April 24 - Chihuahua

"When the idea of 'Chopped' surfaced, it was originally meant to be taped at some guy's mansion with him and his crazy Chihuahua. A stuffy fellow in a tuxedo was to host, and the losing chef's dish was then fed to the dog! I am not kidding, I saw it! I think it is genius! Twisted, but genius!"
~ Ted Allen

Ed Chee shared this Chihuahua with us in Balloon Magic Magazine issue #76 --- call it a Chee-huahua!

This one looks great in the hand, but since the head is so big compared to the body, it tends to topple over.

About 20 years ago we lived next door to a little chihuahua  named Peanut ... I know his name well because that is what the owner would whine as this little hairy torpedo would come flying across the yard and through the rungs in their fence.  "Peeeeeanut!"  ... "Peeeeeeeanut!"   .. after he was done terrorizing us, he would return to her sing-song of "oh Peanut, why are you such a bad boy?" pat-pat. Though it never actually chomped us - but it would snap at our heels aggressively as we walked by,  so that most of the time when we would leave the house on foot, we would make an effort to cross the street before going down the road to avoid this dog.

Ok guys, lift together on 3!

April 23 - Prince

"Compassion is an action word with no boundaries."

In a year already fraught with musical tragedy - the world has lost something beautiful and pure.

His songs were a landscape for our lives, I'm hard pressed to come up with someone else at the moment who I've seen sing so passionately.   In all the years I believe he remained uncompromised by the press or the spoils of fame.  I remember watching the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame where Prince and a number of others played "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and at the time thinking his performance was a bit showboating.  His performance begins about 3:30 into the song, it's almost like they were trying not to show him until that point  ...

Now as I watch it and I see that he's not just playing the song, he's eulogizing George.  And I hope someone eulogizes him so well.  He was a musical titan, we were lucky to know him even though it feels too brief.

This is what it sounds like, when pigs cry...

April 22 - Geo Turtle

Gorbachev

"See the TURTLE of enormous girth!
On his shell he holds the earth.
His thought is slow but always kind;
He holds us all within his mind.
On his back all vows are made;
He sees the truth but mayn't aid.
He loves the land and loves the sea,
And even loves a child like me."
~ Roland - the Dark Tower (Stephen King)

I loved the Dark Tower series ...

The first books were so brilliant in creating a haunting decaying fantastic world, and it was such amazing journey we all went on. I'm recall the last book leaving a bit of a sour taste, but I'm not sure if that was just my own fuss at wanting it to go on and be something more. This is probably something good to reread in it's entirety now that the series is complete.

Matt Falloon's flower bud concept works perfect for a turtle!  I love the look of this turtle, it's very simple, but it has a nice domed back and I've seen pictures of it looking fantastic huge.  And as always he shows some really cool yet simple artwork to go along with it.

Can you sneak me into Disney?

>click< See?  I can pass for a turtle!

I didn't really take that many pictures, so this is pretty much the last of my Disney phantom balloonist adventure - I will say that that in the end I thought the best time to leave these balloons wasn't when people were going out, but when people were coming back from the parks or the fireworks - so about 9pm when everything was exploding outside at Epcot, I would ride the elevators and place what I made after my sessions that day on random floors.  It also had the added benefit as I didn't have anyone asking me why I had an armful of balloons. :)

Getting ready for a phantom ballooning!

Outside one of the elevator floors

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Other posts with Matt's designs:


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April 21 - Snow White

"Freshly fallen snow
Waits for artists paw to sketch
on a blank canvas"
~ Haiku by Dog

I didn't have the right colors for so many things, but I did try to make as many Disney things as possible - so Shana Brenion is definitely a hero this trip! Here is a few practice Snow White's I had built - and one of the ones I tried to take a stealth picture of after placing it at the resort for someone to find.

I always felt a little bit like I was breaking the rules by stashing these at various point in the resort - almost like I was littering. So I would make an overacting attempt to show that I was placing it carefully and then walk away quickly, relying on the "Take Me!" sign to perform the magic once people investigated. I didn't want to get caught in conversation explaining what I was doing, spoiling the magic of the find. Plus I had only what I had in my hand - so I didn't want to potentially create a situation of have vs. have-nots for siblings and onlookers ...

But back to Snow White! I read an article that suggested rejected dwarf names included Scrappy, Hoppy, Awful, Weepy, Gloomy, Snoopy, Silly, Gabby, Blabby, Flabby, Dizzy, and Biggy-Wiggy. Kind of glad they went with what they did!

I did try making one with a Betallatex heart, but it made her look a little chesty and the legs flair out weird.  This design definitely is for Qualatex.

	Remember you're the one who can fill the world with sunshine!
"Lips red as the rose.  Hair black as ebony. Skin white as snow. Flower-petal body." ~ Magic Mirror Misquoted	I would have eaten the apple as well ...
One from the resort -- a blurry drive-by photo :(

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April 20 - Princess Belle

"Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?"

Shana Brenion really has a hit on her hands with these cutie dolls - this time it's Belle in her famous ballgown.

For the past few days I have been at a tech conference in Florida at one of the Disney resort hotels. My sessions end at 5pm and evening cost for the parks is $75 (!!!!), so I am glad I brought some balloons!  I took only my "extra" balloons - the stuff that I had pulled from my kit and not used, the last little bits of a bag - and then my hearts/rounds swasdee bagalloon.   It definitely made it a little tougher not having everything available, but I think I was able to make it work pretty well - every night and every morning I've been sneaking out to this and the neighboring hotel to stash these in various areas each hold a little "Take Me!" sign.

I didn't hang around to see who got them, but I did notice one sweet little girl clutching an Ariel beaming with the Disney magic of finding it.  Call me a cast member!

One at the resort ...	Practice eyes should not be zoomed in on ...
I don't know your name, but your face rings a bell!

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April 19 - Alien #3

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans. We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."
— From Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, 2010.

We travel to another galaxy once more with Jeffrey Hayes, his Seriously Out There DVD is full of such great designs!

This is the design that caught my eye when first looking at the DVD, so I was excited to build it.  I think it looks great for as simple as it is to build.  It does take a good variety of balloons, but the overall effect is fantastic.

Again, aliens are abstract so this could be the form for pretty much any alien of this type.

Wait!  I have a button for this!

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Other posts with Mr. Hayes' designs:


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April 18 - Eric's Flamingo

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo.
~ Lewis Carroll

This flamingo is the next bird in Eric's Live Animals #6 PDF.  I am really loving these PDFs, and I've been restraining myself from looking too far ahead in them all.  This flamingo looks great - the body is very similar to Eric's duck, the new bit of sexiness in this is definitely the beak.

After doing the first beak and experimenting a good number of times, I was pretty confident this would be no problem.  This beak.  ...  let me take a moment.   This beak.   ..    I tried and failed so many times to get it to lock into position but it would just roll up the entire length.  I tried positioning it different ways, I need to practice this before I do this again ... there is some secret to the technique that eludes me.

In the end I using some cosmoplast while I held it in it's pivotal position.  I feel like a dirty cheat.  It's why I only built one ...

My nose is funny?  YOUR nose is funny!

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Other posts with Eric's designs:




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