December 17 - Nobody

The visible is always a mirror of the invisible. The reality is imagined before it manifests itself.

~ Paulo Coelho

Never open a closet with the lights off, a Nobody is a parasite that thrives in total darkness. 

Free, a Nobody will hide in a victim's shadow, slowly transforming itself as it feeds on unrealized potential and replaces it with an unsettling emptiness.  As it grows in strength, the Nobody's host is driven further into darkness and despair - finally metamorphosing into a Nobody him or herself, beginning the cycle anew.

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I was going for a white tuxedo look to the body, but I really like the articulation from making the limb joints this way.  It has a clean look and allows for some good possibilities.. some pose-abilities?  (nailed it)

I took inspiration from multiple sources for this balloon, first from a short-film called "So You've Grown Attached" about an imaginary friend coming to terms with his child growing up, if you're unfamiliar with DUST - enjoy, you have a lot of fantastic content.  But also just now from images in the newly released Demons & Wizards video, "Diabolic" for their upcoming album.  (I'm a big BIG fan of Blind Guardian, and this is Hansi Kürsch's second band - but his voice and the music are so distinct, for all practical purposes it's like another Blind Guardian.)   Both had this sort of "nothing man" that I thought both terrifying and innocent.

As I typed those last words, I had this - "oh no" moment that someone might apply their own racial meanings to this balloon.  To those people I would encourage to both watch my source videos, and maybe like .. just grow the heck up.  Or perhaps, open a closet with the lights off.

(and yet I will probably not share this on any public social media platforms because of potential unintended offense and easy potential for anonymous cruelty.   I just wanted to make a person with a void face!!!!) 

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Click.

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February 2 - Swallow the Sun

Cast all the demons in the sea,
Into the abyss of the Earth,
To the sleep of the whales' song,
I want you to bury me. Bury me!

Swallow the Sun Upon the Water (link)

The inspiration for this balloon comes from the band Swallow the Sun.

Swallow the Sun released a new album last month entitled "When a Shadow is Forced Into the Light".  They are a Finnish extreme metal band that was recently given exposure on a YouTube channel I subscribe to - BangerTV.

Apparently the album is in part a tribute to the tragic loss of front man Juho Raivo's life-partner, Aleah Starbridge to cancer.  Art is built upon emotion, and this album is steeped in it - with slow dirges set against screaming rage and loss.  It's hard not to get caught up in the sentiment.

Fuck cancer.

This balloon took a few iterations to get something that I liked, at first I went with a more snake-like creature but reasoned that the actual "swallowing" of the sun wasn't as important as the "chomp".  I also tried a version with teeth and texture inside the mouth, but in a creature large enough to swallow a sun this would affect the sense of scale I was going for.

January 30 - Nevermore

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Edgar Allen Poe The Raven

The inspiration for this balloon is certainly this poem which I studied and wrote a paper on when in high school, but it was prompted more directly by the most recent song released from one of my favorite bands for their upcoming album The Heretics which also used the poem as inspiration.  (link)

Don't let their name fool you the way it did Dave Mustaine when he refused to play a festival with them on the ticket, Rotting Christ is a brilliant and often outspoken band that took this name to prove a point as front man Sakis Tolis describes:

Living in (so called) democratic societies, I think everyone should have the right to call religions as he/she wants. We in fact simply believe they are "rotting"! We are not a "satanic-crusader" type of band but rather one of the many bands that represent the dark side in nowadays Metal music.

They are what Skyrim would sound like as heavy metal.  It's warrior music and their song lyrics and topics are widely varied and well researched.  This most recent album, The Heretics (to be released February 2019) has Sakis exploring artists, philosophers and poets that were at one point defined by the church as heretics.

According the Cambridge dictionary a heretic is "a person who has beliefs that are opposed to the official belief of a church and that the church considers wrong".  It's a non-conformist, or a non-believer - someone who would a be a threat to indoctrinated thought.  It is such a broad definition, a label designed to create division and silence a dissenting opinion.  Be a heretic.

January 23 - Where's Mitch?

Hands in chains for a fist full of dollars
Who do we blame for the holes in our knowledge?
The past you know has been written by the victor
So I ask you now, who is it writing your future?
The butcher, the liar, the thief or the killer?
Your freedom died quiet in the halls of power

~ Parkway Drive Absolute Power

Day 33 of the US Government shutdown.

Our government was designed to have a system of checks and balances so that no one branch would have all the power.  This is only effective if those that have the power to check, provide the balance.

This is not the case with Mitch McConnell.  He has proven to be a lackey to the whims and will of a TV personality president, a subservient politician, concerned more with image and re-election than doing what is right for the American people.  He's refuses to put forth a bill to protect the Mueller investigation, he used the nuclear option (which he was outspoken opponent of when in the minority) to decrease the number of votes for Supreme Court appointee approval from 60 to 51, and he refuses to bring forth a bill to fund the government despite having an overwhelming majority of Senators from both parties support - enough to even override any presidential veto, and he hides in a "hideaway" office instead of deal with outspoken new democratic house member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Coward.  #wheresmitch

Being that he is up for re-election, I really hope the people of Kentucky realize the damage and danger such a weak person does to our political system.  Your freedom died quiet in the halls of power indeed.

January 21 - America's Shame

"Those that can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

 ~ Voltaire 

This is America's shame....

We are in day 31, the longest running American governmental shutdown in history, and even though there have been previous presidential shutdowns to fulfill campaign promises, there has never been a shutdown in order to break one.  Mexico is not paying for a wall, a trade deal *that is not even ratified* does not pay for the wall, a GoFundMe page will not pay for the wall.

For two years the GOP controlled the House and Senate and could have railroaded almost any legislation through (like tax-cuts for the wealthiest individuals).  But now over 800,000 governmental employee paychecks are being held hostage by a bully tactics and one of the most out-of-touch presidents the world has seen in years.

Trump will pay for the wall.  #trumpshutdown

McConnell will pay for the wall.  #wheresmitch

The GOP will pay for the wall. #2020election

This balloon is based on the one in Parliament Square on London last year in a multi-day protest when Donald Trump visited, flown in "protest of him, his visit, his racial views, his history of alleged sexual misconduct, and his policies". (Source wiki)

January 16 - Pumpkin Spice Virus

And would, if you could, turn that mighty clock back,
To that long, fateful night. Now, think carefully, Jack.
Would you do the whole thing all over again,
Knowing what you know now, knowing what you knew then?"

And he smiled, like the old pumpkin king that I knew,
Then turned and asked softly of me, "Wouldn't you?"

~ Danny Elfman ~ Closing
  (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Researchers have now discovered that pumpkin spice is indeed an annual virus that afflicts society.  A hyper-intelligent mutagen that has been systematically ravaging our world in a yearly assault, turning us into orange incubators for the next seasonal wave.  Year after year the virus has spread as you can surely tell by the quantity of pumpkin spice creations available; oreos, cereals, candies, ice cream, beer, english muffins, etc.  It's an epidemic and the world is no longer safe.  Our Commander in Chief has been identified as patient zero.  Resist!  #notmypumpkinspice

That was the original idea for this blog post, however, this will be a little different than others in that I'm going to add my personal review for one of the newer Betallatex colors, Pumpkin Spice.

I get a bit excited when a new balloon color releases.  As balloon artists, our palette is somewhat limited in shape and colors - frequently we have to cheat around the limitations of our media.  I am a fan of Betallatex, typically they have proven to be more consistent and vibrant colors than many of their Qualatex counterpoints, they are my go-to when given similar colors.

I bought a bag and played around with making a few creations, and was quick to form my reaction.  These balloons are quite fragile, not thin - but similar to the old Betallic Pearl or Metallic balloons.  I had to work with them very soft and try to minimize the unavoidable friction because they were quite susceptible to forming a leak at a twist point.  My floor is littered with more failed attempts than balloons used in these final forms.

There is a sound that I'm sure haunts many balloon artists, and that's the faint little 'tic' that lets you know something is deflating ... that was my night.

You can gauge color difference to orange in the close-up of the eyeball from the spice-virus.  The ring around the eye is an orange 160B.  The pumpkin spice color is a ruddy orange, and it wasn't long into this exercise that I started thinking that this was more of a novelty color designed to capitalize on the name "pumpkin spice" more than an actual attempt to create a new color.  I wanted to like them, but in any event, the latex formula is off.  I know where to store the remaining of these...

January 13 - Prometheus

PROMETHEUS: Oh, it is easy for the one who stands outside the prison-wall of pain to exhort and teach the one who suffers

~ Aeschylus Prometheus Bound

Prometheus (Forethought) is one of the immortal Titans in Greek mythology, and brother to Epimethius (Afterthought).  He is credited with giving fire to mankind, and in doing so - defying the gods.  Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, had him chained to a rock and sent an eagle to feed upon his ever regenerating liver.

It strikes me that Prometheus must have had the forethought to know he would be punished for this transgression, and accepted it for the greater good of mankind.  It's with fire that man was able to cook meat and survive in harsher environments, free then from the shackles and oftentimes fickle will of the gods - enabling progress and civilization to flourish.

This story seems somewhat about parental control.  At some point a child will become an adult, with his or her own free will, no longer a subject to yours.  Don't cast them out, instead admire and encourage their newfound independence.  You made them strong enough to be able to do just that.

Originally I was going to have a bit of liver cut out of the belly in the balloon, but it looked awkward and out of place.  Most of the images of Prometheus are either naked or have a billowing bit of cloth that conveniently flows precisely over the male bits, I decided to give him a loincloth - but now I can't unsee Tarzan.  Especially because of the way I tried to make the wet/bedraggled hair.  Ah well, next time maybe I'll use a little forethought.  :) :) :)