May 19 - Chris Cornell

When the forest burns along the road
Like God's eyes in my headlights
When the dogs are looking for their bones
And it's raining ice picks on your steel shore

I'm gonna break I'm gonna break my
I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run

~ Soundgarden Rusty Cage

R.I.P. Chris Cornell (July 20, 1964 – May 17, 2017)

I first discovered Soundgarden in college when grunge metal was a new thing, Badmotorfinger was one of the tapes I bought with my Columbia Tape & Record club subscription if anyone remembers that (11 for a penny).

Today I watched the video of his last performance, the night before he passed, perhaps trying to find some clue or look or something that would say it was his last day.  Nothing.  He was soulful, heartfelt - he was a superstar.

Thank you for all you shared with us in your music.  You had one of the most impassioned rock voices, such an incredible singer and one of the architects in the evolution of grunge rock, the world is much poorer for your leaving.  \m/

This balloon is derivative of Scott Lanham's beefcake form, it was a good lesson in proportion - his head is already a bit small for the body style.  I had built the guitar first and it was over-sized so it made his head look super tiny in comparison.  I ended up making the smaller acoustic guitar to match a little better - which is effectively Dylan Gelinas's ukulele with only a minor change..

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Other posts with the Lanham's Beefcakes:

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February 9 - Stormtrooper Finn

Poe Dameron: Wha- why? Why are you helping me?
Finn: Because it's the right thing to do.
Poe Dameron: You need a pilot.
Finn: ... I need a pilot.

~ Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I wanted to put this into a separate post because I will be using this body type as a balloon concept as soon as I finish a few other posts. The head design is obviously from yesterday's Mr. Boma post, this body is from a design Scott Lanham taught in a webinar last year (link). I really like the large pecs, and though there are some similarities, I see it as an upgrade from the Ken Stillman superhero body type.

I don't know if any other balloon artists experience this, but my kids have had enough balloons. "Ugh, no Dad - I don't want balloons at my party" was what I heard repeatedly leading up to the event. My youngest was a big fan of The Force Awakens and FN-2187 in particular, if you asked him how he liked the movie he would invariably say "Finn for the win!"

I built this for him the morning of his birthday party and knowing that I frequently bring random balloons to businesses, he suggested that the people who work at Defy Gravity would probably really like to have it.

Perhaps he saw my face fall a bit, perhaps he heard a slight pause before my "okay", but it was then - the day of his party, that he said he wanted me to make some balloons at his party. But those I will have to share tomorrow...

	Move along!
I'm full of meta-Kylo Ren's

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Other posts with Scott's designs:


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March 9 - Lion Cub

“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”
     ~ Augustine of Hippo

This was a lion cub design that Scott Lanham showed us in a webinar this last Sunday.  The design was for Kion from the Lion King 2, Simba's son.  I didn't make the red tuft of hair on the top of his head because I thought he said crown and I thought that sounded a a little corny (plus I was busy fixing some other stuff).  I didn't realize until after the webinar who Kion was ...

So for now this is just "lion cub".

"Just look away while I pull this out ..."

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Other posts with Scott's designs:





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March 8 - Superhero

"This is my gift, my curse.
Who am I?  I'm Spiderman."

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards.  They will race behind you.  They will stumble, they will fall.  But in time, they will join you in the sun.  In time, you will help them accomplish wonders." ~ Jor-El 

Scott Lanham taught us his superhero design on a webinar this last Sunday.  He has posted a few Deadpool images recently on Facebook, so I was looking forward to see how he constructs his.

This is a nice and big sculpture when you're done, probably 3 feet tall.   I like the form and feel like it could be very versatile, so I tried making a super pig.   I like how it turned out - sort of like a Pigs in Space pig.  My complication with the design seems to be in getting the crotch situated right.  I tried eliminating one of the pinch twists when building the super-pig, but that made it even more awkwardly bowlegged.

I am the squeal in the night ...

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Other posts with Scott's designs:





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