April 16 - Spider

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

~ John Muir

We once lucky enough to spend some after-hours time at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (*legally/sanctioned).   It was an amazing experience - getting to see the animals settle in for the evening or begin their morning routines without the crowds.  They just seemed more ... relaxed?

Picking up on the casual after-hours atmosphere vibe, a gigantic tarantula casually (creepily) ambled right out in front of as we walked down a narrow path.   I distinctly remember the sudden, purposeful recalibration I had to do - suppressing the innate 'must-stomp' reflex, looking around to see if a keeper had caught my reflexive intention.

I feel pretty sure you would be escorted out ... 

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This spider design is taught by Isopresso in his members section.  For something with so many limbs, the construction surprisingly wasn't very fiddly.

(view other spiders)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

February 24 - Arachne

"The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance."

~ Albert Einstein

Arachne was a great weaver whose skill was unmatched ... but she knew that.

When Athena warned her to sit down and be humble, Arachne demanded a contest.  Both wove masterpieces, of course - Athena’s tapestry depicted the fate of those who defy the gods, while Arachne created an image of Athena walking with a man, she is looking at him in shock as he turns his head to ogle Arachne who had just passed.     

I'm guessing, of course, because Athena shredded the tapestry in a rage and cursed Arachne to weave forever - as the first spider. 

The spider design is from the Isopresso collection, minus the big googly eyes that I didn't think fit with the transformation from beautiful woman ... 

 
(view other spiders)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Ispresso:

April 12 - Spider Fauxlaf

Original for reference

"I like warm bugs!"

~ Fauxlaf

The credit for this idea goes to my wife, who suggested the many eyes of a spider.  At first I made a bunch of them, but ended up painting them over in favor of attaching an extra two outside the normal eyes.

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Other Fauxlaf balloons:

December 22 - Nozzle Things

Giant nozzles, bolts and beams
They called her Atlas by all means
Blood, sweat and tears were her payload
She was a stairway to heaven
Old Apollo 11
The rocket ship their Grandpa drove

~ Jimmy Buffett The Rocket That Grandpa Rode

Bugs!   For the 8th day of Trippmas - I give you Nozzle bugs... creatures?

One of Scott Tripp's passions is saving and finding uses for all the little bits and bobbles and scraps.  The Balloon Blast Video Show has a segment every so often called "Scraps & Crap" with some suggestions.  These are the result of one of those experiments and another Patreon video (link) - Nozzlebugs!

Of all the fantastic Patreon videos, and there are many great ones, this is my favorite.  It's such a left turn from any sort of traditional "balloon" tutorial and is really just creativity exploration.  I've already explored this Nozzlebug video in a post last year when they were released (link), and I've been saving my nozzles ever sense - now finally with some purpose!

Beginning with the spider to refresh my memory, I next tried building a nozzle-only tree I saw posted recently by Russell Wells and got a little crazy jazzing that one up, the star is big even as a 160, so I should have gone with something on the inside.  Next I started building a candy cane - but it felt very bland and not something "Trippmas-sy".

So I present to you - Dr. Cane.  Deliciously evil and evilly delicious, borne from the forgotten and discarded remnants of half-eaten candy canes,  he is the sworn adversary of the Tooth Fairy - preferring to extract healthy teeth from rotten children.

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Other balloon designs by and inspired by Scott Tripp:

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November 18 - Rainer's Spider

Sometimes it looks like I'm dancing, but it's just that I walked into a spider web.

~ Demetri Martin

This spider is a design shared by Rainer Fürstenfeld on his YouTube channel (link).  So many spider designs end up being limited by chubby legs even using the thinnest balloons, so Rainer hit on something fantastic with this one.

I made a couple to give out at various locations and they were in love with the realistic and creepy look.  I really enjoy the "whoa!!" response when I give someone a balloon.

I believe balloon artists can be caught in a cycle of thinking they can only use balloons.  The addition of some different bits of media like a simple pipe cleaner or feathers or tulle or ???? used in the right way could add an amazing depth to a creation.

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Other balloon designs by Rainer Fürstenfeld:

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November 5 - Nao's Spider

Somehow the killing of a giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of a wizard or the dwarves or anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath.

~ JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit

This spider design is one that Nao Osaka teaches in a PDF I was lucky enough to have shared with me.

The design reminds me of a tarantula or wolf spider and has a nice sculpted thorax and bulbous abdomen.

Qualatex released two new colors that I purchased recently to try out, Maroon and Navy - so I built one in each.  I don't think I will be adding the colors to my "everyday" bucket, but they are nicely different from existing colors and worth keeping around for special occasions.  There is a satisfying tactile sensation in twisting them, perhaps it's the freshness of the balloons but they are nice and squishy but still seem strong.

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Other balloon designs by or inspired by Nao Osaka:

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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:

September 27 - Smoosh Spider

Ziggy played guitar,
jamming good with Weird and Gilly
And the spiders from Mars.
He played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man,
then we were Ziggy's band

~ David Bowie Ziggy Stardust

Here is another balloon inspired by Scott Tripp's Smoosh! videos (link).

I was thinking about smooshing a printed round, I have a bag of these fierce eyes that I I've seen used for spiders and scorpions, so I tried a smoosh-spider.  (Which is conspicuously the only state a spider is allowed to be once inside the house.)

You can't really see the shape well in these pictures, but the taller spider has a nicely shaped abdomen and could easily work as a black widow.

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Other Smoosh:

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Other balloon designs by Scott Tripp:

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October 15 - Sp-eye-der

I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that I can read your mind.

~ Alan Parson's Project Eye in the Sky

I almost resisted posting this next Tatyana DjeTa Lyashko design because I feel like I didn't do it the true justice it deserved. The design is fantastic and creepy, her instructions are clear, so I can only blame myself.

This was built in haste during hurricane Matthew in anticipation of a potluck we were going to have the following day at a friends house. The power went out at one point and I was delayed until the next day to finish the hair and legs. I didn't spend the amount time on the details that I would prefer and indeed I skipped over a few steps. For example, Tatyana does some double stuffed leg distortion on the legs that would likely have given them the strength to hold to body up, with my straight pinch twists - once I attached them, he just squished flat. But I had deviled eggs to make as well, so I cheated (they were delicious by the way).

Eye still have another few of her des-eye-gns, and Eye'm saving my favorite for when Eye can spend the proper amount of t-eye-me!

Eye fallen and can't get up	I brought Eye-scream to the party as well...
Beauty is UNDER the eye of the beholder...

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Other posts with Tatyana's designs: Show all

October 6 - Juan's Spider

Look, he's crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he's up above my head
Hanging by a little thread

Boris the spider
Boris the spider

~ The Who Boris the Spider

Just a quick one today, I've been busy preparing a couple big sculptures to deliver to an assisted living facility tomorrow.  Since they are "Fall" rather than Halloween themed I figured I better build this.

I have had these eyes for a while.  Juan Gonzales has released a large number of printed round balloons in the past months, thankfully as with the baby, he has taken the extra time to show a couple ways to use these.

This is from a spider video showcasing the design. Although there were already round eyes available, these "angry eyes" are great in that they are double-sided. If you use the balloon upside down the eyes appear to be worried.

I was bitten by a radioactive human ...	Creepy crawly, creepy crawly, creepy creepy crawly crawly, creepy creepy crawly crawly.
No one is going to believe my spider costume ...

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Other posts with Juan's designs:


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