September 8 - Owls

"The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders at our quaint spirits."

~ William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hearing an owl is like having hiccups.

I'll explain. 

There is a special thrill in hearing an owl, distinct from all other chattering/singing birds.  But there is a point in the silence that follows where you ponder the odd sound you just heard.  Waiting in cautious anticipation for proof that it's still there, kind of maybe wanting to hear a good loud one, wondering if that was the las... *HOOT!*  (-cup!)   🦉💕

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Sergey Loginov shared how he creates a one+ balloon owl.  I had almost forgotten how precise and well done his videos are, like a math professor showing some new trick with numbers.

(view other owls)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Sergey Loginov:

June 22 - Anagram Festival Colors

"A clever arrangement of bad eggs will never make a good omelet."

~ C.S. Lewis

Anagram generously included a big sampler pack of balloons at this year's Twist & Shout convention.   I usually avoid multicolor packs - I'm rarely looking for "any color".   But a mixed bag actually gives a decent generalized feel for the brand overall and it seemed like a perfect day to try out this rainbow assortment.

There is a stiffness you can feel when uninflated - if they were even possible to inflate by mouth, you would not look pretty trying.  

They are tight when inflated and it takes both of my hands squeezing to blurp the air down into the next uninflated section - so if you don't pre-inflate/release, you'll have to pay attention to not get an oddly uneven tail as is expands unpredictably.

Overall assessment - it's hard not to be comparative to other brands.  The colors are bright and nicely opaque, they stretched and softened easily after that initial tightness and withstood many abuses without ... report?  A good sponginess to twisting that in a few twists got tight and needed another blurp.  If you pre-stretch/inflated and used an electric pump, you could probably build a car engine with these balloons - but they're not for me.

The heart follows a Sergey Loginov design and the flowers are actually a section of Zoa Coral from Isopresso and the egg was originally from Chun-Lin Sung.

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Other "color day" balloons:

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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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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January 24 - Jake the Dog

Dude, suckin' at something is the first step to being sorta good at somethin'.

~ Jake Adventure Time

Adventure Time is one of the more awesome in the new breed of cartoons, always hilarious and at times poignant.  When I saw Sergey Loginov posted his version of Jake on his YouTube channel this morning (link), I knew I had to give it a go.

This was a little bit of a struggle to follow even with the captions, I would advise watching it completely first before twisting along, he does a few things that struck me as odd but then later had purpose. I thought I was pretty off target until I attached the muzzle and it locked everything in place.

... and it made me chuckle to imagine Purple as Lumpy Space Princess.

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Other posts with Sergey's designs:


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December 14 - Santas

He had a broad face
And a round little belly
That shook when he laughed
Like a bowl full of jelly

He was chubby and plump
A right jolly old elf
I laughed when I saw him
In spite of myself

~ 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

I just returned late from our Joy to the Season holiday concert, so I haven't had much spare time in the past couple days between that and our dress rehearsal.  So I turned to Sergey Loginov for another fantastic and quick balloon - these Santa.

I shouldn't shy away from line work balloons by the mere fact that they are simple in design, oftentimes they take advantage of balloons in ways that are more intuitive than you are required to be in a big build.  This is a good example, Sergey leaves enough air in places and pushes it around to other sections so you don't have to tear off and retie balloons to use in other sections.

I do not mean any offense by representing Santa's in other holidays of the season, I embrace corny ideas.  So I made one for Hanukkah, one for Kwanzaa and one representing Ded Moroz (the grandfather of Snegurochka).

I'm hanging four stockings this year!

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Other posts with Sergey's designs:


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December 11 - Snow Maiden

Remembering the games they used to play in their childhood, the old couple began to shape the snow into human form. By the time they had finished they were nearly frozen but the image of the young girl they had created was so beautiful, it was beyond description.

“See wife,” said the old man, “our daughter Snegurochka.” (Snow maiden.) The old woman smiled but as her husband turned away, there were tears in her eyes.

Father Frost felt pity for the old couple and, at that moment, he decided to create for them a daughter in his own spirit. He scratched his long white beard and pondered for a while before raising the great staff he carried into the air. A frizzle of magic ripped through the forest.

~ Excerpt from The Snow Maiden

Sergey Loginov is a constant contributor to the world of balloons, his YouTube channel is one of my favorites and it seems that he and Vyacheslav Andrienko have somewhat of a friendly rivalry going, oftentimes they each release their version of a topic.  This time it was for a Snow Maiden. I'm not claiming a favorite, they both do fantastic models and each in their own style - I merely lacked the right color quick link to copy Vyacheslav's design!

The Snow Maiden (Snegúrochka) is from a Russian fairy tale.  There are a few versions of the tale, but she is a child made out of snow and brought to life.  Hers is somewhat of a tragic tale as when she falls in love her heart warms and she melts. She is also said to be the granddaughter and helper of Ded Moroz, who is very similar to Father Christmas.

What I really like about this design by Sergey is the hair. The long braid going down the side not only looks fantastic for as simple as it is, but the design is such that it holds in place and doesn't untwist. It's one of those brilliant things that seem obvious once you're shown it.
I tried using the design to make a Mrs. Claus, but when I got to the hair it didn't seem right to give her the same long braid.  I also took advantage of the chance to practice princess eyes.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

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Other posts with Sergey's designs:


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October 7 - Pumpkin

This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

~ The Nightmare Before Christmas

Once again I'm going to keep today's balloon rather simple, as I spent much of my spare time this morning at an assisted living facility making balloons to the delight of some of the residents. This was a fun opportunity, the people were fantastic - oftentimes when I would finish a design it would be greeted with applause before being passed around the room for closer inspection. Hopefully I will be sent a few of the pictures and be able to talk about it in greater detail on here.

This pumpkin is one of Sergey Loginov's designs. I have learned a few pumpkins, but this one always stands out to me - it's got a fun personality.

Sergey is one of the best teachers on YouTube - innovative and such a unique style. Recently he has added subtitles to a lot of his videos, but even without them - he is very clear in his instructions, using a ruler and showing clearly with his special made balloon sizer the size of the bubbles to make. This is very important in some of his designs as some make precise use of the entire balloon with very little wiggle room. In fact, many of those designs do not work with Qualatex balloons and require the reliably longer length of Betallatex.

We're vine with you stalking us, just don't squash	My circumference is 3.14
Two pumpkins, one plumpkin and me...

Other posts with Sergey's designs:


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August 9 - Olympic Rings

Gergő-ish

... the six colors [including the flag's white background] combined in this way reproduce the colors of every country without exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and white of Greece, the tri-colors of France and Serbia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, America, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Hungary, and the yellow and red of Spain, are placed together with the innovations of Brazil or Australia, with old Japan, and with new China. Here is truly an international symbol.

~ Baron Pierre de Coubertin, co-founder of the modern Olympic Games

I got a little distracted watching the Olympics and I didn't get a chance to build what I originally planned.  We are a few days into the games and already records have been smashed, the next generation of heroes have staked their claims on being the fastest or best in the world.  After some amazing swimming, USA is tied with China at 5 gold medals each - and Australia following closely behind.

Here is the current metal rankings:

Country	Gold	Total
USA	5	19
China	5	13
Japan	3	10
Russia	2	10
Italy	3	9
Australia	4	7

Sergey Loginov has an Olympic ring video companion to his torch.  This entry is "roughly based" on that.   I tried building this while watching synchronized diving, and this is one not designed for "winging it".  It's wonky looking, I should have measured. Thankfully Gergő Csatai just recently posted one more conducive to winging, similar to the top image.  That one was built during a few swimming finals. Finally David Lima showed a technique for making the smaller ring/buttons at the jam.  But I will talk more about him soon.  Now I sleep.

Sergey-ish

Do you know how to inflate these things?

August 6 - Olympic Torch

Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. In one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?

~ Eminem Lose Yourself

I'm going to take a quick break from posting designs I learned at the Bling Bling Jam, I've caught Olympic fever!

I love the Olympics, it is such a globally unifying event.  As I write this, the opening ceremony introduction has just ended and the parade of nations has begun.  All over the world people are waiting for the heroes that will represent their country to arrive.

I know there will be highly produced, overtly dramatic segments surrounding our athletes - but as much as I know it's designed to tug on my heart strings.  It works.  I place myself in the shoes of the parents and swell with the shared pride.

It doesn't matter who stands on top of the podium, when the winning country's anthem is played, when the cameras pan on Mom & Dad, when the winners close their eyes to keep it inside and their face breaks just a little -- the entire world is holding it's breath.  If there's magic in a moment, it's right then.

This Olympic torch was designed by Sergey Loginov for his YouTube channel (link) with subtitles, which he has been doing more frequently.  Sergey does a fantastic job of explaining the precise sizes of things regardless of language using his rulers.

I had a flame print Quicklink spray in a bag of junk from Bling Bling Jam I thought I would try, and it ended up looking like those weirdly special aerodynamic torches they use nowadays for the runners.

*huff huff*  Just a little *huff* further...  *huff huff*

Other posts with Sergey's designs:


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March 21 - Sergey's Bunny

Q: How do you catch a unique rabbit? A: Unique up on it!

Q: How do you catch a tame rabbit? A: Tame way, unique up on it!



Today marks the beginning of a week long project leading up to Easter, where every day will be a different type of rabbit.  We are going on vacation at the end of this week - I had to get a few balloons set proactively, so I made it easy on myself.  This should actually be a fun exercise - I know what I'm going to create for Easter and only a few others currently...

Sergey Loginov shared this on YouTube and is somehow able to create this (minus the nose and eyes) out of one balloon.  But it just goes to show how precise he is with his twisting.

Stu	This rabbit-ly got out of hand!

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Other posts with Sergey's designs:




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February 4 - Heart

Sergey is a Russian balloon artist that posts interesting designs quite frequently on his YouTube channel.

This heart is from his collection and he has a lot of designs that are interesting weaves like this one.  In fact, one of his earliest videos is for a 'nanotube' I used frequently for practice when I started, it requires you to make 24 tiny exact sized bubbles.

One thing I really enjoy from his videos are that he uses a self-made foam bubble ruler to get very precise sizes to his viewers.  It speaks to my Origami-need-for-precision.

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