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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