January 12 - Dolphin

Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and Star Wars, etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish, and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons.

~ Douglas Adams Mostly Harmless

It should be no surprise that I’m a huge fan of the master balloon artist Isopresso (Masayoshi Matsumoto). Their work effortlessly captures the simple elegance of each model they create.

While it can be challenging to watch videos in a different language, there are advantages. Without the distraction of trying to follow along, I tend to focus intently on observing every twist along the way for the first watch.  Then when I am making it, I'll keep a picture of the final result open to cross reference.  

When I build things following English sourced material, it is more like participating in that downhill cheese rolling chase.

To play around with the form, I tried doing the one other pose I could think a dolphin would make (arching the opposite way) -- and downsized for the baby.

(view other dolphin)

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Other balloons by and inspired by the Masayoshi Matsumoto (Isopresso):