November 11 - Sunflowers

"I have brought my light to join the carnival of lamps."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Every year, some good friends of ours host a Diwali celebration.  They put an incredible amount of work into bringing people together (over 100 guests this year!).  Food is at the heart of the celebration, and not only is she an amazing cook, but many of the dishes are particularly meaningful.  Recipes passed down from her mother, the same meals that have probably been bringing families and friends together like this for generations.

I built these sunflowers as a bit of light to add to the festivities.  I'll confess that I still get a little self-conscious bringing something I've made as a gift.  It feels a little ... presumptuous maybe?  

Maybe I'm just carrying some baggage from my years of making festive hats out of recycled AOL disks.

(view other flowers)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Vici Balloons:

November 10 - Sakura Blossoms

"Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place in museums; others, we take for walks."

~ Roger Caras

There might be a better picture of the balloons, but when your sweet boy wanders into the shot and mugs for the camera, you take the shot.

This Sakura arrangement is actually the design that started me down the Vici Balloons rabbit hole.  Viktoria's arrangement is spectacular, so stylized, and the flowers are much more interesting to build than I would have initially thought.

There's also a certain satisfaction to getting it all just right when you've got 20-30 things branching off a central connection point, all needing the right pressure.

And, yes.  He's a good boy. :)

(view other flowers)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Vici Balloons:

November 9 - Vibrant Tropicana

"Nature has a great simplicity and, therefore, a great beauty."

~ Richard Feynman

Sabiha Anjoom Samia is owner and founder of Gala Day, a flower-focused YouTube channel.  This is their 207th(!!) flower design, the latest at the time I made it, called the Vibrant Tropicana.

I believe most of the flowers in their collection are inspired by real flowers, with the focus being more on the individual blossoms.  (*In hindsight I should use the same colors instead of picking from my 'messy pile'.)

Flowers like these reminds me a little of kirigami.  You learn one fold/twist and connect these repetitions into something big and beautiful.


(view other flowers)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Gala Day balloon channel:

November 8 - Club Mūv

Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger.

~ Daft Punk

They took the stage and completely electrified the  room.

This week I attended Club Mūv: Skeleton Crüe in Atlanta, where my younger son, @legitlucasdeming, had the opportunity to choreograph an animation piece set to a Daft Punk medley.   

The evening was filled with talented performers and great energy, and maybe I'm a little bit biased but when his piece began, something shifted.  It felt ... unexpected.  Electric.  And when it ended, the room absolutely erupted.

A huge shoutout to @j_swifft for putting together an event that celebrates the community and gives artists a place to share what they love.  These things don't happen without people like you willing to make them happen!

One of the great joys of parenthood is watching your children discover what they are capable of, especially when you know how hard they worked to get there.  

Of course, watching them bring down the house is pretty cool too.

November 7 - Poppy

"And now, my beauties, something with poison in it, I think. With poison in it, but attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell."

~ The Wicked Witch of the West

This poppy is another one of the cool flower designs on Vici Balloons YouTube channel.

One thing I appreciate about Viktoria's flower balloon creations is her eye for the arrangement.  The flower itself is nice, but it was definitely her arrangement that got me wanting to build this.  

Side note ... I initially thought this eucalyptus color wasn't going to be for me, but I'm coming around to it.  

 

(view other flowers)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Vici Balloons:

November 6 - Daisy

"One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

~ Albert Camus

Deceptively finicky.  That's a daisy.

Viktoria has a knack for these, apparently.  That or the patience of a saint, because her bouquet was enormous.   

For me, finding just the right amount of pressure to fit five petals together without having them sproing apart was a bit maddening.  

Individual flowers were fine, easy even - but each was a coiled mouse-trap, assembling the bouquet was a labor fit for Sisyphus.  Every flower head I would fix would sprizazzle another.

(view other flowers)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Vici Balloons:

November 5 - Vici Vases

What is essential is invisible to the eye.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Viktoria Kravchuk is a balloon artist from Ukraine and the creative force behind Vici Balloons.  

Her YouTube channel is full of amazing designs, and I'm a little surprised it's taken me this long to try one of her tutorials.  I've had several of them bookmarked in a "todo" watch-list for a while.

Flowers (big ones especially) tend to be difficult to photograph, and vases are the perfect solution.  Viktoria demonstrates this design in one of her flower tutorials, but I thought these often-overlooked accessories deserved a little individual attention.

And this design is *sturdy*.  If you are learning to swim, you could use them as a pair of water wings.

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Other balloons by or inspired by Vici Balloons: