September 15 - Lion Bubble Buddy

"The holder of authority is like the rider on a lion - he is envied for his position, but he well knows his position."

~ Ali ibn Abi Talib

English has narrowed the meaning of "jungle" over time to be a dense tropical forest.  But it was originally used in reference any wilderness or uncultivated lands.

Also, "King of the Jungle" sounds a lot more regal than "King of the Scrublands".

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Here is another Bubble Buddy example from the Balloon Brothers, this oversized lions mane works well for the head, and using a wider body base helps balance out the body.

(view other lions)

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Other balloons by and inspired by The Balloon Brothers:

May 26 - Dome Head Rhino & Lion

“If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.”

~ Steve Irwin

The rhino and lion are a couple of the other creatures taught by the Balloon Brothers for their Geo Domes tutorials.  An honest assessment would be that the form is versatile but limited by available balloons.  Grey/Mocha/Beige would really open up some greater possibilities.

One thing that I'm not a big fan of, and perhaps it's my internal-origami purist, is using glue dots.  They work great as a convenience, but create their own problems.  Something attached in a more traditional way has the ability for some fine-tuned motion around the connection point, something stuck with a glue dot has to be set up perfectly from the start or you have a slow ... risky ... repair.

I had misgivings about the angle of the ears on the purple rhino and didn't want to risk it.


(view other rhinocerous. lions)

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Other balloons by and inspired by the Balloon Brothers:

April 24 - Li'l Big Cats

That bungled goodbye hurts me to this day. I wish so much that I'd had one last look at him in the lifeboat, that I'd provoked him a little, so that I was on his mind. I wish I had said to him then - yes, I know, to a tiger, but still - I wish I had said, "Richard Parker, it's over. We have survived. Can you believe it? I owe you more gratitude than I can express I couldn't have done it without you. I would like to say it formally: Richard Parker, thank you. Thank you for saving my life."

~ Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Such a powerful movie and a moving scene, I need a moment ...  These are inspired by Jackie Ochitwa's class and a wavy orange balloon.

I wasn't content with how I got the ears to fit into the base, so I built lions instead using a similarly styled muzzle.

At some point Qualatex decided they needed balloons with waves on them and around that same point in time, my compulsion made me get some.  I have 4 bags of various colors, and I think I have probably used 4 total balloons out of them.

You can imagine how excited I was when I got to use one for this li'l tiger.   ... so .. 5.



(view other lions, tigers)

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Other Jackie Ochitwa inspired balloons:

February 25 - Dorb Circus Animals

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.

~ Ethiopian Proverb

I've had these images for a little bit now and neglected to post them.  Here are some Dorb circus or safari-type animals using the basic design Buster Balloon shows in his latest tutorials.

The elephant is one that he demonstrates on the videos and the lion is one that he describes.  I thought I would make a quick tiger to lock in the design, as these use all the most generic body style.

My first attempt at the elephant I with for a basic 4-leg body, but the head assembly attachment point confounds it in a way as to have the head pointed straight down.  Adding a bit of a neck helped, but too much neck looked weird on an elephant and too little neck still angled the head weirdly.  I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board for that one I think.

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Other Dorb balloon designs:

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November 28 - Chibicoro Wizard of Oz

“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?”

~ L. Frank Baum
  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Since the Chibicoro form is rather small and quickly built, I've been looking for groups of characters to build.  Which is why I settled on these Oz characters.

The Wizard of Oz was one of the staples movies of most of our childhoods, but one of the guilty pleasures I had growing up was reading almost the entire series of L. Frank Baum Oz books.  It was a collection that my mother owned and these were the days before you could click your heels three times to get another book downloaded on your tablet, or ordered for delivery the following day.

My favorite Oz book, however - was actually written by Science Fiction/Fantasy author Philip José Farmer, Barnstormer of Oz.  It was a story of a pilot who inadvertently crossed over to Oz and took a realistic(?) look at things as they were described in the original story.  Finding fault with the tale and searching for the truths behind the story.

One such story that blew my young teen mind was that of the Tin Man.  The protagonist (name eludes me) reasoned that the Tin Man's story of rusting in the woods was false.  If you cut off a leg and replace it with a tin leg, you are still you.  If you cut off your arm and replace it, the same.  You could cut off body part after body part - but what about your heart, or your head?  At what point are you not you?  He confronted the good witch with this and she confessed that she used her magic to imbue him into the armor and left him rusted on the path for Dorothy to find on her journey.

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Other Chibicoro balloon designs:

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March 23 - Little Lion

Hela hey mamela, hela hey mamela
Hela hey mamela, hela hey mamela

He lives in you, he lives in me
He watches over everything we see
Into the waters, into the truth
In your reflection, he lives in you

~ Lion King He Lives In You

This lion is one of the last couple of Matt Falloon's Picos I'll be doing. I really do love the challenge of doing them and they're fun to build.  They would be perfect for any sort of quick work situation, and truth told I'm probably spending more of my time playing with image programs than I am building balloons.

I thought a lion's mane would be another good use of the way Matt gets ears to fit and give an interesting shape to the bear. I ended up struggling a bit on the yellow lion to get them to pressure fit, but I think I like them even better on the inside.

The Purple of Life

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Other Picos:


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March 5 - Rolly Pollie Tiger

Our noblest hopes grow teeth and pursue us like tigers.

~ John Gardner

I have been playing more with Dan Staples Rolly Pollie concept and Lindsey Foster's faces.

I have pulled out all of the random Big Bear Head balloons that I have amassed over the years from various jam packs and convention leftovers. So after watching the lion video, I noticed I had one orange one and thought I would try for a tiger. I think it ended up looking rather nice, but as I only had the one orange (and these aren't the most pose-able balloons for pictures), I figured I would make the lion as well for the added practice.

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Other posts with the Dan's Rolly Pollies:


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January 20 - Lion

"Simba, let me tell you something 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 The Lion King

I've been on this "Truscheit-style" kick for a while, but they are just so cute!

Maybe I'll just do a couple more - I am heading out of town for a few days for an early celebration of my mom's birthday, so I need to make a few to be set to go while I'm away.

This baby lion is one Linda Truscheit created and I have saved in my inspiration folder for her. I think this style is one of the best to create that innocent baby face this lion has. I ended up bringing these two to Starbucks and they were cuddled immediately (as they should be!), it was amusing to see someone try to operate a cash register with a baby lion under each arm.

Balloona-Matata - what a wonderful phrase!

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Other posts with Truscheit-style:


Show all Truscheit-style designs

January 6 - Unsmooshable Lion

“Courage~ What makes the flag on the mast to wave? What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot?~Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz”

― L. Frank Baum The Wizard of Oz

The next in the line of unsmooshables is a lion.

I should point out that I'm not doing these with any sort of rhyme, reason or agenda -- I'm grabbing a color I haven't used before from my bag and deciding what it might be at that point.

The first built this time was the one with the extra long black nose and no tongue.  He sort of looks like he has a receding hairline.  I didn't change much in the second build except make the cheeks a little bit smaller and clean things up.

I really like the look adding the legs gives in a sitting pose.  I'm sure this would look fine in a standing pose like the earlier entries, but those tend to be more cartoonish.

We should go to the maul food court if you're hungry ...

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Other 'Unsmooshable' posts:


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September 24 - Sweet Lion

“Courage~
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot?

~ L. Frank Baum The Wizard of Oz

I only have a couple more balloons left to build from Eric Weinstein's Sweet Cheeks Volume 2 - I can't decide if I'm happy or sad to be finishing, I guess it's a little of both.

These designs are so adorable and smooshy-cheek cute that they are fun to give away - people always seem to be amazed! 😄 If you are a twister and don't own this video yet, you are really missing out.  Even for us non professional balloon artists, you will make your money back easily - the folks at my local Starbucks forced me to put my money away.

This Lion is one of the more involved creations on the video and does take a little bit of finesse, but the effort is worth it, it makes people squeal with delight.

Since Qualatex doesn't make a goldenrod heart - I was forced to use an under inflated round.  Despite the cheeks being a slight bit oblong, it worked perfectly.

One more to go!

Welcome to the mane event!	Simba down, I can Mufasa
Some cute lions!  ... I'm not lyin' ..

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Recent posts with Eric's designs:


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June 2 - Simba

Oh yes, the past can hurt,
But the way I see it, you can either
run from it or learn from it.
~ Rafiki

Today is graduation day:

Both of my boys are at a transitional point, my oldest is moving on to high school after being part of the Montessori school system for over 10 years, while my youngest is heading to middle school.  My little goofy goobers are turning into fine young men, one day they will be sitting with their young cubs looking at the stars and talking about the great kings that came before.

(Has any Dad ever watched that scene with dry eyes?  Not this guy ...)

Simba is the first creation from Eric Weinstein's PDF Live Balloons #7 - this is a nice big fat display piece with a prideful chubby chest.  It's not a very complicated build but the effect is powerful with something this size.

I like this style of back leg - but I'm not sure I care for the back feet coming out from the center point.  On future builds I might set them out a bit from the body.  Also, with double pinch twists at the bottom, you can tell from the bottom image - he's looking a little "male"  ...

I would never bite you ...	... but a Tiger Woods.
Everything the light touches is our kingdom ...

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Other posts with Eric'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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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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