May 7 - Shark

"Show me the way to go home,
 I'm tired and I want to go to bed.
 Oh, I had a little drink about an hour ago,
 and it's gone right to my head.
 Wherever I may roam, on land or sea or foam.
 You will always hear me singing this song,
 Show me the way to go home."

Martin Lemire released this shark video for purchase on the Twisters Cookbook (link), and I bought it almost instantly.  Not just because he is a great twister (1st place in the small sculpture category at this years Twist & Shout), but he's also a great person in my book - with an ever ready smile and a personality that lights up a room.

When I had been twisting only about 6 months I attended the Florida Super Jam in 2015.  I had come late so I missed any sort of introductions, and was wandering around the jam room feeling awkward and out of place, I'm sure Martin must have noticed because he called me over to sit with him and talk.  He was working on nose ideas for his entry to the dog contest the next day, but was so gregarious and helpful with all my newbie-in-a-jam-room questions, he ended up being the perfect ambassador for this first timer.

This shark is fun, and quick to make - plus it has that great big Bruce smile.  It looks like a mini-version of the Buster shark - which is saying it is miniturized-awesome.   An earlier version of this was released on YouTube, but Martin has since fine-tuned that creation and created a new video.  He says he can create it in three minutes, I didn't try to speed build but that sounds quite doable .... not bad for something that looks this good!

For variety I tried making a blue one, but decided to use dark blue metallic (betallatex), I love the color, but I really don't like the feel of those balloons ... they don't expand very easily and end up popping violently when they do.

Sharks kill 12 people a year ...	People kill 11,417 sharks a year!
Remember, pigs are friends NOT food.

May 6 - Light Side Cuties

Life isn't one-dimensional. The world isn't simply divided into good versus evil. I think we are all capable of both.

~ Alexander Skarsgard

We are keeping with the Star Wars theme, this time Corinne Sparkles Smith shows us her light side Character Cuties (link). Now that I've made a few of these already, its very easy to see how you could use this form to create pretty much any simplified version of any character.

I was unable to get a good sized ear from a 360, they always looked so big - my first attempt at Luke ended up looking like Sherman the Elf Baby New Year.

One thing I did this time was use glow sticks for lightsabers. But with the lights on, the glow wasn't visible and trying to take a picture with low lights just ended up blurry and bad.  It looks great in their hands in person, but you'll just have to take my word for that until I can figure out how to capture that glow.

I also tried my hand at building Mace Windu with this technique ... I thought he would be fairly recognizable in simple form and the only with a purple lightsaber. (Don't get me started on that purple lightsaber though ...)

Sherman the Elf Baby New Year	I got big buns and I cannot lie!
Yoda one for me!	Oh I'm sorry .. Did I break your concentration?

Ignoring all previously established rules in the Star Wars
Universe, I think it's pretty.

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Other posts with Corinne's designs:


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May 5 - Dark Side Cuties

Come, boy, see for yourself. From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant rebellion. (indicating lightsaber) You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant. It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now mine.
~ Emperor Palpatine

Just in time for May the Fourth, Corinne "Sparkles" Smith has released her next installment of her "Character Cuties" line. This year we have also had Cutie Dolls and Princess Cuties. Apparently cutie is the new hotness!

Here we have four cuties from the dark side.  The cutie structure is really simple, and creates a fairly durable body that can stand easily by itself.  These do tend to rely on artwork, but Corinne goes over very clearly the simple forms to create each of these faces.

After building Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and Darth Vader from the videos, I felt inspired to try Darth Sidious.  I could use another couple attempts at his face, but wrinkly old man face is pretty forgiving.

Okay. I promise wont call you cutie!!

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May 4 - Yoda

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship."
 ~ Yoda

With You May the Fourth Be

Daniel Ravia taught this in what I believe was my second Steve Klein webinar. I knew him only as FuDD at the time, but I kept a folder full of the images that he thankfully included after the class. ... I wasn't very good at keeping notes back then.

I like how making the head feels like sculpting and smooshing bubbles moreso than creating a precise form.  I tried playing around with the sizes of a few of the balloons - but I think I like my first all-260 build on the left below.

Cut you, I will!	Do or do not, there is no try.
Responsible for the order of the episodes, Yoda was.

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Other posts with FuDD's designs:	Other Star Wars designs:
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May 3 - Chameleon

For me a chameleon is something that disguises itself to look as much like its environment as possible. I always thought I did exactly the opposite of that.
 ~ David Bowie

My first introduction to Matt Falloon came by way of the Balloon Blast Show.  He would release short twister segments as a friend to the show.  One of these snippets was a bit called "Keep Up With Matt Falloon!", where he speed twists something in an unusual way.

Matt has a charming solid color Australian personality, once the fifth Wiggle that no one really mentions anymore since the incident.  (Despite hearing the grisly fate that had previously befallen both Tinky Winky and Zumbah Boobah, Matt could not resist touching Murray's guitar.)

Matt Wiggle's only known promo photo

It's like leaning to twist from a cheery aussie tasmanian devil (the cartoon, not the creature).  Twist three bubbles! fill this much! twist here! here! and here! wink at the camera! -- all told with a series of jump cuts showing sizes and how things should look.  It's super entertaining to watch, but kind of impossible really to keep up.  I would watch a thousand of these style videos...

I look like a million what?	, , , , , Chameleon!
Are you sure it's a chameleon? I didn't see his colors change...

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Other posts with Matt's designs:


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May 2 - Tank

I would be so naughty in blush!

Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows, and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon so long as there is no answer to it gives claws to the weak.

~ George Orwell

Christopher Lyle has another contribution to the Matt Falloon flower bud project, this time with a tank.  This one was quick to learn as it uses the basic flower bud structure but taken in a different direction.

Originally I was going to skip this one, I figured it was fairly similar to others, and it's a tank so I didn't relish the thought of the time spent finding the perfect Haiku.  However there is a subtle genius to this mod, by using black geo tires - you have just opened yourself up to not only a tank, but also to an amazing number of quickly built big wheeled vehicles. The could become a Tonka construction rig, a monster truck, emergency vehicles, etc.

While building the Lyle-tank, I kept getting imagining the typewriter guy from Sesame Street - noo-nee-noo-nee-nooo:

Tank Buddies!  Teach your kids about Democracy!
	So what happens if I  use your alien device? ... SQUEEE!

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Other posts with Christopher's designs:



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May 1 - Mini Yon

Bananaaaaaa..

"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play."
  ~ John Cleese

Another entry in Christine Belcher's Twistina's Five Minute Balloon Delights Volume 4 is this minion. (called 'Mini Yon' to avoid the potential litigation I imagine :))

I've built minions before on the blog, but never so quickly.  The longest part of minion-making is typically the monocle, and Christine has a simple yet effective technique to crank these out.  First time I've ever made a two eyed minion!

BAA-NAnaaaaaaaaa	BANANAAAAAAA!
... and meeeeee!!!!

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Other posts with Christina's designs:	Other Minionss:
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