Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

October 29 - Pumpkin

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."

~ Gustav Mahler

There should be a ruling.

I'm going to be the one to finally say it.

Painted pumpkins should not win a pumpkin carving contest.  

-- 

This was the second design shared by Dave Brenn in one of his Halloween Patreon videos and full of those additional special tips that make it better to watch instead of (or rather before) twisting along.

(view other pumpkin)

Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:



Tuesday, March 18, 2025

March 18 - Pumpkinhead

"There are three things that I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."

~ It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

A single, forgotten plot of land - long overgrown and untended. The kind of place farmers avoid without knowing why, where the crows perch in eerie silence, watching. It's here that a pumpkin, chosen by forces unknown, begins to stir.  At first, it's subtle - a slow creak as vines tighten, a faint glow in the hollowed spaces where no eyes should be.  Then, it rises.

No hands plant it on a scarecrow's shoulders.  It places itself. 

Tonight the contract will be fulfilled.
--
This design is based on Isopresso's scarecrow tutorial. My previous attempt felt too ... neat for something that has such potential for creepiness.  

I overdid it  -- went dark and had to pull back to 'creepy'.  

I left the description/images on the blog if you're oddly curious or curiously odd though.  The thought for the image was "bleached bones left behind as a warning sign .. a poor deckhand who felt fortunate being asked by the captain to help bury his treasure."  The last hole he dug and it wasn't even for his own grave.  Oof.  I don't like human monsters.

Drawing on a flower shape is rough, it even feels a bit like cheating since you can get it to look decent from one direction even if it looks terrible from the side because of it.

 

(view other pumpkin or Pumpkinheads)

Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:


Wednesday, January 16, 2019

January 16 - Pumpkin Spice Virus

And would, if you could, turn that mighty clock back,
To that long, fateful night. Now, think carefully, Jack.
Would you do the whole thing all over again,
Knowing what you know now, knowing what you knew then?"

And he smiled, like the old pumpkin king that I knew,
Then turned and asked softly of me, "Wouldn't you?"

~ Danny Elfman ~ Closing
  (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Researchers have now discovered that pumpkin spice is indeed an annual virus that afflicts society.  A hyper-intelligent mutagen that has been systematically ravaging our world in a yearly assault, turning us into orange incubators for the next seasonal wave.  Year after year the virus has spread as you can surely tell by the quantity of pumpkin spice creations available; oreos, cereals, candies, ice cream, beer, english muffins, etc.  It's an epidemic and the world is no longer safe.  Our Commander in Chief has been identified as patient zero.  Resist!  #notmypumpkinspice

That was the original idea for this blog post, however, this will be a little different than others in that I'm going to add my personal review for one of the newer Betallatex colors, Pumpkin Spice.

I get a bit excited when a new balloon color releases.  As balloon artists, our palette is somewhat limited in shape and colors - frequently we have to cheat around the limitations of our media.  I am a fan of Betallatex, typically they have proven to be more consistent and vibrant colors than many of their Qualatex counterpoints, they are my go-to when given similar colors.

I bought a bag and played around with making a few creations, and was quick to form my reaction.  These balloons are quite fragile, not thin - but similar to the old Betallic Pearl or Metallic balloons.  I had to work with them very soft and try to minimize the unavoidable friction because they were quite susceptible to forming a leak at a twist point.  My floor is littered with more failed attempts than balloons used in these final forms.

There is a sound that I'm sure haunts many balloon artists, and that's the faint little 'tic' that lets you know something is deflating ... that was my night.

You can gauge color difference to orange in the close-up of the eyeball from the spice-virus.  The ring around the eye is an orange 160B.  The pumpkin spice color is a ruddy orange, and it wasn't long into this exercise that I started thinking that this was more of a novelty color designed to capitalize on the name "pumpkin spice" more than an actual attempt to create a new color.  I wanted to like them, but in any event, the latex formula is off.  I know where to store the remaining of these...






Tuesday, October 24, 2017

October 24 - Surly Pumpkin


I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my choice
What's a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you

~ Smashing Pumpkins Disarm

With just over a week until Halloween, here is one a little more fitting for the season.

Last weekend we went and got our own pumpkins to carve, which served as inspiration for creating this guy.

This is once again based on a balloon concept shown by Buster Balloon in a few designs on his image montage "31 days of Halloween" (Instagram link).

This one looks a bit like a member of the pumpkin mafia in his pinstripe suit.   Gourdo Zucca wants his protection money or things are going to get "smashy".







Other Surly Dudes:


Other balloon designs by or inspired by Buster Balloon:

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Thursday, October 19, 2017

October 19 - Eric's Pumpkin


Linus: Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.

~ Linus It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Here is one from the Eric Weinstein collection Party Delights (link).

This pumpkin looks great with those big giant eyes, and Eric proves that with some practice it can be made in under three minutes.

We are getting our pumpkins this weekend, and for many years now we've been using the stencils you can get at the supermarket to make elaborate designs.  It was a novel thing 5-10 years ago, but now it's something pretty common and I think now I prefer the "classic" look.  However this time I'm inspired to make a painted pumpkin instead.






Other Party Delights:


Other balloon designs by and inspired by Eric Weinstein:

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Friday, October 21, 2016

October 21 - Tatyana's Pumpkin



Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.

~ Linus The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

This was one I almost gave up on.

Tatyana DjeTa Lyashko must have an incredible amount of patience and/or an extremely soft touch. The process of getting the little bumps in this pumpkin that caused me to cry out in frustration and fear. As I was moving them into position, occasionally (*often* until I adjusted some things) it would explode and little beans would fly everywhere. I'm still finding them throughout my room.

The design looks amazing and was once again is like taking a masters course in balloon art. Tatyana is really wonderful and her advanced creations push you to create things beyond your skill. I still have a few more from her Halloween set to do - I'm both excited and terrified.



Sincerely, pick me!

One number I dislike - 3.14159265359....

Still no trick-or-treaters ... hmmm ...



Other posts with Tatyana's designs: Show all




Friday, October 7, 2016

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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