December 19 - Hippo

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

On the fourth day of Twistmas,

Balloon Guy made for meeeeeeee!

Ballerina Hippo ..

.. Beaver stealing candy

.. Moose with lights in antlers

.. And a penguin looking Christmas-yyyyy!

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This was one of the faces that I really looked forward to in Patrick's Holy Snail designs, simply because of the ink work.  So simple and effective IMHO.  (In my hippopotamus opinion.)

(view other hippos)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

June 6 - Palm Trees

Focus on this moment. Hold your hand and see what it feels like. Go look at some grass. Talk to a palm tree. Outrun a Ferrari. Experience life.

~ Frederick Lenz

Sergey Loginov shared this design recently on his YouTube channel (link).  Sergey is an amazing force of nature, extremely creative and consistantly gifting new balloon art to the world.

In similar fashion to my comments on balloon art with a story from yesterday, I love how he shared his recent two creations using the image of a hippo (link) standing on an island with the palm tree.  Why is there a hippo standing on a small island with a palm tree?  A fantastic point to ponder and makes you think - suddenly the balloon art becomes more than a palm tree and a hippo.

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Other posts with Sergey's designs:

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September 23 - Boma's Hippo

I love you You love me
We're a happy family
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.
Won't you say you love me too

~ Barney I Love You

Mr. Boma (Jerome Santucci) released another great design on YouTube recently of this hippopotamus.  Mr. Boma's videos are almost all fantastic and this is no exception, and if you are his supporter of his Patreon account - you will get early access to his latest creations!

This hippo looks like a baby, so add +5 adorable points, especially with that bow in it's hair.  Mr. Boma also suggested in the video that it could be a good form for Barney, so built one in those colors to play - and in the spirit of most YouTube comments, someone made the same suggestion as well.  Both are right I think. :)

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, Whoever came up with it didn't have the disease!  (link)	When a hippo is angry at you, his ears wiggle - or so says EVERY JUNGLE CRUISE driver
Barney - the difference between Jurrassic Park and your ass kicked park.

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Other posts with Mr Boma's designs:


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September 2 - Sweet Hippo

Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood.

~ Augustine of Hippo

I feel need to clarify something.  When I wrote yesterday that Eric Weinstein's Sweet Cheeks looks like it was filmed in a prison, it was meant to be playful.  In no way did I mean anything negative about the content, the instructions are perfectly clear and I really do like that he does it in one take and makes repairs as needed.  You can tell by the list at the bottom of this post that I'm a huge fan.

You should also be able to tell from these images that the video is a very worthwhile investment if you are a balloon artist.

I really love the look of this hippopotamus, the big smooshy face and teeth, the eyebrows, the ears - it all works so well.  The one thing I struggle with in these sweet cheek designs though are the feet.  I really need to figure out something better than these boots.  Thankfully this hippo looks great popping out of the water.

I had a last minute deflation when attaching the mocha hippo to the Geo, but using a fresh balloon gave a fantastic shape to the body.  It's my favorite of the bunch.

I timed myself building the yellow spotted pig.  This was only the third I have built, I have never practiced 'speed twisting', and despite having to fix a mistake of under filling one of the balloons - the whole thing, including waiting for white marker to dry, took just over 8 minutes.  That was with the extra work of attaching a Geo base as well, I already have in mind a few things I would do next time if going for speed.  But like Howlin' Wolf - I'm built for comfort, not for speed (link)  ...

Spongebobopotamus	I'm Henry - and I'm hungry hungry!
It would be hippo-critical to call him fat ...

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Other posts with Eric's designs:


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June 10 - Geo Hippo

Dorothy: Your Majesty, if you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?
Cowardly Lion: Not nobody! Not nohow!
Tin Woodsman: Not even a rhinoceros?
Cowardly Lion: Imposerous!
Dorothy: How about a hippopotamus?
Cowardly Lion: Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottomus!

Geo Hippo is probably one of my favorite uses of the flowerbud design by Matt Falloon.  A geo works *perfect* for the nose and the flowerbud body is wonderfully stocky, but my favorite part is definitely the goofy teeth poking through the bottom.

There's two important things I'd like to note about hippopotamus:
First, they are endangered. Their habitats are set upon by humans through farming and war and poachers kill them for their ivory tusks and for sport.

Secondly, they are not the cute chubby creatures that they look like or are protrayed in cartoons. We all know from the Jungle Cruise that they're angry when they wiggle their ears, but they are one of the more aggressive creatures in the world and one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Even on land it can outpace a human at 30mph (though more likely it would be running towards water...).

These are some hip-hopopotamus!

Hippo, Hippie	No no, we're not from Hungary Hungary ...
My rhymes are bottomless!

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Other posts with Matt's designs:


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March 28 - Hippo

"A hippo sandwich is easy to make,
all you do is simply take,
One slice of bread, one slice of cake,
Some mayonaise, one onion ring,
One hippopotamus, one piece of string,
A dash of pepper, that outta do it.
And now comes the problem ... biting into it!"
  ~ Shel Silverstein

Dee White shared this hippo design in issue #51 of Balloon Magic Magazine. It's very simple in form, the only "complexity" would be the deep tulip twists for the ears, and with Lima showing us all the new sexy way to that, this is very quick.

"You sure are a cool Opotomus!"