December 31 - Purple Pig

“In each human heart are a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale. Diversity of character is due to their unequal activity.”

~ Ambrose Bierce

I find it fitting that the final design of the year is a purple pig.

It has been quite a journey, what started out as an impulse using the blogger app from my new phone and uploading directly from that, to the weird ideas of morphing pigs, to launching the Facebook page, to terrible (and glorious) puns, to where we are today. ... and in similar fashion to that beginning, I still have no idea what will become of tomorrow.

Though this project initially was set to be a year of exploration, I enjoy the challenge and feel that continuing in fashion benefits my growth as a balloon artist. That said, there really should be some sort of evolution or growth not just to mark the year transition, but to force me to get out of what has become a 'comfortable rut'.

Will it still be in the same format? Will it still be daily? Will the changes happen right away? Will Ferrell? I suppose we will have to figure that out together. I told myself in the beginning that I wouldn't abide by any rules, save one - that Purple should be in at least one image.

These pigs were inspired by Linda Truscheit, her head concept is one of my favorite and makes for giant eyes and adorably chubby faces.

Happy New Years Eve!

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Other posts with Linda's designs:


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December 30 - Patrick's Turtle

On the far-away island of Sala-ma-Sond,
Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat.
The water was warm, there was plenty to eat.
The turtles had everything turtles might need.
And they were all happy. Quite happy indeed.

~ Dr. Seuss Yertle the Turtle

These turtles are inspired by one of the pictures that Patrick Van de Ven has shared with the balloon community way back in 2008 and my best attempt at copying it.

The turtle, more than eight years old at this point - is still one of my favorites and in my opinion every bit as good as some of his current designs.

... Sandy Plankton said that it might live to be a hundred.

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Other posts with Patrick's designs:


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December 29 - Celebrity Faces

Terrain seems a bit unstable. No readout yet if the air is breathable. And there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere...

~ Buzz Lightyear Toy Story

These three faces are the remaining few from Eric Weinstein's Live Balloons Volume 8 PDF: Faces (link).

I've said it previously on this blog many times but one of the things I love more than any individual design is a balloon concept. When I first looked at this PDF, I really just saw it as a number of different types of faces to build - but now I see it as a complete concept. Each of these faces is a specific celebrity, and all use a similar structure with slight adjustments made to realize the individual characteristics -- Elvis has big chubby cheeks, Buzz Lightyear has a longer chin, Betty Boop is probably the most different because the "cheek" structure actually makes up much of her head shape.

This PDF was a good exercise in exploring more complex multiple balloon distorted faces, and it's one of those things that you really just need a lot of trial and error to get right. I only made one attempt at these three and there are slight changes I feel I could have done better.

I guess my one complaint(?) to using these techniques would be that in getting such a shapely head, you are not given many connection points and much of the features end up being glued on. Yes it would be possible to add a few more raisins, but I did have a few balloons pop late into a build - and it is not salvageable at that point, so it would probably be wise to tie them all off before adding any features.

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Recent posts with Eric's designs:


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December 28 - Baseball Face

What you got back home, little sister, to play your fuzzy warbles on? I bet you got, say, pitiful, portable picnic players. Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angels' trumpets and devils' trombones. You are invited!

~ A Clockwork Orange

Though Baseball Face sounds like a Dick Tracy villain, it's actually the next in Eric Weinstein's Live Balloons Volume 8 PDF: Faces. Technically it's not the next in order within the PDF, but this is the next progressively difficult and detailed face design and the others are celebrity faces.

One of the things I like best about this technique is the dimples it gives the chin.

I wasn't really able to get a baseball hat shape on the initial build, it looked more like a derby, so my second build I embraced it and tried to make a Droog (hence the quote).  But balloon distortion requires careful control over the amount of air you put into the stuffed balloons and I overfilled the jaw on second build so he's got a bit of a mumps face.

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Recent posts with Eric's designs:


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December 27 - Redneck Face

Just'a good ol' boys
Never meanin' no harm.
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born

~ Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard
   (Good Ol' Boys)

This is the second design in Eric Weinstein's Live Balloons Volume 8 PDF: Faces (link) - a Redneck.

The amount of debris that accumulates around my workspace when working with distortion is amazing. So many bits and pieces of balloons, so many things (intentionally) popped and reversed, so many bags of larger balloons go into making smaller pieces when you are stuffing and distoring these faces.

All of it is worth it though, this PDF is a great education on the art of distortion. Eric's earlier PDFs were an excellent introduction, but there was really only one part of each of them that used the technique (like the beak for the birds). This is the school of hard knocks because almost every bit of these is double stuffed, if just to keep colors consistent throughout the design.  This design, though similar to Jack - provides a more shaped face and does a few things different if not better.

I made a mistake in my initial build making the eyes out of smaller balloons.  Despite the instructions being clear and there being plenty of pictures, it's easy to lose your place when following through pages of instructions (Balloon PDFs have been accurately described as similar to reading a stereo manual.). This one used a different technique for the eyes as well and they didn't distract me so much this time.

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Recent posts with Eric's designs:


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December 26 - Jack's Face

Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie

~ Tool Vicarious

It's been a little while since I've worked my way through these Eric Weinstein PDFs, and I'll admit that this one on facial distortion had me a little intimidated for a while there.

This is the first face in his Live Balloons Volume 8 PDF: Faces available on his website (link).

Eric hasn't made a PDF in a while, preferring nowdays to make videos - but his PDFs are full of fantastic information.   These are complicated techniques to learn from without seeing someone demonstrate, but Eric does provide a lot of picture demonstrations and having worked through his earlier distortion techniques from his other PDFs I found following along very easily.

This is the first type of face I've done like this - and though the instructions supply a way to create balloon eyeballs, I think it creates too much depth.  In my second attempt I went ahead and drew them, but if I were to make another - I think they would look great with button eyes.

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Recent posts with Eric's designs:


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December 25 - Nightmare Christmas

But who here would ever understand
That the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin
Would tire of his crown, if they only understood
He'd give it all up if he only could

Oh, there's an empty place in my bones
That calls out for something unknown
The fame and praise come year after year
Does nothing for these empty tears

~ Danny Elfman Jack's Lament

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!

The Nightmare Before Christmas straddles both one of my all time Christmas and Halloween movies.  A simply brilliant story from the twisted mind of Tim Burton -- The Pumpkin King has grown tired of the unending Halloween in his realm.  When he stumbles across and becomes infatuated with Christmastown, his attempts to bring this kind of change to his own land ends up creating a Halloween/Christmas hybrid  

This post is a bit of a jumble as I was distracted by preparing for the festivities today.  I struggled to make a full bodied Santa Jack, and decided to make one using Scott Tripp's Smoosh technique (link).  That is one of the beautiful things about making things using a balloon style or concept - you can cut some corners, and things don't have to be perfect.

Once I did that, I tried making a Patchwork Sally to match - and struggled getting a Smoosh version of her!  (her dress mainly...)  I also wanted to play with a head style that John Justice suggested when giving some hints on his Cindy Lou Who.  Ah well, they are a mismatched couple - a twisted hybrid, and I guess in that way completely appropriate.

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Other posts with Scott's designs:


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December 24 - Pico Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads

~ Twas the Night Before Christmas

Matt Falloon is an brilliant innovator and creative genius, he reaches beyond the perceived limits and creates what he needs to realize his future vision. His balloon setup is somewhat of an Inspector Gadget of organization, he has used his 3D printer and other tools to great effect - not only making both an R2D2 and a BB8, but putting such details into them as distressing the metal structure for authenticity.

His balloon designs are no less creative. I've already worked through most of his Picos DVD in this blog (link), but recently he took a mini (pico?) world tour, visiting as guest instructor to a number of balloon conferences. It was in a montage of pictures that I saw an amazing Pico version of his Santa and I knew I had to try it.

Picos are one of my favorite things to do with those random bits of balloons and scraps that I tend to amass. It's the perfect concept to work with when you're waiting in the car to pick your kids up from dance or swim practice as it doesn't involve massive or even fully inflated balloons, it's precision details as oftentimes you are dealing with partially filled lower pressure bits that require more finesse than you could easily define by measurements. It's a bit of a trade-off - a larger balloon requires details that a Pico does not, but a Pico requires precision that a larger balloon doesn't. A pico with details -- well then that's pure gold.

Actually I'm more frightened if they have a dog ...

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Other posts with Matt's designs:


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December 23 - Christmas Bears

I do not think the measure of a civilization
is how tall its buildings of concrete are,
But rather how well its people have learned to relate
to their environment and fellow man.

~ Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe

I have a few more Christmas designs to share and only a couple days to do them before they are seasonally late!

CJ Nelson designed these bears as part of the package he originally made available to supporters of his kickstarter project funding the redesign of his Twister's Cookbook website, but they are also available for purchasing direction now (link).  

As always, CJ does a terrific job not only describing the construction, but also the "why" to his doing things.  I think both of these designs look fantastic, but ... and I know I'm just being fussy ... something about attaching things with glue dots always leaves me feeling a bit like I've cheated, and that the balloon is more fragile.  If I were to build these again, I might add the arms earlier in the process and attach with raisins.

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Other posts with CJ's designs:


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December 22 - Cindy Lou Who

Everyone on Facebook likes John Justice a lot,
His awesome balloon art sure hits the spot.
Daily creations for over 300 moons,
Are always inspired, they're Splendid Balloons.

One day I was browsing, and what did I see?
A small balloon girl who was not more than three,
Little Cindy Lou Who, had woken up early,
Held an oversize ornament, that crazy girlie!

The penwork fantastic, the antennae wired,
Proportions right on, it was artwork inspired.
I knew I must try it, this impressive balloon,
I finished my work and began it at noon.

One head, four heads, (or is it foreheads?) I tried,
I struggled with latex distortions, I cried,
I wouldn't give up, would not budge an inch,
This was driving me nuts, I felt like a Grinch.




I had to keep trying - push came to shove,
When I heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
I turned around fast and I saw a small Who,
(It must have been another, and not Cindy Lou.)

"You don't need perfection, if you want my advice,
Just do your best, don't be so precise."
Then I thunk and I thunk 'til my puzzler was sore,
"Maybe balloon art means a little bit more,
than just copying something you've seen before..."

... and what happened then? Well on Facebook they say,
That I got myself out of my own way.
Here is my best attempt I can make at this Who,
An homage to Sir John and my gift to you.


Happy Holidays everyone!

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Other posts with John's designs:


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December 21 - Snowflake

Let the winter sun shine on
Let me feel the frost of dawn
Fill my dreams with flakes of snow
Soon I'll feel the chilling glow

~ Black Sabbath Snow Blind

This snowflake design is the most recent video from Vyacheslav Andrienko, one of a few different snowflakes he teaches on his YouTube channel (link).   (I just now went and counted -- there are six!)  This one has a well thought out efficiency in design and is a good exercise for working with 160's which can be frustratingly fragile at times if you are not careful.

I imagine it a difficult thing to teach balloon art when you speak a different language, but not so for Vyacheslav - long before he was putting English subtitles into his videos, he was still able to communicate very clearly by carefully showing his finger measurements.  Indeed I still find myself following his fingers more than I do the precise lengths that are given in the text.

There is a wealth of balloon twisting knowledge on his channel, from simple techniques and weaves to decor to complex sculptures, all generously made available for free - over 350 at this point by my count.  Frankly I'm a bit shocked that this is the first of his designs that I have used on the blog, being that I have made so many of them in the past to experiment with and play.  I suppose I get distracted by the tutorials that I have purchased ...

Caught one!

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Other posts with Vyacheslav's designs: Show all

December 20 - Heat Miser

I'm Mister Green Christmas, I'm Mister Sun.
I'm Mister Heat Blister, I'm Mister 101.
They call me Heat Miser, whatever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch.
I'm too much.

~ Heat Miser song

Another one of my favorites from the season - Heat Miser from the stop motion animated film The Year Without Santa Claus.  I have been looking forward to building this balloon all month, thankfully John Justice posted his version fairly recently - and he's such a wizard that I was content just attempting to copy his and putting a body on it.

Heat Miser is one of the sons of Mother Earth - his half-brothers being Snow Miser and North Wind.  He lives in an active volcano in the Southern Hemisphere because he prefers everything hot Hot HOT, and he is always grumpy because he feels that Santa gives his brother Snow Miser preferential treatment.

I couldn't find any good images to work with from the film, so I opted for placing him in the Nether.

Don't just stand there - Attack!

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Other posts with John's designs:


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