June 7 - Budgett's Frog

"Frog went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh."

~ Bob Dylan

Typical frog balloons are of the green/tree frog type, so I was excited to take a look and build this blobby body guy.

These frogs were named posthumously after John Samuel Budgett, a zoologist who (unfortunately literally) devoted his life to their study, as he caught fatal fever following his final foray into the fregion.

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This design is from the Isopresso members section.  I could/should probably have tucked the front arms up and under the body as it would be in nature while it's waiting for food to walk near it's mouth.  Those front legs are only really out like that when it's trying to awkwardly reposition itself.
 
(view other frogs)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

June 6 - Flea

"The smaller the creature, the bolder its spirit."

~ Suzy Kassem

Once again, I find myself luring my dog with treats to take a picture next to a bloodsucking parasite.   It's never really a pose - more like a panic heist with a hasty retreat to safety.  Like he knows what it is somehow ..

I might owe him an extra treat.

This flea is an Isopresso design from the members channel, featuring a kind of leaf weave technique at one end.  This one benefits in that the legs don't really need to match closely, they vary in length and are not visible pairs.

(view other insects)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

June 5 - Hermit Crab

"We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us."

~ Winston Churchill

The final balloon taught by Joe Mock in a recent Bling Bling Jam webinar was this hermit crab.

Simple and effective, kind of a little shell turban, or a swirl of ice-cream.  I built the brown one during the webinar, then tried to focus on a better curvier "shell shape" when making the red afterwards - though it could still probably use some practice and finesse on my end - it would obviously work great for the hermit shell.

This is still though probably just a step beyond normal line work, if just for the fact that you're dealing with 6-8 balloons.

(view other hermit crab)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Joe Mock or the Balloon Brothers:

June 4 - Prairie Dog

"Prairie-dogs are abundant... they are in shape like little woodchucks, and are the most noisy and inquisitive animals imaginable."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Obviously prairie dogs aren't dogs, they're rodents - close cousins to ground squirrels, but they earned the name thanks to their "yip" which sounds more like a bark.

If squirrels are elves, leaping through trees with ease - then prairie dogs are dwarves - stout, sturdy, engineered for dirt.  Standing guard - ever watchful for dragons.

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This prairie dog design is one from the Isopresso members section, I felt the first had more of a squirrel face, which I tightened up a bit better in the second version - interesting to see how subtle that difference is when comparing side by side.

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

June 3 - World Bicycle Day

"The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win."

~ António Guterres

Honestly there is a day for practically everything now - pickles, pencils, emotional support three-legged animal rescues (guessing).  World Bicycle Day is one I can really get behind though. Established in 2018 by the United Nations to celebrate the vehicle's role as a simple, affordable and environmentally sustainable means of transportation.

What better day than today - the BMX bike in today's post is one that I've been meaning to build since Twist & Shout earlier this year when I snagged an extra class pack after Jackie Ochitwa's session.  (it was the second class so I wasn't depriving anyone.)   I actually was planning on being in a separate session altogether until I saw people walking around with these and shuffled my plans to attend.

Jackie was fantastic and made sure no one was left behind, her instructions were precise, she even passed out rulers - making sure people did not distract themselves by working ahead.  I wrote all the measurements on the balloons to be as precise for when I used the class pack.

I wish I had remembered that before just now.  Green bike had sizing info ... *dramatic sigh*.

(view other vehicles)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Jackie Ochitwa:

June 2 - Dumpy Tree Frog

"Time's fun when you're having flies."

~ Kermit the Frog

It's fun to say - Dumpy Tree Frog - and they seem chill enough not to be offended by it.

Most of the time they are little green perch potatoes.  Nocturnal, so in captivity they're basically a decorative blob on a leaf by day, coming alive at night to eat, hunt .. and make frog noises.

A great pet for a night owl.
... A great meal for a night owl.

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This balloon design is from the members section of the Isopresso videos.  Because a goat has horizontal eye slits I sort of assumed the frog would have the opposite and built a few of them wrong before making the last.   Horizontal pupils are designed to take in a wider field of view, generally something that might be hunted -- whereas vertical slits allow you to see and hunt in low-light, like a snake or a cat.

(view other frogs)

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Other balloons by and inspired by Isopresso:

June 1 - Gemar Green

Do you have the time to listen to me whine?
About nothing and everything, all at once
I am one of those melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it

~ Green Day - Basket Case

These particular balloons are a few years old, so this isn't exactly a fair test.  I got a few samples for entering a Gemar contest back in the before times so it's high time they see daylight again.

I'm realizing that for these single-color challenges, weaving is going to be a critical component to finishing the goal.

Gemar Green has two numbers - #12 & #13.   12 is slightly lighter than 13 -- 13 is slightly lighter than forest green.  (comparison image on blog)

Gemar balloons have a really nice "spongey squish" to them - if they were easier to get, I probably would have already adopted them into my kit.  They don't come as heavily powdered as other brands, though, and that causes some initial "stuckness" that has only gotten worse with age.  That said, these were stored in a sealed plastic container for five years and most still inflated cleanly and held up well during twisting.   

Quck take:  Gemar Green (#12/#13) are pleasant mid-tones with a nice feel.  Old stock still performed admirably, and the only real problems I had with sticking were when the stuck bit was right near the nozzle, but I can only blame my own neglect for that.  They had great twist integrity despite this age.  Gemar is a beast in all the right ways.

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Other "color day" balloons: