December 16 - Penguin

"Kindness is like snow - it beautifies everything it covers."

~ Kahlil Gibran

I thought that when everyone belts out

"FIVE- ... GOLDEN riiiiiiiiiiiiiings!" it was because the gifts suddenly got exciting (or maybe because the birds had stopped).

Turns out the song is referring to "ring"-necked pheasants.

On the first day of Xmas, balloon guy gave to me,

A penguin in a ... a ... looking Xmas-y.

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This is the Patrick Van De Ven Holy Snail Penguin, or perhaps one of them - with simplicity comes versatility?  (that's good fortune cookie logic right there...)

(view other penguin)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 15 - Jojo Snowman

"Happy Birthday!"

~ Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Something disturbs me about Frosty the Snowman. 

The hat is magic.  It brings Frosty to life.  We have undeniable visual proof - as the children say, he can laugh and play just the same as you and me.

But the magician didn't make the hat - he found it.

Everyone celebrated the snowman that came to life.  Nobody looked for what had just gone still.

... and to this day, Queen Izzha of the Stonebound rules alone.

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Jojo cutie for this one, this was one of the instructions from Tobi's download - but saved for a snow day.  

(view other snowmen or jojos)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Tobi Twist:

December 14 - Kalisan Deep Red

When the war gets here, we're going get on the level
Everyone looks a little bit nicer
When you finally meet the devil

~ Red - Jesse Welles

Don't let the quantity of items built for this weeks color day mislead.  I realized I had an extra bundle of these after purchase, and since my assessment was pretty much 'euhhh' (TLDR I suppose) - burning through them all seemed like the right decision.

Kalisan just has a bit of a stiffness to them, which is nothing insurmountable - but massaging the balloon to the right pressure point can leave you ... lumpy?  Lumpy is the most hated word right behind moist.   Lumpy red sounds like a goofy cartoon sidekick that you shouldn't trust.

The color formula also had an interesting "break" behavior I noticed -- a friction induced pop, adjusting a twist late, there was never a slow-leak - it was always a *crack*psssst quick deflate.   

Overall assessment of Kalisan Deep Red - not the one for me. 

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Other "color day" balloons:

December 13 - Pennywise

"Terror is the anticipation. Horror is the reveal."

~ Stephen King

The last episode of "Welcome to Derry" is tomorrow.

It's filmed beautifully, there are long single-take shots that are amazingly well done, the special effects are incredible.

But ... I have issues.  So if you haven't watched up until the last episode, I don't know if I might spoil things for you - no one should read the rest of this probably.

It does not feel very ... It. 

It's should be the embodiment of terror and mind-breaking cosmic energy, now it's an alien that likes to eat people - but likes them spicy with scared.   

It's so ... reductive?

So much horror comes from the tension built before you ever see "the monster". What's scarier than my own imagination in the darkness?  We don't really get that any more, instead we get things over-explained, some shock-value gore layered over the far more unsettling backdrop of the era's brutal racial hostility.

Yeah I'm going to watch.  I just wish it got the Peter Jackson treatment instead of the Jack Peterson treatment (no offense to any Jack Peterson's intended).

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This uses Patrick's "Holy Snail" technique - I felt like the bulbous head kind of matched for Pennywise. 

(view other Pennywise)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 12 - Great Apes

"There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties."

~ Charles Darwin

I always feel drawn to the orangutan exhibit when visiting the zoo, but it always sits a bit heavy on my chest.

The way they move - slow, deliberate, impossibly bored, unmistakably intelligent.  So ... human?  

Even knowing the good intentions, there's a part of me that keeps doing the math and not liking the result.

What's the difference between a zoo and a prison to an animal?  A prison you might eventually get out of.

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These are using the Holy Snail technique from Patrick Van De Ven, I tried a couple different ideas for getting the orangutan forehead, a bigger ridge would work but it sort of overshadows in a picture.

(view other great apes)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 11 - Savannah Animals

"The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask."

~ Nancy Newhall

There's a strange sort of peace at a watering hole in the Savannah.

Creatures that normally keep a healthy distance drift into the same circle. Even the biggest bodies and sharpest horns manage to leave room at the edges.

No creature claims the resource, they simply take what they need and step away.

Can you even imagine a creature behaving otherwise? Truly unimaginable ... ...

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These are another couple examples from Patrick Van De Ven's "Holy Snail" design technique.   So far so good for handling ANY creature!


(view other rhino or zebra)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven:

December 10 - Lion

"Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting."

~ Joyce Meyer

... and Pigs and Bears - oh my!

Yes.  Bears again.

There is an optimal "slowness" with which to work through a set of lessons, that sweet spot where you linger just long enough to absorb something before moving on.

There is also too slow.   Like making the polar bears yesterday, only to read ahead and discover that Patrick's next step is his own version that is approximately 200% more adorabubble™.

(view other lions or bears)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Patrick Van De Ven: