March 1 - Princess Lily

"Take up your china doll it's only fractured - and just a little nervous from the fall" ~ Garcia/Hunter

This design is by Lily Tan and was featured in Balloon Magic magazine #80 along with a link to a video on how to create her life-sized doll as well. This form uses a geo for the skirt and is a quick build given the simple body. Although this design is fairly simple, there are a lot of good elements to pay attention to. The shoes give a nice flat surface to position things on, or you could use them as a point to tie the model onto things, the hair bangs create an interesting frame for the face and could be used for many styles.

Smooch!

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Other posts with Lily's designs:




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February 26 - Lion

"Simba... Let me tell you something that my father told me... Look at the stars.  The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars.  So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you...  And so will I."                  ~ Mufasa Again we revisit Balloon Magic magazine issue #79, most likely for the last time - but this is really a good issue!  Here is Lily Tan's lion.   It's cute and cartoonish, this is squeezable and huggable - which I think is somewhat her trademark. I really do like this creation, but I don't think I got the face right in these builds.  There is so much balloon around the cheeks that they droop.  I tried one where I made a smaller mane, but that took away from the overall effect.  I think if I made the whole head structure smaller, and made the outer bit of the mane softer, it could look a lot cleaner. As always, "my next build would be so much better!"

Tickle fight!

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Other posts with Lily's designs:


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February 15 - Monkey

"We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."

These monkey's were designed by Lily Tan - taken from Issue #79 of Balloon Magic magazine.  That issue is chock full of goodies!   I really like the look of this monkey, and you can make the arms long enough to wrap around someone or something for added cuteness.  In fact, you probably do want to do that - the way the tail attaches at the bottom makes it unable to stand on it's own.

The body style is similar to some bear bodies I've seen - with the bubbles running down and up the sides to form appendages.  So knowing that, as I look at it - I see 6 limbs total, arms hanging to the side and reaching up.  Can't unsee. :)

Boots?

A monkey on your back -- literally!

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Other posts with Lily's designs:





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January 15 - Penguin

Penguin design by Lily Tan from Balloon Magic #81

I have a folder dedicated to balloon art from Lily Tan.  She's an amazing and brilliant professional balloon artist from Singapore, has published a few books on balloon twisting, is in this years Guinness Book of World Records credited for creating "The world's largest three dimensional balloon sculpture" and is very often featured in Balloon Magic magazine.

I really like how squeezy-squishable-huggable this guy ended up.

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Other posts with Lily's designs:





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