June 10 - Giant Roses

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

~ Dōgen Zenji

Catching up on more older posts, yesterday I showed what I made for my mom on Mother's day -- here is what I made for my wonderful wife.  This flower design was by Chun-Lin, Sung taught in his Hahow classes.

It's a fun weave in that I don't think you have to stress too hard about sizing like in some weaves, after all - it's a flower and needs that organic look anyways.

I also built some chrome flowers for hanging above our door outside thinking that they would be hearty.   Chrome is not metal, it seemed like they fared worse than normal balloons, they immediately oxidized and looked terrible, taken down before morning even.

(view other flowers)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Chun-Lin, Sung:

June 9 - Flower Basket

“A fallen blossom

returning to the bough, I thought --

But no, a butterfly.”

~ Arakida Moritake, Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology

Irina Lobanova is an amazing a prolific Russian balloon artists that I have followed for a while on Instagram.  She had been creating Instagram Live videos and then offering them for view/purchase later - I caught the tail end of this one and love the basket weave pattern so I contacted her back before Mother's Day.

The red flowers I made for my mother for Mother's Day and sent a photo.

The rainbow flowers were made for my wife for our quaranteenniversary.

Those flowers need special mention.  Irina demonstrated making a 9-petal flower like it was the easy.  6 petals are typical, good pressure and flower shape - the amount of pressure between the petals of a 9-petal flower is so great you have to have a very precise amount of sizing/stretch/pressure.  I tried throughout the red flowers and only succeeded in one lumpy one.  More success in the rainbow flowers, but I cheated and used two balloons on each.

(view other flowers)

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April 13 - Fauxlaf Flowers

Original for reference

"I like worms!"

~ Fauxlaf

I went a little bit crazy with the markers on this one.   In hindsight it probably would have been better to have a blue background, perhaps some grass.  But I would have had to paint over the mouth and the black circle kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

You can still see the faint outline of his mouth.

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Other Fauxlaf balloons:

March 12 - Sunflower

They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're altogether ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
When people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

~ The Addams Family Theme

Last night we went to a production of The Addams Family at my older son's school. He was an usher and one of his good friends was in the cast, so he insisted that I make some balloon flowers for her. ... okay, okay. I offered and he said "sure", which for him is about as animated of an affirmative response as I can expect.

The play was fantastic, Gomez was incurably romantic, Fester was horribly wonderful, Morticia was wonderfully horrible, the sets, the songs - it was ... to die for. Muahahahhahahaaaaaa!

The sunflowers in the bouquet is a Sergey Loginov design from last year (link).  Sergey is great resources when you're looking for intermediate level balloons. He has been making balloon videos for quite some time that he has a substantial library - as an example, this is just one of three (maybe more?) designs he has shared for sunflowers alone.

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Other posts with Sergey's designs:


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October 30 - Audrey II

I've given you sunlight
I've given you rain
Looks like you're not happy
'Less I open a vein!
I'll give you a few drops
If that'll appease
Oh please-
Oh oh oh please-
Grow for me?

~ Little Shop of Horrors Grow For Me

Tatyana DjeTa Lyashko has another amazing design in her Halloween PDFs. I delayed building this until I had all the proper supplies assembled, and once again this a very educational experience and certainly pushed me to the edge of my abilities. I shouted out in dismay a few times while building it as things weren't coming together.

I am not complaining though, it really is a fantastic opportunity to practice things. Though I might understand a concept upon reading or first use, it takes a lot of applied practice to get the nuances of it. There are complications that I had to work through five times, and by the fifth time I was doing it quite well.

This was a gigantic balloon to suspend on just a small plant stem, I wouldn't have considered it possible without Tatyana's directions on how to defy gravity.

One more until Halloween!

Feed me, Seymour!	<<burp>>  What kid?
I tiptoed through his two lips...

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Other posts with Tatyana's designs: Show all

August 2 - Rose Under Glass

"Thorns don't stop you from sniffing. Or putting them in a vase on the kitchen table. You work around them.... Cause the rose is worth it... Think what you'd miss.”

~ Charles Martin

Paul Belanger is another one of those "names I should have known".  He has been an active balloon twister for years and has even worked at the White House.  He has pictures upon pictures of amazing costumes and creations he has done at his events, oftentimes mixing his passions of riding a unicycle or walking on stilts in a balloon costume.

He taught two classes at Bling Bling Jam - one on balloon costumes, and a second showing some balloon toys of his.  Paul is made for the stage - watching him is watching an act that has been honed through years of practice and a love for performing.  His balloon toys were brilliant, and I also discovered he is the creator of this awesome tiny rose.

I had seen images of others creating this, such a nice little display.

I'm playing with colors a little bit - using opposing colors for the base.

We can't really finish the rainbow until we figure out where Indy went ... where would Indy go ...?	Since we oppose, I propose to be the rose... ... I suppose... OUCH! your on my nose!
I don't know, maybe it was the roses... All I know I could not leave her there.

May 21 - Desktop Garden

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
~ Maya Angelou

Just recently Helen Budinger posted a model of a small garden, and I knew it would be perfect to build for the office, ideal for displaying on a counter top or desk.  So nicely framed with the dandelion center! This model uses a weave Helen had showed me at a while back that makes for a great display stand as well as many other things.

I would probably not be doing balloons at this point if it weren't for Helen.  She was instrumental in encouraging me to bring them to places when I was too shy or thought that they weren't good enough.  I had no idea how well they would be received or the amount of joy it would bring ME to give them away.    THANK YOU!

Accidental Rainbow

In that spirit - I figured it would be appropriate to show that these went to good homes.

For the offices.	At the Dentist.
Choir re-audition bribe (no action shot here, but it worked!)
Clownin' around!

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Other posts with Helen's designs:


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May 8 - Garden - Orchid

"Hush now, baby, baby, don't you cry
Mama's gonna check out all your
      girlfriends for you
Mama won't let anyone dirty get through
Mama's gonna wait up till you get in
Mama will always find out where you've been
Mamma's gonna keep baby healthy and clean
Ooooh, babe, ooooh, babe, ooooh, babe
You'll always be a baby to me"

Happy Mothers Day!

Today Mothers all over are waking up to flowers, 2500 miles away I send these instead and will build something bigger when you arrive!

My mom.  A garden is completely appropriate design to build for my mother, who has the greenest thumb you can imagine.  At one point while growing up we lived in Colorado with about a 30' x 30' garden.  This thing was huge, and heavily used - I remember on the few occasions I had to water by hand it felt like I stood there hours.










Recently she's taken to converting their tiny suburban back lawn into her own private jungle paradise, but not stopping there she has a windowsill full of orchids.

My mom is quite possibly the Mother Nature.

I love you, Mom!  Up to the sky, around the world - to infinity and back again!

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This design is all Helen Budinger.

Helen is a fantastic person, so supportive of not just me - but to all of us timidly bearing our souls with our art.  I credit her with giving me the confidence to bring those first few balloons in to school and work, I remember that nervous or embarrassed feeling as I imagined people thinking "why would I want that?"   Now if I show up where I have set balloon precedent empty handed ... I gots some splainin' to do.

Helen is my favorite person to learn any balloon technique from, because it means I'm seeing her in person.  She has never taught a balloon class or released any instructions, but has taught so much and is so helpful in the convention jam rooms that she deserves an instructors badge anyways!

She is also the one of the reasons I use Facebook again, about once a week Helen shares another inspirational image from her balloon garden - oftentimes a beautiful blooming balloon bouquet scene.  I have a folder full of these saved to attempt at some point, but this is the first time I've tried anything.

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Other posts with Helen's designs:


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January 27 - Lily

Flower ("Lily of the Valley") instructions provided by Russian balloon artist Sergey Loginov

One of the things I really enjoy about Sergey Loginov's videos is the level of detail he includes on the twists.  Some of his videos I use as exercises on consistent bubble size and pressure, and many require some precision - he is like an origami master in the balloon world.  He uses Betallatex, and oftentimes every inch of balloon - some designs require slight adjustments (extra balloons) so you don't fight with overtight overstretched Qualatex.

"Bring your pet" day at the office