Day 264: Swimming Cow

You know those pool toys of the ducks from a couple days ago? Well, here's a cow.


Same idea behind it... they are 650's for the part that goes around your body, and they rest is made out of the largest possible balloons so as to be as buoyant as possible.


You can make anything you want for the head of the inflatable.


See you tomorrow.




As a side note, I want to apologize for the loud video ads that some of you might be getting. I've tried to get them removed, I hope they won't be there too much longer.

Day 263: Smurfing

"Smurf" can be added into a sentence almost anywhere.


How are you smurfing?


Smurf to meet you.


Get your smurf inside right now and get ready for dinner before I smurf you!


Today one of my birthday parties was smurf themed. I wouldn't have thought that the new Smurfs movie would have become so popular with the kids yet, but I've got 4 more Smurf parties booked already.


Here is my new Smurf design.  It's an amalgamation of a few different character designs... It's got some lootle, some Santa, and some critter.
I think that they combined to make a nice little smurf.


See you tomorrow.

Day 262: Get It Through The Door

The other contest at the convention was the "get it through the door" contest.
Each contestant could build anything they wanted, they just had to be able to get it through the door.


The downside for me was that this years convention was sponsored by Betalatex balloons, and I only have Qualatex balloons... so I wasn't able to make anything ahead of time and bring it to the convention.


I got around it though... with my wits and charm.


I borrowed and traded with the other convention attendees to get supplies from them, and used left over balloons from the different class sessions.  I then built this guy in between sessions. 


See you tomorrow.

Day 261: Rubber Ducky

While at the balloon convention, we made some pool inflatables.
We got a group shot with all of us wearing our ducks.










Here are some of them after we threw them into the hotel pool.

Turns out that these actually work. A person as big as me (I'm the guy on the far left) can float with one of these pool balloons.








See you tomorrow.

Day 260: 7 Min Contest

Today was the T Jam on the road stop that was closest to me. That is to say it was in Columbus, Ohio... a little under 3 hours away.


I haven't been to a balloon convention in years, and when I heard that Stretch the Balloon Dude was the featured instructor I simply had to attend.


There were 2 contests at the convention. The first was "Get it in the door" which had the contestants judged on whatever sculptures that they made before the contest, they could make anything they wanted... so long as they could get it through the door. 
I'll have my picture for that contest up tomorrow.


The other contest was "Under 7 Min" which means we had a 7 min time limit to make any sculpture we wanted.


This was my entry.


I admit I came down to the wire. The judge was counting down from 10 when I finished the piece. I'm still pleased with myself for making this whole thing in under 7 min.


In case you were wondering, I won the under 7 min contest.


See you tomorrow.

Day 259: Balloon Cat

A great cat face is something I'm always on the lookout for. 


I've seen some amazing designs for cats, but I think my tastes keep changing because I never stick with one for long. I've used dozens of different cat designs over the years, sometimes I'll return to one and tweak it a bit. I think I need to play with this design a bit to see if I can get quicker with it.


See you tomorrow.

Day 258: Pig

Here is a quick and fun design for a pig. 


I like this one because I finally feel like the curly tail was the right size and length.


I think next time I build this one I'll use 350's for the legs instead of the 260's... so I can see which I prefer.


See you tomorrow.

Day 257: Rainbow

Here is a design I haven't even thought about in years. I've been making Rainbow hats, or rainbows with pots of gold as their base... I've forgotten about the simple rainbow in the clouds.

Here is my quickest version of a rainbow. I know some twisters may not want to use as many colors as I did. I happened to have all the colors in a rainbow except indigo, so I used all that I had.


See you tomorrow.

Day 256: Backpack

Here is a bigger and better version of the quick backpack.


This girl had her own purple backpack with her, but wanted to know if I could make her a balloon one.


I was happy to oblige.








See you tomorrow.

Day 255: Sunflower

So, my wife is a big fan of the game Plants Vs. Zombies.


I've been looking at the different characters from the game and trying to figure out which ones I'd like to build.


Here is my first attempt at the sunflower.


See you tomorrow.

Day 254: Balloon Rattle Snake

It's been a while since I posted any of my snake designs.
I've taken to having packs of salt or sweetener in my bag so I can offer to make rattle snakes every once in a while.

I had completely forgotten about making the snake rattle until it came up while I was training some new minions. It really is a great effect and sounds a lot like a real rattle.


I've been told by a few twisters that by adding a small metal nut to the balloon used for the body for bumble bees that you can get a sound much like a buzzing insect... I'll have to look into that.


See you tomorrow.

Day 253: Bigger Balloon Blaster

So, it turns out that the balloon blaster is a design that people liked... including some of the other kids that were at the Kid's Night the evening I made it. 

One boy came back this week and asked for the same thing. I decided to add a little more to it and handed it over.
He then shot his father...












Then he turned on me, he had to eliminate any witnesses. 














See you tomorrow.

Day 252: Bigger Blaster

I was asked for a Star Wars blaster today. I tried a new design using 350's and 260's.


It's still the same basic shape and appearance as the old blaster... just a different way to make it.




See you tomorrow.

Day 251: Balloon Gator

I was training two new minions over the last couple weeks. Two very nice girls that were interested in learning how do do what I do.


One of them brought me a design for a simple alligator that she wanted to learn. I showed her how to make it, then made a few modifications of my own to the design.


I know it's not the greatest gator, but it is a darn quick one.


See you tomorrow.

Day 250: Land Shark

I had another fun new request from this guy. I don't know how the idea of giving someone their own sharp fin. (dorsal fin?)


This was obviously a quick thing to build... but it was also something fun to make.


See you tomorrow.

Day 249: Piggy Bank

Here is a funny little design I made for my wife to take to work with her. She works for a bank, and was helping out another branch by filling in for them when they were short handed. They were running some sort of promotion and she asked me for something to put on the table in the lobby to grab peoples attention.


I wanted to try something new and make a sculpture that didn't use the normal twisting balloons. This was made using only rounds, hearts, and bee bodies.


I'm happy with how it turned out.


See you tomorrow.

Day 248: Hammer Time

This sinister looking guy is about to nail an innocent bystander with his balloon hammer.


He asked me what I could make weapon wise that he could take home and whack his brother with... then asked if I could make him a giant hammer.


I tried to put together a hammer design that would be sturdy enough to withstand a good deal of swinging and impacts.


See you tomorrow.

Day 247: Balloon Tractor

I had a special order for a balloon tractor for a baby shower.


The child will be names Oliver, and he will be receiving his very own Oliver tractor when he's older.


The special order was a prize that was won in a raffle I offered up my services for.


See you tomorrow.

Day 246: Birds On A Heart

I thought today's balloon turned out rather cute, so I wanted to post it.
For some reason I had several anniversary couples at my restaurant tonight.
I tried to come up with a fun new version of two lovebirds kissing on a heart. Here is how it turned out.


See you tomorrow.

Day 231-245: New Phone!

I think this is the longest time I've had to make up for missing. A busy schedule followed by my phone breaking put me out of commission on this blog for a couple weeks. 


I'm back now!
My phone has been replaced, the pictures were recovered and returned to me, and I'm about to share them with you.




I'm going to post them all with descriptions, and we'll count it as all caught up. There will be 15 different designs... I'm 15 days late... Lets try to fix this.



Day 231: 4th of July Dress


First is a dress I made for a 4th of July parade I was a part of. Sadly, my phone was beginning to act up at this point, and I wasn't able to snap a picture till later in the day. At this point the dress had been in the heat and sun for a while... and had shriveled a bit. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it when it was in better shape.










Next is a selection of balloon hats I made for a show I did out of state. This is part of my balloon show package, I have kids help me tell stories like The 3 Little Pigs, The Tortoise and The Hare... classic stories... ones with morals and messages.


Day 232: Balloon Cat Hat


I know it needs a little work... I need to do something with the ears.  

Day 233: Balloon Dog Hat




I think this one is close to done. It might still need a little tweaking.

Day 234: Balloon Mosquito Hat


This one is shaping up nicely also... perhaps just a little more work on the face.




















Day 235: Balloon Frog Hat


This is a much simpler version of my frog hat. I'm working on changing up the design, and that requires starting it over from scratch.

Day 236: Balloon Mouse Hat


This one is near it's final stage also. I think I just need to make the face itself a little bigger.

Day 237: Balloon Pig Hat


I'm still not 100% happy with my pig... in any of it's forms. I need to spend some time looking at pigs or something and try to think of a better way to make them.

Day 238: Balloon Wolf Hat 


The wolf's ears also need a little work I think, and perhaps I need to change the shape of the mouth.

Day 239: Balloon Scorpion Hat


This is a new attempt at the scorpion hat... I have been using a different design for years, and tried something new for this show.










Day 240: Balloon Duck Hat


This is one of those times when a very simple design seems to capture all that I think is needed for the shape to be recognizable. I don't know what I could add to make this look more like a duck.












Day 241: Balloon Elephant Hat


I tried a new design for my elephant hat for this show also. I think I like the shape of the ears... and the tusks are a new addition as well.

Day 242: Balloon Lion Hat


I didn't realize till I was doing my final check before the show started that I had forgotten to give the lion teeth. 
















Here are all the hats bundled together so I could carry them to the stage. 






















Day 243: Balloon Bug

I haven't been asked for any balloon insects in a while.. I had honestly forgotten how to make most of them. This girl asked for a spider... I completely forgot to give it the mandibles in the front.
I feel like this looks more like an ant than a spider.


Day 244: Balloon Baseball Player

This was a baseball player made on a busy night. I didn't have the time to make the more complicated design, so I modified the simple figure shape and drew on a face instead of making my normal balloon person face.
The boy tried to grimace just like the drawing for the picture.

Day 245: Balloon Body Builder


I'm going to be teaching some beginning balloon classes at a local health club, and I've begun getting people aware of it by dropping off balloons and placing them around the club to grab peoples attention.








Ok. Done.
I've got the posts for the next couple days scheduled already, so things should get back on track rather quickly.




I'd like to ask you again to swing by the other blog I started. It's found at this link http://brianbrushwood.blogspot.com/

I'm trying to do an experiment with Google Image, and I'd love as much help as I can get.




See you tomorrow.

I'm Not Dead

I know I owe you guys a bunch of updates.

My phone dies on me last week, I've been getting by on a crappy backup phone... but I can't get to any pf the pictures I had on the phone that died.

T-Mobile tells me that they can still retrieve all the saved data on the broken phone... so I'm just waiting for the replacement phone to arrive in the mail and I should be able to begin updating again.

I promise I will get things all caught up again.

Thanks for being patient.

Mot