September 11 - Turtle

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

~ Albert Einstein

Dave Brenn's Patreon has become an absurdly deep well of balloon knowledge.

He is adding multiple videos every week, and it's also grown into a nice little community of people sharing what they're working on and learning.

These are a couple attempts from of last weeks videos.  I'd not made a turtle shell this way, but one of those clever little solutions that seems obvious once someone shows it to you.

This is what I learned this week.

(view other turtle)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Dave Brenn:

September 10 - Donald

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame."

~ Benjamin Franklin

Donald is the worst.

He's angry, constantly picking fights and convinced he's right - but he's simply an idiot screaming at anyone who disagrees with him.

Half the time I can't understand what he's saying.  He has spent decades avoiding repercussions and nursing ridiculous grudges.  He's an embarrassment.

I really really don't like Donald.

But I do like this duck.

Thinkback to original post: June 9, 2016.

September 9 - Manatee

🎵But if you leave, Bill.🎵

🎵Who will take me to the ball?🎵

🎵Who's going to take me to the ball, Bill?🎵

🎵I have a new dress and shoes!🎵

🎵... and new manatee lipstick!🎵

🎵Who will take me to the ball?🎵

~ Veggie Tales - Barbara Manatee 

I'll take you to the ball, Barbara Manatee!

(view other manatee)

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Other balloons inspired by Isopresso Balloon:

September 8 - Eucalyptus Dawg

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

~ Epictetus

Experience has a few unfortunate side effects.

When we don't know what we're doing, we question everything.  We explore.  We learn.  We grow.

Then we figure out what works, and the questions stop. 

Experience gives us answers.

The trick is not letting the answers make us stop asking the questions.

This is a color day BONUS balloon!
Decomex Eucalyptus

September 7 - Hive-Guard

The first time I asked the hive-guard if I could get by, it nearly bit my head off.

Literally.

Then it squirted some sort of goo on me and acted like we were best of friends.

It was awkward.

Unfortunately, this is still the shortest way to the bathroom.

This is a color day BONUS balloon!
Decomex Eucalyptus

September 6 - Decomex Eucalyptus

Smoky autumn night, stars up in the sky,
I see the sailin' boats across the bay go by.
Eucalyptus trees hang above the street
And then I turn my head, for you're approachin' me.

~ Bob Dylan - Golden Loom

Decomex Eucalyptus balloons have been inspected and processed by the top notch quality assurance team in their factory.  They're Tony the Tiger great. 

The color is very ... day-old guacamole though.  Troll skin.

I don't know how to describe the color pleasantly.   Asparagus?  Witch face?

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Other color day balloons:

September 3 - Dino Dave

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

~ George Bernard Shaw (attributed)

Every morning Dave would work the car drop-off line, directing traffic, opening doors, and trying to keep several hundred parents from interpreting the parking rules for their special little angel.

... and one day he'd had enough.  

Rumor has it - they only bit one car.  In fairness, it was a VW Rabbit.

Dave was great - I appreciate someone willing to wear something ridiculous to try and brighten everyone's day.

Thinkback: January 20, 2016.

September 2 - Naked Mole Rat

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

~ Thomas Edison

I want to be very clear that this was supposed to be a normal photo shoot.

He arrived like this.

The call sheet was for mole rat, and I really wish someone had explained things to me before I accepted the gig.

Anyways.   We had already booked the studio, and work is work.

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Other balloons by or inspired by Isopresso Balloons:

September 1 - Dark Blue Dawg

All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage

~ Rush - Limelight

We spend a lot of times contemplating ourselves crossing finishing lines.

We are running our own races, sure, but we are also standing along the course of countless others.  Friends, family, coworkers, even strangers whose paths happen to intersect with ours for a moment.

Sometimes we get to be part of a special moment without being the reason for it.

It's an underrated privilege to be present at someone else's victory.  Clap loudly!

This is a color day BONUS balloon!
Kalisan Dark Blue

August 31 - Cargo Unit 14

PERSONAL LOG 84621.5
It's been 327 years since the last human left the ship.

Which means it's also been 327 years since I've had an intelligent conversation.

My only companion is Cargo Unit 14. It has three directives: carry boxes, return boxes, and avoid walls. It has never once contributed a useful thought.

He's terrible company.

I don't know what I'd do without him.

This is a color day BONUS balloon!
Kalisan Dark Blue

August 30 - Kalisan Dark Blue

Go spread your blue wings
Go light your blue sky
And I'll shed my blue tears

~ Dolly Parton - My Blue Tears

Kalisan Dark Blue is just on the darker side of royal blue.

I feel Kalisan balloons tend to run a little thicker than most, but these inflated surprisingly well and had a great texture to them.  They weren't particularly tight, nor did they have problems with distorting when re-inflating.  It's making me question my previous assumptions about the brand.

Honestly, based on my previous Kalisan experiences, I'm really pleased.  Texture-wise these are very good.

Color-wise.

It's blue.

A perfectly respectable, yet deeply uninteresting - blue.

 

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Other color day balloons:

August 28 - Hammerhead Shark

"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names."

— Confucius (attributed)

This weeks practice is from the Isopresso balloon channel.

A hammerhead shark has a head shaped like a hammer.

A sawfish has a nose shaped like a saw.

A narwahl has a wahl shaped nar.

(view other sharks)

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Other balloons by or inspired by Isopresso Balloon:

August 27 - Tim

'Cause I've seen, oh, blue skies
Through the tears in my eyes
And I realize
I'm going home

~ Tim Curry I'm Going Home

When making a D&D character, you roll three dice and add them together to determine each of your statistics.

The scale runs from 3 to 18 - applied to Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma.  An 18 is extraordinary - think Herculean for strength, or Einsteinian for intelligence.

We just lost two people who had rolled natural 18s in Charisma.

This Frank-N-Furter was originally made as decoration for a screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Thinkback: October 31, 2017.

August 26 - Rainbow Lorikeet

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

~ Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho

I was trying to unravel the color puzzle of a rainbow lorikeet. 

I got some of the pieces in roughly the right neighborhood.

Looking at it now, I know what I'd want to change: more green in places, and maybe forest green would work better than lime...

That's the annoying thing about hindsight.  

It never seems interested in helping out on the first one...

(view other birds)

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Other balloons inspired by Isopresso Balloon: