September 28 - Tatyana's Turtle

“When we were little," the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, "we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle - we used to call him Tortoise -"
"Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?" Alice asked.
"We called him Tortoise because he taught us," said the Mock Turtle angrily: "really you are very dull!”

~ Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland

Russian balloon artists have an amazing and unique style to their balloon twisting - Tatyana DjeTa Lyashko has a collection of PDFs available that are incredible.  Even more than decor, I would say this could qualify as a competition piece.

I have had some of her PDFs on my list of things to build for a long while, and since she just recently posted a few of her newer Halloween designs I figured I should get busy!

This turtle is easily the most involved and difficult balloon I have made to date.  It takes a total of 18 hearts with multiple sidewall bubbles to create just the basic form of the shell.  If Buster's kitty helped me get confidence with multiple sidewall bubbles - this one made me a balloon surgeon with the delicacy I had to work with some of these connections.  Thankfully those that I struggled with didn't cause a domino effect of weakening the others.

I love the droopy eyes, I love the leg distortions, I love that I was able to complete the shell - but I was so scared of popping something - I didn't adjust the connecting bubbles to the inside in some places which might have made building the shell trim easier.  Now I know why I waited so long to attempt this one!  Phew!

Hey heyyyy, Tippi Turtle!	I crossed the finish line - hare less
Ok, now give me that sexy "I'm just barely 125 years old" smile

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Other posts with Tatyana's designs: Show all