve Klein seminar, the original host was having technical problems so he stepped in like a boss for one of the most inspiring hours in my early balloon twisting.  When I reached out to him afterward to thank him, we struck up a conversation that went on for months.

Jeff has a knack, no - a super power, of elevating simple ideas to something extra-ordinary.  I believe I have said frequently on this blog that I would try to think about things in a "what would Jeff do?" sort of way.   This is a good example of his brilliance I think.

Original post text:

These tiara's were designed by Jeff "The Uncanny" Hayes and taught at our webinar.  Taking the normal tiara type crown and spicing it up with sticks and snails and puppy dog tails.  Since it's Jeff, I had to try and make it ride a shark and shoot lasers, so I went for a dragon.  Not entirely happy with the result, especially since I didn't put the tongue in for any of the pictures!!  He also showed us a zombie using a similar structure, but with a brain in the belly - guaranteed to make anyone who sees it laugh in ...horror?

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Other balloons by and inspired by the Jeffrey Hayes:

April 22.5 - Li'l Dragon

“We men (and women) dream dreams, we work magic, we do good, we do evil. The dragons do not dream. They are dreams. They do not work magic: it is their substance, their being. They do not do; they are.”

~ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore

During the class Jackie Ochitwa taught, she mentioned going to her Instagram to reference the face artwork she does and I noticed she had a cute little green dragon.

Sometimes balloons look better in person than they do in a photo because of the 2-D representation of the 3-D image.  The standing version came first but didn't have a very dragon-y feel because the only thing that says "dragon" at all are the dorsal ridges which can't be visible from any angle where he would be facing you.

I built it again sitting and gave him more of a grrr face, but it had the same problems.   I had to cheat like a 2-D animator for the shot.  Notice in any cartoon where a girl has her hair bound in a ponytail, the hair and usually the scrunchy holding it are always visible outside of a transition move. 

The dorsal fins are set at about a 30º angle for visibility in the main shot.




(view other dragons)

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Other Jackie Ochitwa inspired balloons:

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.

June 27 - Loopy Dragon

~ Skyrim Theme cover by Malukah

This weekend we had the pleasure of running the new escape room "Enchanted Kingdom" at one of our favorite establishments, Bull City Escape.

Our group, the Escape Goats, has escaped from a good number of escape rooms in the area, so I can say with confidence that owner and escape expert of Bull City Escape, Alice Cheung (pictured below) is a master puzzle-smith, the best we've encountered.  Her rooms are creative, challenging, balanced, engaging and perfectly themed.  It was awesome to have her as game master and show us some of the thought and mechanics that went behind a few of the puzzles after we had solved them - so clever!

I thought a dragon would be a nice thing to bring as well as fit with Tony Twist's Loop the Loop design concept that I've been exploring for the latter part of the month.  It sticks to the standard form "with limbs and tail", and came together quick - I ended up building one for our office as well.  The request this month was for the keyblade from Kingdom of Hearts, but it felt a little plain so I gave it to the dragon to hold but had a busy day and didn't get any pictures before leaving ...

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Other Loop the loop designs:

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May 18 - Geo Dino

Dr. Rick Marshall: Field rations are running dangerously low. Thusly, I've made the determination that, if need be, if faced with starvation, we will cook and eat Chaka. I've been thinking about this a lot, actually. If Chaka meat were the secret ingredient on Iron Chef, I'm sure Bobby Flay would probably serve it with roasted red peppers and a dash of cumin and a braised polenta. It wouldn't be an easy thing to do, but if you slow roast the little guy, I'm sure that Chaka meat would just fall right off the bone.

~ Land of the Lost (2009)

It's really nice having all of these extras outside my kit - I am really getting a chance to play without feeling like I'm wasting or having to re-order and re-stock.

The next bit of geo play involves this dinosaur David Brenion made, similar to the upper right image.  He released a video a few days after watching the Balloon Blast Show with the frog from the previous post using the idea. (link)

I've always thought this form would turn into an excellent dragon, so I added some wings and had him breath flames.  Next I added some teeth, they ended up giving somewhat of a goofy smile, so that one became my baby Slimer.

Finally I had one more that was the basic dino form, but I didn't want to give him a flower, so I made him fabulous.  He's my favorite of the bunch - a prehistoric Conrad.

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Other posts with David's designs:

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January 21 - Dragon

“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.”

~ J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit

This is a copy of one of Linda Truscheit's designs from my inspiration folder from her.

I only made one because I'm in bit of a rush - I'm heading out of town to celebrate my mom's birthday and I need to prepare a few more of these because I don't know that I'll have any time while there.

Posing this guy was a bit rough, if I built him again I would definitely provide a couple offset connection points. So many parts coming out from the same connection points created some chaos. It works well as a flyer, but I would like a little more control to put him in a standing position.

PURPLE: ... If you are holding me with your wings, how are we flying? DRAGON: ... Helium?

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Other posts with Truscheit-style:


Show all Truscheit-style designs

September 13 - Mother of Dragons

“Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell they’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top, then that one’s on top, and on and on it spins crushing those on the ground. I’m not going to stop the wheel, I’m going to break the wheel.”

~ Daenerys Stormborn, The Unburnt Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and of the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons

My Khaleesi, my wife, my queen had a birthday yesterday. Having balloons to use as props really just opens up a world of possibilities for these scavenger hunts.

In this adventure, she had to find three dragon eggs and then hatch them to reveal her final prize.  Unfortunately due to work, school and sport schedules it was after 8pm when we started, so the pictures are just quick snaps so we could get to cake and kids bedtimes.

The stallion that mounted the world shall not be, So reclaim your throne across the great sea. Don't walk in fire, though your grief my compell you, Break open the eggs and see what they tell you.

One thing I am really enjoying about scavenging with balloons is a big awkward piece of weirdness you have to wear as you hunt - this time it was Daenerys's hair, similar to Elsa hair that I had seen posted online, I only added the side whisps and a golden band to hold it together in back (only barely visible on the final picture).  I used Balloon Sage's wrist dragons, they were a great wearable to make scavenging even more good and awkward.

I was originally going to use Dan Staples Denzlo dragon for the hunt, but they end up quite big and I didn't have time to play around with them and finish up the clues.  They work great as teenagers though - I ended up taking them in to the office, giving the green one to the front desk who was immediately recognized as Pete's Dragon.

Queen of baby dragons	Queen of Teens
I am Daenerys Porkborn

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Other posts with Dan's designs:


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