January 8 - Unsmooshable Chimpanzee

Rocket: Koba say, Apes should hate humans.
Caesar: Enough! From humans Koba learned hate. But nothing else.

~ Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I'm going to bring this concept smorgasborg (unsmooshasborg?) to a close with one more from the man who shared this madness. Sam Cremeens showed this monkey, and it was too cute to resist.

I did a bit of playing around with different types and sizes of balloons making this one, the other designs want a cleaner attachment point for the head, but this one is very forgiving.  I don't think there was a better or worse in the whole bunch, there are things I like and don't like about each of them.

I realized a little late that I forgot to put a tail on any of them - thankfully nature provides an out, they're chimpanzee.  ... which then sparked the idea of the movie reference.

I hope by this point people have somewhat of an understanding of how useful and effectual concept designs are. Not only are they handy, but that versatility is a catalyst for your imagination and creativity.

Caesar: While I'm gone - I leave you in charge of our most sacred relic.

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January 7 - Unsmooshable Clowns

Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clowns.

~ Stephen Sondheim Send in the Clowns

The next in the unsmooshable fashion line is the unsmooshable clown.

I bought these polka dot balloons about 2 years ago, thinking I would make some different style ladybugs, but haven't really used them much at all.  I'm so happy with how well they work for a clown body though.

The first clown I built was with the green body, he suffered from many of the "first build" problems and his blue mouth looks like he just ate a messy snowcone.   In fact, part of me didn't even want to use him in this post - except that I think he provides a perfect example of the value of practice.

The form is fairly simple so it really needs a good face to sell the design - so I played around with a couple blush balloons until I got something I liked when building my juggler.

It was when I was looking up some clown face ideas that I found Bozo and knew I had to build him.

I'm going to have to force myself to stop exploring ideas with this form - but I do still have one more design loaded into the queue for tomorrow.

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January 6 - Unsmooshable Lion

“Courage~ What makes the flag on the mast to wave? What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot?~Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz”

― L. Frank Baum The Wizard of Oz

The next in the line of unsmooshables is a lion.

I should point out that I'm not doing these with any sort of rhyme, reason or agenda -- I'm grabbing a color I haven't used before from my bag and deciding what it might be at that point.

The first built this time was the one with the extra long black nose and no tongue.  He sort of looks like he has a receding hairline.  I didn't change much in the second build except make the cheeks a little bit smaller and clean things up.

I really like the look adding the legs gives in a sitting pose.  I'm sure this would look fine in a standing pose like the earlier entries, but those tend to be more cartoonish.

We should go to the maul food court if you're hungry ...

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January 5 - Unsmooshable Gator

I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning And throw thunder in jail. You know I’m bad. just last week, I murdered a rock, Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.

~ Muhammad Ali

This is the next attempt at implementing the Unsmooshable idea - an alligator.

This one uses the face from the Juan Gonzales wrist wearable crocodile design (link). and just uses the top of the head for an attachment point for the eyes.

The first one I made in this batch was the smaller gator. It was a bit small and chubby for the form, so I tried seeing what I could come up with using a 646 using a similar structure.  I opted not to give the big guy angry eyebrows, but with his hands clasped he looked worried - adding the flower makes him seem more shy than concerned.

You've got to kiss de girrrl....

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January 4 - Unsmooshable Pig

“Ever since the spider had befriended him, he had done his best to live up to his reputation. When Charlotte’s web said SOME PIG, Wilbur had tried hard to look like some pig. When Charlotte’s web said TERRIFIC, Wilbur had tried to look terrific. And now that the web said RADIANT, he did everything possible to make himself glow.”

~ E.B. White Charlotte's Web

There is an unwritten rule that every technique should be used to create a purple pig - so here is my attempt at recreating Purple using this technique.

This was supposed to be the first day I was away at my balloon event, the Florida Super Jam. However, we had a number of projects looking to get a fresh start in the new year, so I had to cancel at the last minute. This is a good thing I keep telling myself -- usually followed by a big exaggerated sigh.

For these balloons, I created the purple one first - the arms are made with a Lima twist, but I didn't really like the extra bobbles at the end, they actually are the same size even though they appear different in the picture of the two together. This is the first time I've tried a nose like this, I rather like it - I tried getting it a little more offset in the second.

Hand me some string, I'm going to add an 'S'

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January 3 - Unsmooshable Elephant

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

Laura Elizabeth Richards Eletelephony

I figured it was time to put my money where my mouth is - or the balloon equivalent of that.  (Put the nozzle where my mouth is?)

I talk about how much I love balloon concepts and how versatile and awesome they are, and how you could use it for pretty much anything.  But I then move on or get distracted by the next shiny object.  There are a lot of days in the year, no sense on moving on so quickly.

This year I'm going to try and stick with a design longer than I might, and maintain a list of the balloon concepts or source along the way.

Since this isn't a published and named technique, I don't know what to call it - but with similarities to Scott Tripp's Smoosh technique, and for the convenience, I will dub this Unsmooshable.

Here is an unsmooshable elephant.  Since these are exploring how to build things different and better, I should point out the first guy was the one on the blue flower.   A first attempt usually involves a lot of trial and error, so when I do this I will do my best (depending on complexity/time) to do a second version and detail any differences if necessary.

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January 2 - Sam's Horse

I'll find those stairs. I'll whip their butt, too. Those stairs won't know which way they're going... take drastic steps, kick it to the curb. Don't mess wit' me. I'm the Stair Master. I've mastered the stairs. I wish I had a step right here, right now, I'd step all over it...

~ Donkey Shrek

These horse are based on some images Sam Cremeens posted recently, which in turn are the result of his toying around with an image Buster Balloon posted over the holiday.  Sam spotted something awesome in the design, realizing it was more of a balloon concept.

Again, concept designs are my favorite things ever -- they spark a hundred other ideas.   When I first started twisting balloons, I was worried that I would be asked for something I didn't know how to build.  But with a handful of concept designs, you can create just about anything.

I really should make a list of all the design concepts ..

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