September 5 - Swan

"The swan, like the soul of the poet, by the dull world is ill understood."

~ Heinrich Heine

In Arthurian legend, Lohengrin, son of Percival was called called 'Knight of the Swan'.

Legend has it he arrived in a boat to defend the honor of Elsa of Brabant who was accused of murdering her brother.  He married her with the one stipulation that she never ask his name.

... and so she ended up alone.   Makes me wonder about her brother ...
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This design is one that Isopresso shared just recently on their channel, a quick build that captures the simple elegance.

(view other swans)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

March 29 - Dave's Wearables 2

"True teaching is not about giving answers. It's about showing the paths."

~ Noam Chomsky

I don't use 646/660s typically, so the opportunity to use some old stock balloons to practice a fun new design idea is super appealing.  Let's play around with Dave Brenn's "Ride Inside" a bit!

Dave made a great point about color choices.  My instinct is to treat every color like it matters, but in practice, some are just more usable than others.  Black, white and the natural tones like mocha or grey tend to be the most flexible.  Rainbow-y colors can actually be limiting - pink, for example, feels like it should be a pink "thing".  A pink rocketship works, sure, but without context it makes you wonder "why?" (and honestly, it was a practice attempt while watching, I wasn't trying to make a crude joke (tho ... USS Phallus?))

I feel like I've seen the bathtub idea used before, if not as balloons at least as a costume.  In fact, I bet the Spirit Halloween Store would have a bunch of corny ride inside inspiration ideas ...

(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

March 27 - Swan

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

~ Maya Angelou

The phrase "swan song" comes from an ancient belief that swans are silent throughout their lives, only to sing a beautiful, mournful song just before they die. Certainly badass - a graceful creature, a tragic melody, a final performance.

This swan design is from the Matt Falloon's BAC-exclusive "Birds" collection, and became another partial answer to the lingering question of what I am supposed to do with these remaining geo balloons?  

I also experimented with recreating the shape, which you can get close using normal balloons, but there is a certain tension in the center when using a geo that this shape really benefits from.

(view other swan)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Matt Falloon:

February 22 - Dorb Birds

“The woods would be quiet if no bird sang but the one that sang best.”

~ Henry Van Dyke

This quote is apropos, this design was a bit of a failed attempt but I'm going to stop myself from stopping myself and talk about it anyways.

Buster shows a decent variety of these Dorbs animals (I still might build them) - but I really just wanted to play around a bit instead of copy a design, yet still .. keep it simple, stupid.

I built the swan with a very basic body rather than a trying support the head on a long neck in the traditional pose.  Though I didn't really like how that turned out, changing the color of the feet on both the duck and penguin look nice.

What I believe did not work, and the reason I was hesitant to post this without rebuilding - are those ears.  I have ideas on how I could use the concept and get a better rounded head, but I'll have to save those attempts for a future balloon...  I went completely off grid for

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Other Dorb balloon designs:

Show All Buster

February 23 - Swan & Flamingo

        "Now wakes the hour,
         Now sleeps the swan 
         Behold the dream,
         The dream is gone. 
        Green fields are calling 
        It's falling, in a golden door."
           ~ A Pillow of Winds (link)


Jeffrey Hayes is one of the most creative balloon artists that I know and have the pleasure of calling friend.

I first met Jeff last year in a Steve Klein webinar, but it would be hard not to know of him, he has been a frequent contributor to balloon forums and the art in general - and a huge inspiration.  He is probably one of the most fun (terrifying?) people in the world to jam on an idea with, because he has a balloon mind like either a chess grand-master or a mad scientist - an idea or simple concept turns into Chewbacca-riding-a-shark-with-laser-eyes awesome.

Last night he stepped in and hosted an impromptu webinar when there were some computer issues in the regularly scheduled program.  With no audio, he was able to teach so much that he could have just dropped the mic halfway through and walked off stage - it would have still been worth the admission price, yet with only 6 minutes to spare, he quickly taught us this swan as well.

Grace under pressure.

Since it's Jeff, I couldn't just build the swan, I had had to try and push it somewhere else.  So I tried making a flamingo.  I like it!  Now I just need to add the shark and the lasers ...

Ivory & White

Thanks Jeff!