June 30 - Captain America

Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — "No, you move."

~ Captain America Amazing Spider-Man #537

Ken Stillman demonstrates how to build Captain America in his SuperHeroes Team 1 DVD.

This is the second design on the DVD - I like the boots much better on this than on Flash.  This is such an iconic figure, he would be fine as is - but I thought it would look good with a shield.  I resisted the temptation to build another Pocket Chopper for him to ride ...

Captain America is an interesting character.  I watched a brilliant video recently detailing his greatest flaw - a superhero should reluctantly fight because they have to, but Cap is defined by fighting. When Scarlett Witch showed the Avengers each of their greatest fears - Hulk was hulking out on his friends, Thor witnessed the apocalypse, Black Widow freaked out about her terrible past, Iron Man stood broken on a pile of bodies as the aliens descend.  Steve's greatest fear -- the war is over.   Link for full video:  Captain America's Biggest Flaw.

Watch that potty mouth!	A low key battle ...
Upgrade - I'm rolling need. This replaces my +5 buckler with shock resist.

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June 29 - The Flash

My name is Barry Allen. And I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child I saw my mother killed by something impossible. My father went to prison for her murder. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world I am an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me. And one day, I'll find who killed my mother and get justice for my father. I am the Flash.

~ The Flash Season 1 Intro

Ken Stillman is a balloon industry superhero and master of decorative balloons, he has toured the world giving classes on his techniques - I was lucky enough to attend one where he showed us how to build a realistic looking 6' tall Tinker Bell.  (Though I suppose 6" would be realistic.)  He hosts a website, BalloonClick.com, updated with new creations monthly and stuffed full of his designs, ranging from a small simple centerpiece to gigantic involved sculptures.  Talk with him for a minute and you'll add him to your list of the nicest people you know.

This design is from his SuperHeroes Team 1 DVD project.  Having now watched it, I can say it's a "must have".  This is a great form base with which to build any muscular person, and each of the other designs on the disc expand and enhance this base with details geared to the specific superhero.  I really like how the head structure creates a super jaw look, but I'm not taken with the hands at all and might have to make something more than these oven mitt things on future builds.  I also like keeping the eyes pure white when they are in a mask.

I love watching the Flash TV show with my youngest son - he's such a powerful superhero, he can run so fast that he could travel back in time.  Despite the paradox he creates repeatedly by doing so (ugh, time travel storylines), this always made me wonder - how could he possibly see if he were travelling faster than light?  I get that his body moves that fast and that his eyes might react that fast, but the light rays feeding this information are restricted to the physical properties of the universe and are at a constant speed.  His vision should be getting terrible the faster he goes ... but a better question is if he can run that fast, why does he always let a super-criminal get in one good shot?

I have a really hard time taking pictures of things that are bigger than my photo area, I need a back-up area for these bigger things.

Thanks Ken!

Flash -  AAaaaaaaa!  He saved every one of us!  

I'm the fastest pig alive!

June 28 - PenguinTEE

Skipper: Kowalski, what's our trajectory?
Kowalski: Ninety-five percent certain we're still doomed.
Skipper: And the, uh... other five percent?
Kowalski: Adventure and glory like no penguins have ever seen before.
Skipper: I'll take that action.
Private: Where are going?
Skipper: The future, boys. The glorious future.

I can't speak for the quilting, rubber stamping or small porcelain doll groups, but we have an awesome balloon community that is very willing to share and help others. Kaiumporn Tee (Balloon TwisTEE) is based out of Thailand, she has a very stylized look to her designs and has shared many of them as picture tutorials - I'm sure I will be building more of them to post here!

I really like the chibi look of this penguin.  The construction is fairly simple, but you do need to get a feel for the various bubble sizes with some trial and error, because often you are twisting your connection points before you need to lock them in.

Penguin	Pink one
Freeze a jolly good f-f-f-fellow, Freeze a j-jolly good f-f-fellow!

June 27 - Great White Shark

Contrary to what most people would say, the most dangerous animal in the world is not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. Its a shark riding on an elephants back, just trampling and eating everything they see.
~ Jack Handey

HAPPY SHARK WEEK!  
(... unless you've been attacked by a shark, I suppose this week would be a pretty rotten reminder.)

I have wanted to build this shark for so long!  The first time I saw this was at a balloon convention in the jam room.  It was a "jaw hits floor" moment for me but I had no idea who/what/where until I saw it again in the big and amazing images that Mr. Lyle shares from his restaurants.  I was able to follow the chain back to the master -- Buster Balloon, from his Big and Bad DVD.

This is not a complicated, but it's a difficult balloon to twist - you need to manhandle some big balloons and do terrible things to them before you are done.  My wife came to check on me after one special string of expletives and found me curled into a ball and weeping softly, at least that's how she will tell it....

The teeth.  Using 321's is almost too perfect for a big massive mouth of gnashing teeth, I'll look forward to using this for a monster or a dinosaur or something in the future.

CHOMP!

No no no.  Shark STRONG.	Whoa here we come, watch out boy - we'll chew you up!
Quick!  Click it! CLICK IT! Whew, you really saved my bacon!

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Other posts with Busters's designs: Show all

June 26 - Garfield

All I do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. There must be more to a cat’s life than that. But I hope not.
~ Garfield

Juho Hokkanen is a Finnish balloon artist who frequently posts interesting and technically difficult images in various balloon forums, he is a grand-master at using the Lima twist. Recently he shared his creation of Garfield's face.

The instructions were fantastic, I hope he chooses to create more. It's oftentimes tough to convey things in pictures, but Juho did a great job - I was able to follow along with ease. The body is a copy of something that he showed. I should have carried on the fur pattern to the tail probably.

It finishes quicker if I stare...

Lasagna is NOT a breakfast cereal

June 25 - Strawberry Kiss

Let me take you down
Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
~ The Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever

Strawberry Kiss is the final Shopkin in John Justice's collection "Food Things".

I feel like I have ridden the Shopkin rollercoaster.  Initially dazzled by their cuteness and excited by the sheer quantity of potential designs, the thrill is gone. Yes this one is pretty darn cute, but unless you are steeped in the Shopkins universe, it's really eyes on a strawberry - and with 5 seasons of >100 variety, almost every inanimate object has become a Shopkin at this point.

I thought it might be fun to challenge myself and bought a pack, I got "eyes on a wedding cake" guy and "eyes on pop rocks" guy.  I built "eyes on cake" to complete the self-challenge, but instead of wasting time figuring out who this guy is, or a day's balloon talking about Cakie-pie or Pastry Pete or whoever I will include that image here.

I don't pretend to know how the Shopkins universe functions, but it seems amusingly(?) morbid to have a Shopkin that isn't purely an ingredient. - isn't CakeFace made from smooshed up other Shopkins?  ... in a world full of sentient objects, meal time must be a table of horrors.

Interestingly enough (?) there is no variant for this Strawberry Kiss.  Perhaps any other colors would look like mushy strawberry.  Indeed, my attempt at a purple variant looks terrible.

Favorite singer: Katy Berry	Who ever heard of a Shnozberry?!
MMmmmmmm...  I mean cheeeeeeeese!

The wedding topper is quite literally a strawberry kiss.   Dun dun DUNN!!!

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June 24 - Sweet Cheek Cow

"Otis, a strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others."
~ Ben the Cow Barnyard (link)

Eric Weinstein's new set of instructions, "Sweet Cheeks" are sure to be a hit!

Eric's chubby cheek balloons are some of my favorite go-to balloons for small, amazing-yet-cartoonish, creatures.   This new series shows the refinement he has put into his concept, some quicker ways to build things and demonstrates it on a good variety of creatures.

I ended up watching most of this video while working on something else, but I knew after seeing this cow it would be the first I built.  It's got double the chubby cheek!

I tried one in mocha, but compared to how cool the spotted one looks, it just seems kind of boring.  So it got horns.

How Now? Prep for what surgery?	Sometimes you really do get the horns....
Ballooncowism:  You have two cows, the government moos quietly.
I herd they are in a good moo-d.

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Other posts with Eric's designs:


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June 23 - Fox

This Fox has a longing for grapes:
He jumps, but the bunch still escapes.
So he goes away sour;
And, 'tis said, to this hour
Declares that he's no taste for grapes.
~ W.J. Linton

This fox is the second design shared in the recent Aaron "Dizzy Doc" Hay webinar.

The facial base structure is effectively the same as the polar bear, so you can tell how this could be used for most 4-legged creatures with only slight modifications.

This basic form is perfect for linework as it takes only a couple minutes to create and no special balloons are needed.

The red was built during the webinar and the yellow right afterwards to try and lock in the design.  I tried jazzing up the orange a little bit with some belly fur and you can see how easily the simple form can be easily embellished with very little effort.  (There are also whites behind the eyes, but you can't see them in this photo angle.)

"This is the big one! You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join ya, honey!"	Mulder - The Late-X Files
Pig goes "Oink!", Fox goes ... ... ... ?

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Other posts with Aaron's designs:


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June 22 - R2D2 & R5D4

"This is all your fault."
~ C3PO

Hooray! Matt Falloon just posted Episode #6 of Keep Up With Matt Falloon ... With David Brenion! (link)

I know I've already said how much I enjoy these Keep Up Episodes, this is an alternate universe episode - David Brenion plays the role of Matt Falloon (scarily perfect).

It's a whirlwind of twisting and artwork that comes in just over a minute.  R2D2 is a very recognizable character, you might get away with a minimal version, but David shows a quick (of course it's quick) layout that you can follow if you pause.

I tried building R5D4 since they have similar structures.  If I build him again, I'll use a 321 to get a better taper on the head (and do gooder artwork).

R2D2, R5D4, ... BINGO!	What's my motivation in this scene ... bad?
They're here for BB8's paternity test.

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Other posts with David's designs:



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June 21 - Polar Bear

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?

Aaron "Dizzy Doc" Hay gave a tutorial for this polar bear which uses his modular body design in a webinar this last Sunday (June 19, 2016).

Aaron is the owner of Sculpted Air, based out of Columbus, Ohio and has created numerous enormous balloon installations.  I first noticed his work when I saw an image of a gigantic giraffe's head that was peeking up from the courtyard into the second level food court in a mall.  Also, I've looked up his mustache on a chart and I would say it's more Imperial than Handlebar.

Once again this webinar is a goldmine, a bargain at the normal $10 price - it has been free for the three months leading to Bling Bling Jam if you advertise using your Facebook profile pic.  I am shocked that the room isn't stuffed full of people...

This is a perfect example one of the amazing things you can learn from these webinars.  Although on the surface, this appears to be a rather simple design - this is Aaron's "go to" head and body structure merely demonstrated with a polar bear, but from which you could build almost anything.

Polar Bear	Bare Polar
Ice Bear does not approve.  (link)
I asked what they had for lunch, but their lips are sealed...

June 20 - Hank the Octopus

There's a magic in the early morning we've found
When the sunrise smiles on everything around
It's a portrait of the happiness that we feel and always will
Eight is enough to fill our lives with love

Actually Hank is a "septipus", he lost one of his tentacles.

Dan Staples shared this tutorial on youtube a couple days ago (link), Hank is one of the stars of the newest Disney movie, Finding Dory.   This design, like Dan's Dory (which I really should build at some point!) are very easily done and yet still look fantastic.

Being that the number of legs define this character I wonder if that will be noticed, I think I'll keep creating seven - I don't think it looks too busy in the marigold version.

I really like the eye area, messing up the pinch twists gives him a bit of a cockeyed look that looks so much better than if he were perfectly symmetrical - though most of the expressions did seem a bit 'worried'. I think you might need to add eyebrows to make him angry...

How many of us does it take to screw in a lightbulb?	... 1/8
Octapi doesn't mean 8 pies?  ...

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Other posts with Dan's designs:


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June 19 - 321 Fish

Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.
~ J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit

Pieter van Engen published this fish in Balloon Magic Magazine issue #75.

This fish makes great use of the tapering of a 321 balloon and ends up looking like an angel fish. I really like the long fins, very different from the standard loop twists, but you are somewhat limited since 321's only come in 10 colors at this time. (black, white, blush, mocha, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and pink - NO PURPLE!!)

Do you have any 8's?	Carp Diem - the fish of the day.
Of course I love fish sticks.  Why are you laughing?

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Other posts with Pieter's designs:	Other fish designs:
Show all	All Fish