March 31 - Dave's Wearables 4

Insert quote here...

*** POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION ***

[Intro paragraph. Reference Tonka trucks?]

[Description of the digger. Emphasize the scoop. People love scoops.]

[Wrecking ball truck deserves a sentence or two, reference Miley song? << NO.]

[Summarize construction, attempt wit, possibly a pun.]

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These construction vehicles are more showcasing Dave Brenn's most recent video collection "Double Stuff Ride Insides" available on his Patreon site.

The size is enormous, the arm articulation is brilliant - this design is ridiculously awesome and fun to play with. 
 
(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

March 30 - Dave's Wearables 3

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed onto the sun
Till we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

It starts when you're building the hull, like a whisper in the back of your mind.  Hmmm mm mmmmm hmmm hmm hmm mm mm.

It doesn't matter if you're blasting a playlist, a podcast, or in total silence.  It finds a way in ... and grows.  It echoes inside your skull, bouncing and bouncing, louder and louder until the pressure is unbearable.  You don't want to say it.  You try not sing it.

But eventually.  Inevitably.  Resistance wears thin.  

WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE!

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Dave showed us this simply stunning pirate ship and mentioned using the cannon portholes in a submarine which was certainly the inspiration.  And yes, the earworm chanted in my head the entire time ... 

I love the pirate ship design but some of these really do look best with a human inside - and the mast can be a little bit wibbledy-wobbledy without someone's arms in the rigging.   The dinosaur looks a bit like a prehistoric camel and could have used some more work, these fatty balloons are really hard to pressure fit into each other - that neck had to be tied down to get a normal face angle.  

(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

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 28 - Dave's Wearables

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

~ William Arthur Ward

Dave Brenn is a great teacher. 

He doesn't just teach how to make "forms of things".  His lessons are full of those extra little bits of magic - clever tricks, smart shortcuts, and unexpected details that make you better without even realizing it.  I would count his Patreon site as one of the best values in educational content out there.

His recent series, "Ride Inside" balloons, begins simple in concept - but is once again elevated by that special Dave magic and his real-world experiences using these designs. 

I cheated a bit on the length a few of them.  Since they are not being worn, I made their bodies a bit shorter - they weren't being poofed out by a torso.

(view other wearables)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Dave Brenn:

February 11 - Sean's Car (1.0)

Kesse Ye Lolo De Ye (A seed’s a star)
Lolo Ye Kesse De Ye (A star’s a seed)
Diame, Diame (peace and more peace)

~ Stevie Wonder Kesse Ye Lolo De Ye

This week was the annual book fair at my sons school, and the second year that I've been asked to help decorate.

Last year the theme was Alice in Wonderland, so objects to build were plentiful -- this year's theme was "Peace, Love & Books". I was initially a bit stumped ... but I'll be showing over the next couple days what I came up with. All the pictures were taken on site, I didn't know if I was going to use them for this blog or not - but I'm pretty proud of a few of them.

I have been looking for a good excuse to build Sean Rogers car design (1.0 - he just recently released a 2.0 version). It's an elegantly rounded compared to some other designs I've seen, it worked great as a VW Bug convertible.  It's no wonder he has video of someone wearing it while doing flips on a trampoline, it's practically a tank. Dave is a good sport, and occasionally my Devin (reference). A couple times a year I get to dress him in something bizarre and/or humiliating while he directs traffic and draws attention to a school event.

The center of the hood was supposed to be white, but I popped it right as I was pulling it out of my van.  Thankfully I had some spare balloons and it was the center one so I didn't have to worry about color symmetry.

February 10 - Party Hats

“Some hats can only be worn if you're willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you're only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you.”
~ Neil Gaiman Anansi Boys

I mentioned yesterday that I got a last minute request for balloons at my youngest sons birthday party - we decided on party hats.

I should say thankfully we decided on party hats.  These do not take much time to put together at all, and they are as abstract/pure form creative play with balloons as you can get.

This idea and a few of these designs are from Addi Somekh's website and documents. As great as some of them turned out, I also had some stinkers - since the guests were occupied for most of the hour jumping on trampolines, I had plenty of time to make extras.

What I didn't have time for was doing anything too special with Purple today ...

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Other posts with Addi's designs:


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September 16 - Headbands 1.0

Top coat, top hat,
And I don't worry 'cause my wallet's fat.
Black shades, white gloves,
Lookin' sharp lookin' for love.
They come runnin' just as fast as they can
'Cause every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

~ ZZ Top Sharp Dressed Man

I have owned Alberto Nava's Headbands 1.0 video for a while, but since I don't do a lot of public twisting, there hasn't been much of a need to explore it. It was referenced recently on a podcast I was listening to as one of the big influences to David Brenion, so I figured I would dig into it a little deeper.

Alberto is probably the best dressed (male) balloon artist I've seen. In a sharp suit, he looks like a made man as he shows how to use headbands to great effect.  This is his introductory DVD, so he covers a lot of ground, from very basic ideas like these Mickey ears to some elegant foofy fu hats that could easily be in a runway fashion show.  I don't have feathers or tulle to use, so the fanciest I could make from those selections is the suspended heart -- which I love!

All of this is setting the stage for his advanced DVD. I'm looking forward to cracking open Headbands 2.0!

M - I - C  K - E -Y   P - I...I...I - G?

September 5 - Brenion Masks Too

~ Mary Poppins - I Love To Laugh

Tomorrow we find out the results of the mask competition!

Recently Nifty Balloon's posted that they "laughed out loud several times looking through the entries! Thank GOODNESS we aren't the judges!"  The Brenion's have contributed so much to my balloon education and balloon art in general with their creativity and balloon concepts that making them laugh is a win to me, regardless of any outcome.

But I couldn't resist making a ... few? more masks for the contest.

I actually ended up making more than I submitted for the contest, even purposefully posting Tick Tock Crockabowie late for added funniosity.  Some of the other contest entries are so inspiring and simply amazing that I would be very shocked if any of mine are chosen, but I am keeping my fingers crossed, and again - it was an honor just to compete with some of these balloon superstars. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, right?

I will again include the captioning I added for the contest entries:

	La la la la la laaaa, la la la la laaaaaaa! Nifty Balloons are the Smurfiest!
"I wear a Brenion mask. And that mask, it's not to hide who I am, but to create what I am."
	"In your head, in your head Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie What's in your head? In your head Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh"
"I don't know if this is such a good idea Tommy." -Chuckie Finster
	I no longer play World of Warcraft, but I fell in love with the lore and the world. Let me tell you of Broxigar the Red. This is an early picture of him with his Warg pup. Survivor of the First, Second and Third Wars, yet shamed for being the sole survivor in his warband as they defended a vital pass at Mount Hyjal, he later became part of the Kaldorei resistance and found himself fighting the Burning Legion once more. In this final battle, with the instincts of a warrior - he realized the need to stall the demon legions coming through the portal in order for the wizards to complete their incantations and close the breach. So he leaped from the back of the dragon and dove through the portal. Matthew Rossi tells of his final moments: Now, at the edges of that otherplace no orc could understand, one orc did better and defied the entire host of the Burning Legion. They could not pass. Death itself could no longer avoid Broxigar. It would be forced to their final meeting. The Red, as Brox's friends and family often called him, stood atop a pile of demon corpses and howled defiance back at them as if to say "Here stands your weapon, forged by you, honed by you, twisted into flesh by you. And I will never be used by you again."
#StoptheRhinoPop! #POPPoaching The Pilanesberg National Park in Australia has been victimized in recent years by poachers. Six years ago someone poached the first rhino from the park, "Suzie" - and now there are on average 10 killed per year. In addition some that have simply been shot and left wounded. There is a heart wrenching video entitled "The Day the Rhino Died" on the website that shows the effort some people put in to try and save a wounded calf whose mother had been killed. A network of balloon artists from around the world are trying to raise both awareness and funds to help protect the park from these poachers. Lots of information on the program and how you can help are on the website: http://www.theballoonrhinoproject.co.za/
	Tick-Tock the Crocodog (I know it's late ... but he swallowed the clock!)
I love two masks, ha ha ha haaaa, One's a great big eye.. I love two masks, ho ho ho hoooo, The other a terrapin guy!

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Other posts with David's designs:


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August 13 - Addi's Hats

"Laughing is the smile of the World."

Weerashon Puttrpadit, Mahasarakham, Thailand

The final official Bling Bling Jam twisting instructor I want to cover is Addi Somekh.  (Sorry decor instructors!)

I left Addi's session inspired to "go and make the world happy with balloons".

Addi and his photographer friend, Charlie Eckert, spent literally years travelling the world creating abstract hats for strangers.  Many of these amazing images you can find on his websites (main link) and in the book/kit they created together "Balloon Hat Kit", but we watched as he showed image upon image of human beings from everywhere imaginable, from a Sadhu sitting and meditating in a loincloth in India, to Norwegian soldiers, to a family BBQ in East LA.

One point he makes is that regardless of divisions we may feel, no matter what dialect we speak, we all laugh in the same language.

He showed us a few basic hat structures from which to build, gave us tips on jazz, what he considers elegant design and use of negative space, but mainly go practice, and that for every great hat design you see in the images, there were more than an equal number of terrible looking ones.

So here is my homework, I kept myself to balloons that were given from the jam - so in some ways I was limited on color.  This is also a fraction of what I made, as I would make 3-4 at a time - some didn't get a picture, some are waiting downstairs at this moment for daylight for pictures.

Thanks Addi!

I've watched Ratatouille, this could work ...