Daily Purple Pig: sesamestreet

Showing posts with label sesamestreet. Show all posts

Sunday, December 21, 2025

December 21 - Decomex Pastel Grey

And if I should fall, will it all go away?
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey

~ Seal - A Kiss from a Rose

I feel like I've tested a number of grey at this point, and though the differences between each of the brands are fairly minor in general, I have a strong preference to which is the best grey.

Decomex Pastel Grey.

I've liked pretty much every Decomex balloon color so far, so maybe I came to the party already crushing on them already - but they hit all the marks for me. Nicely opaque, not too shiney, not too thick, - Decomex is the Goldilocks (or maybe the baby bear) of balloons.

Looking at the chart it's also one of the closer matches to the original Qualatex Grey.

Overall impression, they are my favorite grey. They have all my love.

Other "color day" balloons:

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

November 26 - Elmo

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."

~ James Keller

I'll say it: The Bagchunas is my favorite balloon bag.

Today I'm thankful for Rob Balchunas.

It's seven whole degrees from Kevin Bacon, but in the balloon world it's more like two degrees from Rob. If you've twisted long enough, either Rob has shown you something critical ... or you've heard the story of how he taught the person who is showing you the ... you get it.

Rob is the guy who knows every trick, shortcut, method, and micro-technique that's ever floated through a jam room - because he has worked with everyone, helped everyone, and has a story with everyone.

This year I'm nominating Rob Balchunas for Patron Saint of the Balloon Arts, the Keeper of Secrets, and the person every balloon artist is glad to see walk into the room.

I had the good fortune to collaborate with him on a project once - this Elmo was one of the things he showed.

(view other Sesame Street characters)

Other balloons by and inspired by Rob Balchunas:

Saturday, August 16, 2025

August 16 - Yip-Yip Martians

"If we in public television can make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we'll have done a great service for mental health."

~ Fred Rogers in defense of PBS funding

"Bah." "Nana?"

"Nope nope nope nope."

"Bah." "Zooka?"

"Nope nope nope nope."

"Bah- loon?" ... "Balloon."

"Balloon!" "Balloon!"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh."

"Yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip!"
----
This is trying to copy one of the awesome things that were just littering the floor of the Twist & Shout 2025 jam room one morning, I took a picture with the intention of ... today I suppose, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip!

(view other aliens)

Other balloons inspired by Sesame Street:

Monday, June 22, 2020

June 22 - Big Bird

Blue, blue windows behind the stars,
Yellow moon on the rise,
Big birds flying across the sky,
Throwing shadows on our eyes.

~ Neil Young, Helpless

Big Bird is another of the muppets taught by the Balloon Brothers, but again I felt a need to change the body around slightly (I liked the shape it just wasn't "big").

I was chuckling to myself while I built this how funny it would be to make his right arm attached by a string, but without gluing it to the front and really drawing attention to it, things get a little lost in translation .. or something.

What is Big Bird's origin story? Is he a species or a unique creature (is there an even-bigger daddy)? I can't imagine he got this big by eating bird seed alone...

(view other muppets)

Other balloons by and inspired by the Balloon Brothers:

Friday, June 19, 2020

June 19 - Oscar the Grouch

They got a character on there named Oscar, they treat this guy like shit the entire show. They judge him right in his face, "Oscar you are so mean! Isn't he kids?", "Yeah Oscar! Your a grouch!", it's like "B***H! I LIVE IN A F***ING TRASHCAN!"

~ Dave Chapelle

Poor Oscar ...

This Oscar the Grouch is taught by the Balloon Brothers in Geo Domes 2 as another practice piece for the technique, playing around with eyebrows.

The trashcan appears out of proportion, but that's before you take into account the Tardis-like effect of the inside of Oscar's home.

So, why didn't they give Oscar a makeover the way they did Cookie Monster? Oscar the "sometimes" Grouch? Vacation home in the recycle bin? As a kid I kind of just assumed he ate all the trash ... but maybe he is sorting it into recyclable waste.

(view other muppets)

Other balloons by and inspired by the Balloon Brothers:

Thursday, June 18, 2020

June 18 - Ernie

Rubber duckie you're the one
You make bath time lots of fun
Rubber duckie I'm awfully fond of you

Rubber duckie joy of joys
When I squeeze you, you make noise
Rubber duckie you're my very best friend it's true

~ Ernie, Rubber Ducky

Just goofing around a little more with this muppet base from Geo Domes 2.

One of the tougher parts of making an Ernie or Bert would the stripes on their shirts, so making Ernie in the bathtub was probably the only way this was going to get done.

No idea what I was thinking with that duckie beak though, way too short.

(view other muppets)

Other balloons by and inspired by the Balloon Brothers:

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

June 17 - Cookie Monster

"Om nom nom nom nom nom nom

~ Cookie Monster

This Cookie Monster design is based on the one shown by the Balloon Brothers in their Geo Dome 2 tutorials.

I wanted to try and go for a different open mouth, and this seemed the perfect character for it, stuffing his face with nozzle chip cookies.

I've read that he now eats broccoli and considers cookies a "sometimes food" and as much as I might want to scoff at that, Americans are some of the heaviest people on the planet, maybe we could use a Broccoli Monster ...

(view other muppets)

Other balloons by and inspired by the Balloon Brothers:

Monday, June 15, 2020

June 15 - Elmo

“If you keep practicing, you can do anything.”

~ Elmo

When I first approached the Balloon Brothers to purchase their Geo Dome tutorial series, they had just released "Geo Dome 2". I would say this is only related to the first tutorials in the balloon choices, the techniques are very different.

This Elmo is not exactly what they showed but I kind of think that is a good use of the instructions. Whereas Geo Dome 1 was based on one specific technique, Geo Dome 2 has a lot more examples and ideas of how to think around using geos in gigantic creations.

I did change a few things purposefully based on my own needs, preferences and playing around with the style. (Plus I think there is a tendency in tutorials that showcase a balloon type to overuse that balloon type to exaggerate the usefulness?)

Brad and Joe are great instructors - but I have a confession, maybe it's because it's the second batch of tutorials that I've watched with these two ...

I keep waiting for some hidden sibling rivalry or something. These are brothers seemingly close in age, both balloon twisters - one would expect playful banter in the least, but they are perfect gentlemen to each other. "Fantastic. thank you for that tip Mr. Joe." "Why you are quite welcome Mr. Brad." One of the three of us is going to crack - and I worry it's going to be me.

If you are interested in these tutorials, you will have to message them directly: https://www.instagram.com/balloonbrothers/

Other balloons by or inspired by the Balloon Brothers:

Monday, September 18, 2017

September 18 - Smoosh Elmo

Sometimes me think, "What is friend?" and then me say, "friend is someone to share last cookie with."

~ Cookie Monster

I would share my last cookie with Scott.

One of the advantages to Scott Tripp's Smoosh! (link) over other techniques is the accessibility. Everyone has and knows round balloons, they are easy to fill and these can be quick to make.

But you shouldn't think of this concept as formula's for designs, if you do you have missed the point entirely. Instead think of this as Scott the Sensei, who has reduced things to the simplest form in order to open your mind to further potential. Like a trained ninja who can turn a stick into a deadly weapon, train yourself to do this with balloons and you can make anything.

Scott shows Elmo and Cookie, I was able to easily and confidently turn this into Zoe with only a few minor changes and my attempt took only a couple minutes.

Other Smoosh:

Other balloon designs by Scott Tripp:

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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

June 28 - Loopy Big Bird

Watch out for each other. Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself. Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth, and most especially your heart.

~ Jim Henson

This little loopy Big Bird is the next to use Tony Twist's Loop the Loop concept.

Big Bird is one of the central characters on Sesame Street, designed to be about 4 1/2 years old he was curious about the world in the same way many of the viewers were, oftentimes learning to deal with complicated issues. In 1981 he lost his nest to a hurricane, and I distinctly remember the episode where he learned that Mr. Hooper had died (the actor who played him had perished).

The whole idea for making Big Bird began from imagining building these legs, which I think are fairly successful. But this one falls a little bit short for me. Mainly because in reducing Big Bird down to what makes him distinct - so much of that is his big plump bird body.

Big Bird also has a "feather cowlick" - when I tried putting some small feathers poking out the top, but having that central portion made them look more like antennae.

Other Loop the loop designs:

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Monday, February 8, 2016

February 8 - Oscar the Grouch

"Oh, I LOVE TRASH!Anything dirty or dingy or dusty!Anything ragged or rotten or rusty!Yes, I LOVE TRASH!!! " -- Oscar the Grouch

Daniel Ravia, also known as FuDD, hosted the Steve Klein webinar at last night and taught a few quick figures. I first encountered FuDD about a year ago in a previous webinar, so I knew I was in for a treat.

FuDD has an enviable casual approach to twisting. As an example, he doesn't tell you how much to fill things - he just adds balloons if he needs to. While that confounds my origami-brain, it also seems to encourage additional artistic freedom - you aren't limited to "the 3 balloons you were supposed to use", you are creating a form, however it takes with however many balloons you need.

I built Oscar a couple times, in the demo the arms stick up out of the garbage can, and I wanted to try and elevate his torso so he could gesture with the arms a little better. I also tried adding some additional details to the garbage can, but those aren't visible with the sign.

In my next attempt I'll try and get the bulk of the eyebrows more in the center so they angle in angrily.

"You stink! .. that's why I like you."