January 31 - Purple Pig

When I started twisting balloons, the very first balloon webinar I attended was taught by Dennis Bauyon - I had no idea you could make such incredible things.  He showed us how to make a hippo and an elf, big cool designs I wouldn't have dared myself to try - and I knew I was hooked.  I think the effort to get the video replay of that webinar was what helped spur me to attend my first balloon jam (where I certainly drank the Kool-aid).

Recently he hosted another webinar where he showed a couple new designs; a witch, a bat and a pig. I thought it appropriate to build in purple.

"Are you my mommy?"

Curly-que tail <3

.. from October webinar

End of the month thoughts:
Well I've made it through a month of entries without too much effort, hopefully it will remain so in the ensuing months.  It's been a fantastic learning experience in a number of ways - it has helped me organize and work through designs that I've been meaning to but most importantly I am feeling a need to take better pictures of more precisely twisted creations.  Previously I was happy with one build/test and to get the approximation of the design - now I twist multiple until I get one nice enough for a picture (enhanced if possible).   See you in February!

January 30 - Rooster

Today's balloon is a tribute to my amazing mother and a Nao Osaka design.

She loves chickens, but I also think they are a link to the past and happy times.  When I was growing up we lived in Colorado with a chicken coop and a massive garden, even though we weren't technically 'living off the land', we were certainly low impact compared with the modern convenient inconveniences of life.

I love you, Mom!

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Other posts with Nao Osaka designs:


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January 29 - Elvis

Some friends held a fundraiser last night where they were showing the movie "Elvis' Grave"  (from IMDB):

"When an impersonator contest comes to his hometown, psychotic Purvis Wayne kills the competition. This threatens to stop the contest. Ex-impersonator/TV reporter, Bobby Anderson pilgrimages to Memphis to get help from beyond...Elvis' Grave."

I tried a bunch of different face styles until settling on this, something that can show off his classic lip curl and lambchops.  I took inspiration for the body from an Elvis Twistina had posted online.

David flashing the E gang sign

January 28 - Cheshire Cake

It's a little intimidating and time-consuming - but so and fun to make abstract balloons.  

This is a birthday gift for a friend - once I thought Cheshire Cake - I knew I had to make it.  It's intentionally smooshy - but I think it's funny how it looks like the purple pig is weighing it down.

Nom-nom

January 27 - Lily

Flower ("Lily of the Valley") instructions provided by Russian balloon artist Sergey Loginov

One of the things I really enjoy about Sergey Loginov's videos is the level of detail he includes on the twists.  Some of his videos I use as exercises on consistent bubble size and pressure, and many require some precision - he is like an origami master in the balloon world.  He uses Betallatex, and oftentimes every inch of balloon - some designs require slight adjustments (extra balloons) so you don't fight with overtight overstretched Qualatex.

"Bring your pet" day at the office

January 26 - Duck

Patrick Van de Ven (Ballonkunstenaar Patrick) is an amazing balloon artist from the Netherlands who has a unique flair to his twisting.  His big beaked birds are some of my favorites and he also has a knack for taking great pictures of his lifelike sculptures.  He has won many Qualatex color contests and his designs are oftentimes published in their magazines, the elegance of his work is certainly something to aspire to.

This design is copied from a picture he posted on Facebook.

Are you my mommy?

January 25 - Eric's Cat

Another entry in the Bling-Bling Jam balloon slam Valentine's contest.  This is from Eric Weinstein's collection - Live Balloons Volume 2.

Not much else to add!  Only that this cat is the cat I make when I want to quickly amaze people with a cute balloon.  Something about those ginormous eyes with those cheeks makes people melt.

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Other posts with Eric's designs:




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January 24 - Bee

You're bee-autiful!

There is a contest going on right now where the prize is Eric Weinstein's latest 4 PDF's.  I'm a HUGE fan of his early work (all of his work), as you can probably tell already from this blog so far.  So you'll have to excuse a few Valentine's themed balloons coming this way.

Being that Eric is one of the judges and the contest is for his new PDFs, I'm going to make a point of trying to have all of my entries based on his designs.

 The bee design is from Live Balloons Volume 1 (link).  This chubby cheek face could be used for almost any creature though.  In fact, the very first entry of this blog is an Alligator using this face structure.

Contest Entry #2

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Other posts with Eric's designs:




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January 23 - Nao Dogs

Nao Osaka is a Japanese balloon artist who makes amazingly realistic looking sculptures.

I was first exposed to him at the Florida Super Jam in 2015 where he taught this dog via Skype.  I tried to follow along but I wasn't really prepared and got behind early so I simply sat and marveled at the way he was able to pull such accurate forms without 'cheating' different balloon sizes and shapes.  In fact this dog is comprised entirely of basic 260's only!

I was unfortunately unable to attend this years FSJ, which Nao attended in person, but there were DVDs for sale that I was able to purchase which included a recording a the Skype session from the previous year - hooray!

Say cheese!  "Woof! arf! oink! yip!"

He included instructions on a few different ear styles, so I tried for a golden and a pug.

Really, he adopted me.

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Other posts with Nao Osaka designs:


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January 22 - Snowman

"Happy Birthday!"

Do you want to build a snowman?
Come on lets go and play!
I never see you anymore, come out the door!
It's like you've gone a-waaayyyyyyy!

It's a snow day today, but not enough snow on the ground to build a snowman.  What a great day to build Linda Truscheit's new snowman design! (link)

These instructions are for a veteran twister as there are few bits of assumed twist knowledge, but I think we can all agree the results are worth the effort!

The face design is somewhat similar to her adorable soft kitty, but this is a bigger display-type piece.  My favorite part is the way she has the hands clasped, so simple - but it gives such personality to the sculpture. 

I can't wait for Linda's next design - as Olaf said, some people are just worth melting for! 

Downsized and naked (forgotten buttons!)

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Other posts with Linda's designs:


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January 21 - Gingerbread Man

One of  the most fun things to do at a balloon convention is to twist in the Jam room with the multitude of people and every size/shape/color balloon at your fingertips - and one of the coolest people I met at my first balloon conventions was Helen Budinger.  One of the many things she showed me was this cute little quick gingerbread man.

I was overwhelmed and intimidated in the room, hypercritical of my own work, I remember confessing that I didn't really know what to do with the quantity of balloons I would create when practicing a new design, and she gave me one of the greatest tips I've heard - effectively, "Get over yourself."

I come to balloon twisting from Origami, and it's hard to shake that perfect-or-fail attitude.  What I might think is a terrible balloon based on how I WANTed it to be, still might be amazing to some and would definitely spread happiness (in fact, this mis-sized arm is driving me a little nuts).   It was on her advice that I brought in my first balloon deliveries to my school and workplace, I was nervous, I stammered apologies and said they can get rid of them if they want to. They have love all all of them, and I feel practically like a celebrity every time I drop something off.

Helen -  you're a gem!  Thank you!

646, 350, 260, 160

January 20 - Dinosaur Dave

Today's creation is courtesy of Don Caldwell in Balloon Magic magazine issue #63.

Don Caldwell (aka Buster Balloon), is in a word ... ... supercalifragilisticexpialadocious?  Man it's tough to be limited to one word describing who I have always just thought of as the zaniest, perhaps most diabolical balloon artist I've seen or heard of.  With creations like this, you can see why I'm a big fan.

Mr. Hughens has tamed the mighty Montessaurus 

January 19 - Snails

Another design using Eric's latest head from Steve's Webinar (link).

I am really enjoying how pose-able the head connection point is!  Also, I'm going to start using this pupil style everywhere, nice to be able to keep it so round.

Snail Race:  Gentlemen, start your inch-ins!

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Other posts with Eric's designs:




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January 18 - Worms

Last night was another Steve Klein webinar (link) - this one featuring one of my favorite balloon artists (even though I say that a lot!) - Eric Weinstein.  Eric has a few PDFs that quickly became my favorite "give away" balloons, like Gabrielle Hodge - he works primarily from a heart base, so lets call him the King of Hearts. 

This face has a great neck attachment, I can see it used for a bunch of other things...

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Other posts with Eric's designs:




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January 17 - Dogs

I was lucky enough to attend a Steve Klein webinar featuring Gabrielle Hodge.  Early in the session, someone referred to her as the "Queen of Hearts" - and I now know it as truth.  She has used hearts to such great effect in many of her creations to give a organic plumpness that you can't get very easily with the normal twisting balloons.   This design in particular I tried coping from an image I have seen of hers.  The tail isn't visible on the chubbier dog, and I personally prefer the bigger jowl, but I think the smaller has a cool doberman look as well.

I expect you will see a lot more of Gabrielle on this blog over the year...

"That'll do, purple pig."

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Other posts with Gabrielle's designs:




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January 16 - Gecko

The challenge this week was for a gecko, I think it ended up pretty good!

The face came together very easily, but there was a lot of trial and error on the body until I got something I was happy with.  Gauging by his face, I got it pretty close. :)

January 15 - Penguin

Penguin design by Lily Tan from Balloon Magic #81

I have a folder dedicated to balloon art from Lily Tan.  She's an amazing and brilliant professional balloon artist from Singapore, has published a few books on balloon twisting, is in this years Guinness Book of World Records credited for creating "The world's largest three dimensional balloon sculpture" and is very often featured in Balloon Magic magazine.

I really like how squeezy-squishable-huggable this guy ended up.

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Other posts with Lily's designs:





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January 14 - Elephant

I meant what I said and I said what I meant,
an elephant is faithful one-hundred percent!

This is the simpler version of Matt Falloon's elephant from his OCD dvd (link)

I first discovered Matt Falloon on the Balloon Blast Video Show.  His instructor segments were very well produced and his personality is a simple silliness that draws you in - his "Keep-Up With Matt Falloon" series quickly became one of my favorites on YouTube.

I realize I did just recently made his mammoth, but Qualatex has started producing grey quick links - so I wanted to play.

Now is it too soon to ask for grey hearts and 321's?

Circus training

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Other posts with Matt's designs:


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January 13 - Cats

Linda Truscheit's first PDF (link) is simply amazing.

I was lucky enough to be at a balloon webinar of Linda's (link) where I became an instant-fan and avid follower ever since.  She has an uncanny ability to create "cute" and her posts and pictures are always an inspiration.  Case in point - for the first time I'm cloning creases out of the foam boards I use for the background and wondering if I smudged enough to cover.

I'm sure this face structure could be used for any number of "basic face" animals ...

Four cool cats, one cool dog (sorta hidden)

The Doctors lesser known companion, K-10

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Other posts with Linda's designs:


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