September 25 - Sempertex Pastel Dusk Green

Still, the water runs clear through my mind
On the field, I can see a fiddler
The fiddler on the green and the sad boy

~ Demons & Wizards - Fiddler On The Green

Sempertex Pastel Dusk Green is a fairly recent color in the Sempertex line as a very light minty green.  

Sempertex is the standard really these days, the balloon texture and feel are great, reliable and don't show a retwisting mark too severely.

This though is another one of those colors that I feel just don't need to be in a kit unless you're intentionally building something this color.   With 4 (?) other greens in the Sempertex line alone, it's more of a range than the average kit can handle.

Overall impression, I like them - but I won't use them.

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Other color day balloons:

September 24 - Tuftex Blossom

Blossom, smile some sunshine down my way
Lately I've been lonesome
Blossom, it's been much too long a day
Seems my dreams have frozen
Melt my cares away

~ James Taylor - Blossom

Blossom as a word feels like it could be any bright color and when I do a quick search .... it's a pink.

According to Tuftex though, it's a light purple that is fairly close to the Qualatex lilac in terms of color.  Texture was good, consistency was good, easily inflated, durable - going to have to come up with some more rigorous tests perhaps!

The color is nice on it's own, but compared to the Sempertex lilac looks ... worn out?

What I do want to point out though is how important a full spectrum of color is when taking pictures, I retook photos of these images after I realized my lighting was messed up - but left one of the original for the visual comparison.

Other color day balloons:

September 23 - Decomex Pastel Misty Rose

You look to me like misty roses
Too soft to touch
But too lovely to leave alone

~ Tim Hardin - Misty Roses

Decomex Pastel Misty Rose is ... another wormy/gummy color very similar to Clay Pink, maybe with like .01 bit less red - barely noticeable unless compared side by side (image on blog).   Here's another bid for color naming standardization - I didn't realize they would be so similar based on website images.   

My point, I suppose, is that I will probably never use this color again as it is a bit of a challenge to figure out what to build ... out of worms.   ... hmm, now that I speak it, that does sound perfectly horrible.

... I went "wyrm" feeling oh so clever, but now I'm lamenting the lost chance adding another creature to our dark menagerie.   (maybe I will get another bag ... October is just around the corner...)

As to the balloons themselves, the texture and feel and consistency are all great.  They are chemically precise, yet a gross dull bleh of a color.

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Other color day balloons:

September 22 - Decomex Pastel Clay Pink

My memory jumps on rocks
Every work like dark blocks
I'm suddenly at a bay
I'm playing with pink clay.

~ Suedes - Mindless

Pastel Clay Pink is another one of those balloons that had me asking that burning question ...what was I thinking?

Earthworm.  Perhaps.  Why was I thinking earthworm though?

The texture and pliability of them is good as all Decomex seem to be, no notes there - keep cooking as the kids might say.   

One ... complaint?  They do really show a "whoops" accidental twist line like a bad crease, but I'm betting you could use that advantageously to give yourself some stripey bit intentionally ... not a problem, a feature.

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Other recent color day posts:

September 21 - Tuftex Lime Green

"You put the lime in the coconut,
 You drink 'em both up
 You put the lime in the coconut,
 And call me in the morning"

~ Harry Nilsson - Coconut

There is a nice softness to Tuftex balloons in general, so as long as you get a good batch, they're one of my favorites.  In many ways they feel closest to Qualatex in terms of texture.

This one was pleasantly plump.

As for the color, it's just a tiny bit darker (richer?) than the Sempertex lime green.

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Other color day balloons:

September 20 - Kalisan Plum

You can feed me apples,
Oranges and Plum,
You can even wash my face,
But don't you push me down.

~ Don't You Push Me Down - Woody Guthrie

Kalisan Plum is a super deep, dark purple.  By text description - I'm all in. 

The balloon texture is fairly stiff, typical to much of what I've seen from Kalisan, quite durable but more difficult to get consistant/right sized pinch twists unless you exercise them well.  They're also tight enough that if you don't exercise them, a pop is practically a sonic boom.

Overall impression of Kalisan Plum?  They are certainly plum-y in color, very rich - but even despite the texture problems I can't see myself keeping them in a kit - the color is so dark that it's almost muddy.

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Other color day balloons:

September 19 - Decomex Pastel Olive

In the misty silver night
My eyes fall to the ground
I can feel it come alive

~ Peter Gabriel - Olive Tree

Most balloons have a fairly narrow range of smells, from mild-latex to yucky-old-latex, I've never had a balloon that smells like this.  Slightly sweet, like corn or like a sweet tobacco?

I couldn't detect any differences in texture between these and other Decomex balloons, at this point it just feels like an added benefit.  I kept sniffing them and wondering about what chemical they used that perfectly overwrote the latex.  ... or maybe there's some new curing process.

Overall impression, smells good, and I'm simply fascinated by that - but it's the color of Oscar the Grouch and boogers, and not for my kit.

(view other Decomex)

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Recent "color day" balloons: