October 11 - The Twist of Madness

It was some days ago when I first encountered what I would come to know as the Twist of Madness.

I had seen the spiral before, of course.  For years I had studied its impossibly tight coils, and even when shown the technique firsthand, some essential truth of its construction had remained beyond my understanding.

Then I found that Facebook video so casually labelled, "Pip's Twirl & Curl Balloon Twisting Technique".

Disturbingly simple. Distressingly addictive.  Diabolically hard to perfect.  A twisting geometry that could only be described as non-Euclidean.

Suddenly I understood what no human mind was ever meant to comprehend.

I made another.  And another. 

My fingers are raw.  I think they've begun to change.  I haven't slept in days.  There are spirals everywhere.  I know now that I shall never be free of them.

May the gods forgive me, I have started another...

Sure seems like our resident twister ... Loves craftin', 
Round and round he goes, where the madness stops, nobody knows!

Mwahahahahahaa! *snort*

(view other Pippity-Pop inspired balloons!)

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Tales from the Other Other Side of the Sty:

January 21 - Twisting and Shouting - Day 4

Poppies red and roses filled with summer rain.
To heal the wound and still the pain,
That threatens again and again,
As you drag down every lover's lane.

~ Jethro Tull Songs From the Wood

I just walked in the room after saying goodbye on the last day of Twist & Shout, it's after midnight - so after 3am with the time difference, so I this will probably be brief.

This Poppy troll was taught by Pip Milford Hughes in her session as a last minute replacement for a flower design since there were already a couple similar classes, and because she is awesome.  This design has a nice solid way to attach the neck and I think the hair is particularly fantastic - but I think I would attend all of her classes just to hear her talk (not to mention she brings chocolates).

This is the scene I'm leaving to tip the hotel staff (without the pig).

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Other balloon designs by Pip:

November 19 - Pip's Sheep

“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.”

~ Osho, Courage The Joy of Living Dangerously

Here is another creation from Pip Milford-Hughes, Pippity-Pop! - from her recent release Loving Line Work (link) , Baaaaaaarbara Sheep.

Pip really has a great collection of fast to build, yet still very cute animals.  This one could easily be built in under two minutes if practiced, maybe less.  Even though I almost never twist in a line type situation, it's great to have something so quickly/easily built that has a nice impact.

The instructions taught the white wool sheep, I changed some colors around to build the black wool.

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Other balloon designs by Pip:

October 18 - Pip's Cat

If cats looked like frogs we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That’s what people remember.

~ Terry Pratchett

This is another one from Pippity Pop's Loving Line Work instructions.  Pip does another great job at showing a quickly made, yet attractive cat. One of the common problems when making something with four legs is that unless they are attached to each other in some way, they splay out - I really like the way Pip keeps everything tight to the body and builds only the important features.

I felt a black cat was again one that was somewhat appropriate for the upcoming holiday, but when I used all black, it didn't read very well and I changed the nose to pink and added the white paws.

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Other balloon designs by Pip:

October 17 - Pip's Spider

Out in the night
Glaring eyes in darkness
Tigers want to fight
Out in the night
Spiders all around you
Spinning webs and make you pray
Tie you up and you can't get away

~ Scorpions Bad Boys Running Wild

I was looking around the tutorials that I haven't used yet and ran across this one from Pippity Pop's recent release, Loving Line Work -- I felt like a spider would be appropriate as we're getting closer to Halloween.

True to the title, this can be made very quickly and would be quite suitable for linework.  It has big cartoonish eyes and fits perfectly as a wrist wearable balloon.  'Cute spider' is a very rare pairing of words - but I think it fits here.

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Other balloon designs by Pip:

August 16 - Pips Plane

~ Ninja Pop

Pip Milford-Hughes, perhaps better known as Pippity Pop, just released her balloon tutorials! (link)

I have had the great fortune of learning from Pip in person at Bling Bling Jam last year, and earlier in a webinar - so I knew it was destined to be something great. Pip is the balloon artist who works on the wildly popular Zoo Moo TV show providing the balloon art for "Ninja Pop", the balloon twisting gorilla.

This is the only video that I've looked at so far in the set so far. It was made in haste late at night when I realized I hadn't made a balloon for the office yet - and I think it fit the bill perfectly.  I made a quick prototype in orange and then made the desktop model in green.

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Other balloon designs by Pip:

September 18 - Baby Ambassadors

“When a child is born its sense-organs are brought in contact with the outer world. The waves of sound, heat and light beat upon its feeble body, its sensitive nerve-fibres quiver, the muscles contract and relax in obedience: a gasp, a breath, and in this act a marvelous little engine, of inconceivable delicacy and complexity of construction, unlike any on earth, is hitched to the wheel-work of the Universe.”

~ Nikola Tesla

Yesterday I was invited to participate in a Baby Ambassador event put on by the Top Ladies of Distinction (http://www.tlodinc.org/), a non-profit humanitarian organization.

This event in particular is celebrating and bringing awareness to infant health and promoting healthy children through all areas of critical development and is a fundraiser for the March of Dimes and a local community playground. Children and their families participate in providing education and resources to achieve and maintain health for their children.

The original task was to create centerpieces for the function, and if there was any extra time - maybe something a little more exciting to encourage patron generosity. The centerpieces use Juan Gonzales's baby design tide to a few clusters of balloons. This was the first time I've tried to make any sort of decor like this, and my first time working with tulle and ribbon accessories. I think it was pretty effective - but I would probably draw another face on the backside to make it visible from all sides.

Issue #83 of Balloon Magic Magazine included with it a bonus video by Pippity-Pop of a baby in a small bundle, perfect for being carried by a stork - I thought they would make good photo accessories or nice giveaways. I also built a bassinet out of quick links for a few of Phileas Flash's babies inside.

All of the balloons were very well received, I had to scramble away early since my youngest was performing that afternoon at an art/street festival. I hope the event was a great success! Thanks Bridggette!

We ordered womb service for four ...	Babies - feeding the hand that bites you
I think they like my jokes, they haven't fully groaned yet.

August 8 - Pip's Rabbit

"The man who chases two rabbits, catches neither."

 ~ Confuscius

Pip Milford-Hughes (Pippity-Pop!) taught two classes at Bling Bling Jam -  first she showed her flower vase and talked about delivery pieces, her second involved line twisting and maintaining your work area without kid invasion, but also included a few quicker designs to use in those situations.

This rabbit is one of those.  After a full week of rabbit puns and nonsense around Easter, I was a bit hesitant to do another, but it was definitely my favorite.

Pip radiates fun, and her class was hilarious.  The word for the day was "wee", it took a moment to realize she meant small, but then we were off to the races.  Make a wee bubble, a wee pinch twist, another wee bubble and attach to the first wee bubble, etc.

I have to include this little bit since it cracked my 12 year old up.  One of Pip's methods for line closing is to stamp the letter P on those waiting - and in her words, "Those that have been P'd on get a balloon."

We had met online earlier, and I wanted to introduce myself in person - but I sort of hid from Pip for the first few days of the jam (smile and melt into the wall method) because I had a birthday package to deliver to her and through a series of unfortunate mail events, it didn't arrive until Wednesday.

Someone shouted out in the lesson that that it would make a good Snowball, so I tried.  The mouth should probably be bigger - but pretty good without reference.  I also tried making a big smooshy one by up-sizing - it's a bit hard to tell without any context, so my favorites are the quick and simple versions.

Thanks Pip!

Yeah? Let's see how lucky it is #@#$@*# in your $*&^*@ #$#*! (held in your right hand)	Big Smooshy
Pippity-Pop's Hippity Hop

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Other posts with Pip's designs:


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May 26 - Kiwi

That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent. ~ Proverb

I'm still having fun working my way through this issue of Balloon Magic magazine #83 -- this time it's Realistic Kiwi by Pippity Pop.

I know very little about kiwis, I don't even know if you're supposed to peel the fruit or just eat it like a peach, but I did look up some images for comparisons sake and this is pretty much spot on -- yes, I looked in the kiwi wiki (hehe).  This poor bird really is just a small round balloon with a beak.  Hopefully nature compensated for its flightlessness in some unseen way, because it seems like it is really just the equivalent of popcorn in the animal kingdom.

Now that I'm reviewing the pictures I see that I didn't connect the feet properly, which would hide his wing-doodle at the attachment point better.  Also, I am learning to love marriage twisting in sections at manipulation points -- it was really easy to maneuver the feet into the correct position regardless.

Kiwi Herman	One kiwi can't fly, maybe toucan?
He looks like a hairy potato to me!

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Other posts with Pip's designs:


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May 24 - Mouse

I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse.

~ Walt Disney

The new Balloon Magic magazine came out last week - and this one features a few designs by Pip Milford-Hughes, better known as Pippity-Pop!  Pip hails from New Zealand and frequently shares her amazing arrangements on Facebook.  She has taught at numerous conventions and since I missed her at Florida Super Jam, I hope to meet her at Bling Bling Jam this year!

This adorable little mouse design uses all 160's so at times it was maddeningly frustrating to build.  There is a high use twist at that neck point that you have to wind your balloons through carefully.

I might have made the ears wrong, but there was no way I could get the inner ear to be pinch twists.  Now that I look at it though, maybe I could have rolled the balloon through and mad a fake-pinch to make them rounder.  I'm not sure it would add to the effect, but it certainly added to the frustration in a couple prior attempts. :)

I like the "hands in pockets" look the body style gives.

Alanis Moussette: ".. and the other one is giving a hi-five."	We are meece! We come in peace! Give us cheese! Please!
They got excited when I called them "Pip's Squeaks"