March 9 - Rolly Pollie Pigs

Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal.

~ Winston Churchill

Alas, we have reached the end of the smorgasbord that was Rolly Pollies (for now). Dan Staples has a fantastic concept, great for line work and probably the best thing ever to practice your artwork on. Yes, you do need to have the Big Bear Heads - but it's worth it in my humble opinion. They are an unusual shape and entertaining, and you get a nice big fat body to work with.

I still want to explore long neck creatures and hunchback humans, so perhaps I might revisit these in the future, but I've already overrun my week - so that means it's time for the purple pig attempt. There was a pig design shared in the first downloadable, in Rolly Pollies 2, Lindsey showed how to "Pookify" this face to cute.

I used her eyes, but I wanted to play around with adding a raisin to the front lobe. It worked out pretty easily, I always had plenty of room.

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March 8 - Rolly Pollie Extras

However much you know giraffes, to see one in the wild for the first time feels prehistoric.

~ Jane Goodall

Just a couple more to explore with Dan Staples Rolly Pollie balloon concept.

It's very easy to use the regular balloons from my pile of extras - but difficult to remember/use the random shapes/prints, so it was great to pull aside all these remaining Big Bear Heads to try and make "something" with. The process was simply - grab color and decide what to make.

Blue was probably the toughest color. Having already built an elephant, I thought I might try for a whale by turning it on it's side and making fins - but imagined it would look very similar to the quad bod fishes I had already done. A hippo would have worked, but been mostly artwork ... In the end I'm glad I went with the bulky man body, I think it might be fun to spend some time coming up with good variations on that.

After bringing in some Pollies to the office earlier this week, someone suggested a giraffe in honor of April the Giraffe (link). Challenge accepted. Once again I think it might be neat to spend some time on building "neck" variations.

The Chicago Bull and the little devil are more in line with the classic form.

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March 7 - Rolly Pollie Frog

Jeremiah was a bull frog
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine

~ Hoyt Axton Joy to the World

This design is another one taught in Dan Staples new release, Rolly Pollies 2. He showed how to make a mini one, but I had a fashion green in my bag of extras to make it big. Mini Pollies (perhaps tadpoles for these?) are great - perfect for a wrist wearable or headband, or accessory to another build - but the smallness does make it a little tougher to accessorize and get sizing correct.

So I opted to build another big lime green one for the photo this time.

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March 6 - Rolly Pollie Bumble Bee

According to all known laws of aviation, there's no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to lift its fat little body off of the ground. The bee, of course, flys anyway - because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.

~ The Bee Movie

I can't speak highly enough for the gigantic faces that these Rolly Pollies provide for practicing your sharpie skills. This bumble bee was actually on Dan Staples first Rolly release.

I have to say again what I love so much about using these various balloon concepts.  Starting with the base of a form removes most of the complexities to design.  I have built some bees on this blog already, I might have tried to build something more or less complicated than those and gotten mired in how I would construct it.  Using a base like this one gets you past that and allows you to focus on creativity with the given set of tools.

I had a red bear head in my bag of extras and thought a ladybug might make a perfect companion to the bees.

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March 5 - Rolly Pollie Tiger

Our noblest hopes grow teeth and pursue us like tigers.

~ John Gardner

I have been playing more with Dan Staples Rolly Pollie concept and Lindsey Foster's faces.

I have pulled out all of the random Big Bear Head balloons that I have amassed over the years from various jam packs and convention leftovers. So after watching the lion video, I noticed I had one orange one and thought I would try for a tiger. I think it ended up looking rather nice, but as I only had the one orange (and these aren't the most pose-able balloons for pictures), I figured I would make the lion as well for the added practice.

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March 4 - Rolly Pollie Elephant

On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool,
In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool,
He was splashing…enjoying the jungle’s great joys…
When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.

~ Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who

Now that I've watched all the videos in Dan Staples' new Rolly Pollies 2 download (link), I wanted to try building one that wasn't on the list.  An elephant was the first thing that came to mind and got me wondering how I would attach the trunk.

My first attempt at a regular sized trunk looked terrible, so I scrapped it immediately. I imagine a grey 321 might work pretty well if they were available, but going with a thinner trunk was the only option really.

I first built the one with the thinner ears, and then the "Horton".

... after all, a person's a person, no matter how small!

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March 2 - Rolly Pollie Hamster

I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

~ French Guard Monty Python and the Holy Grail

My goal of this year's balloon experiment is to try and spend as much time "off grid" as possible, using a technique to create something else. But these Pollies are such great practice I'm going to keep on task. Plus I've been feeling a little ill - and they are quick easy builds. In fact, I have a bottle of "Wal-Flu" next to me that I'll be taking as soon as I finish writing this.

This hamster design is the next in the Dan Staples and Lindsey Foster Rolly Pollie collaboration, and now that I've watched a majority of the videos I can say it was a great idea to work together. Dan focuses on design, showing not only ways to make other sizes and styles (mini pollies!) but also include advanced design techniques. Lindsey focuses on art, but adds a special something to each of the designs she explores as well, giving not only deluxe faces but also showing quicker line-work versions for when you are busy. This hamster on a wheel is a perfect example of that.

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March 1 - Rolly Pollie Panda

“Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.”

~ Kung Fu Panda

I've been a big fan of Dan Staples' creations - and Rolly Pollies are definitely my favorites (link).

They are easily made and a great use of big bear head balloons, but on top of that they provide a HUGE canvas for you to practice art on.  So when he released a second video in collaboration with the artwork of Lindsey "Pookie the Clown" Foster, I noticed the advertisement 8 minutes after he posted it's availability -- an insta-buy for me.

Time to Pookify these Pollies!

I'd like to use Rolly Pollies as my next balloon concept to explore since it's so versatile, but I'm going to be stuck in these videos for a bit because I keep stopping them to play with painting the new faces!  This panda is one of the first shown.

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December 9 - Shelfy the Elf

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup."

~ Buddy the Elf Elf

Dan Staples created this version of Elf on the Shelf, quick and easy to build - yet still looks great.  This design is a fantastic giveaway balloon for the season.  I'm not sure where the phenomenon began but almost everyone either has their own elf at home or had heard of it.

We have our own elf, Buddy, who brings our boys their advent calendars.  He goofs off nightly, generally doing Christmas type preparations, hanging ornaments and lights, cutting snowflakes - nothing too outlandish.  He tends to only prank our boys on occasions when they've been exceptionally "unseasonable".

I've seen people build this using 360s, I went the opposite way and tried building smaller.

We found the Northern Lights!

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November 26 - E.T.

Phone ... Home.

~ E.T. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

The first time I saw Dan Staples E.T. design, I knew I wanted to build it.  But more than just build it, I knew it deserved to be put it into that iconic scene from the movie.  I'm glad my youngest son was happy to try out a couple versions.

The instructions are available at Dan's Gumroad website directly (link).  PDFs can sometimes be hard to follow when they are too wordy, but Dan does a great job including many extra pictures from different angles.  This was a breeze to assemble and sprinkled throughout with his humor.  He also demonstrates how to create the basket and handlebars to turn this into a fantastic wearable costume.  The instructions call for blush, but after taking the first pictures I thought building it in mocha might make the colors stand out more.

The image in the upper right is also an homage to the inspirational Rob Driscoll (link), the original daily balloon blogger.

... We're getting away, hey E.T. -- give them the magic finger!

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November 20 - The Mayflower

But we come on a ship they called Mayflower
We come on a ship that sailed the moon
We come in the ages' most uncertain hours and sing an American tune

~ Simon & Garfunkel American Tune

The first time I saw Dan Staples was well before I discovered he was master of all things Bear Head - it was in a random webinar sponsored by YTE events where he showed how to make this boat.

I was in the middle of making a costume for one of our traffic guards at school for their book fair, but got hooked following along once I saw what he was doing. So I stopped what I was building, quickly sketched notes on what I had missed and followed along with the rest and then made one for the following morning to bring into the office.

This balloon has what both the highly detailed and the quick replica balloons oftentimes lack, it tells a story. It's not just a ship, it's a particular ship - the Mayflower.

Not speaking until he asks for directions...	S.S. Myheartwillgo-on
We're okay, Spring showers bring May flowers.

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September 13 - Mother of Dragons

“Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell they’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top, then that one’s on top, and on and on it spins crushing those on the ground. I’m not going to stop the wheel, I’m going to break the wheel.”

~ Daenerys Stormborn, The Unburnt Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and of the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons

My Khaleesi, my wife, my queen had a birthday yesterday. Having balloons to use as props really just opens up a world of possibilities for these scavenger hunts.

In this adventure, she had to find three dragon eggs and then hatch them to reveal her final prize.  Unfortunately due to work, school and sport schedules it was after 8pm when we started, so the pictures are just quick snaps so we could get to cake and kids bedtimes.

The stallion that mounted the world shall not be, So reclaim your throne across the great sea. Don't walk in fire, though your grief my compell you, Break open the eggs and see what they tell you.

One thing I am really enjoying about scavenging with balloons is a big awkward piece of weirdness you have to wear as you hunt - this time it was Daenerys's hair, similar to Elsa hair that I had seen posted online, I only added the side whisps and a golden band to hold it together in back (only barely visible on the final picture).  I used Balloon Sage's wrist dragons, they were a great wearable to make scavenging even more good and awkward.

I was originally going to use Dan Staples Denzlo dragon for the hunt, but they end up quite big and I didn't have time to play around with them and finish up the clues.  They work great as teenagers though - I ended up taking them in to the office, giving the green one to the front desk who was immediately recognized as Pete's Dragon.

Queen of baby dragons	Queen of Teens
I am Daenerys Porkborn

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August 29 - Nemo

Crush: Curl away, my son! Aw, it's awesome Jelly Man. Lil' dudes are just eggs, leave 'em on the beach to hatch and koo koo kachoo, they find their way back to the big ol' blue.
Marlin: All by themselves?
Crush: Ch-yah!
Marlin: But, but, dude, how do you know when they're ready?
Crush: Well, you never really know, but when they know, you'll know, ya know?

Dan Staples published this design on YouTube right around the time the Finding Dory movie released.  He is a fantastic instructor, master of Bear Head-fu and going to be one of the teachers at Kapital Kidvention next January, so between meeting he and Mr. Lyle -- I'm really hoping to attend!

School started last week for my youngest, but today is the first day of public high school for my older son.

I know that doesn't seem significant at first glance, but to put it in some perspective - his 9th grade class had eight graduates.  He is going to a school that has over 2500 enrolled.  We wandered around to his classes last week and met his teachers, he seems ready to move on to something bigger like this -- it was me who was having mild panic attacks navigating the mass of people.

See - I'd like to think I'm Crush.  "Whoa, kill the motor, dude. Let us see what Squirt does flying solo.."  But I'm more of a Marlin.  I'm not saying that's bad, Marlin would take on the ocean to find his son - take on a shark?  I'd take on three!

Curl away, my son!

Have fun at school, but remember - don't touch the butt ...

Dad!  Meet my new friends from school!

"Ohhhhhhhhh Subtitute teaching sea pigs are cool, Mr. Ray is home sick and this doesn't rhyyyme."

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