Stage Four: Climbing to the Top

Today's itinerary advice: It's okay to get sidetracked long as you make it back to the main road in time.

This week I learned to make a lot more new animals, a few of which were requests. I also worked on the drawing aspect of balloon animals: using a marker to add a face, stripes, or feathers adds a whole new dimension (and makes the animals much more recognizable).

FRIDAY
I was out of the house virtually the entire day, so I didn't get to make anything.

SATURDAY
My mom reminded me of the books I got from the library, so I flipped through them and bookmarked all of the animals that I wanted to learn. I also made two swans that day, one small and one large (Balloon Animals).

  

SUNDAY

Learning the alligator (Balloon Animals) was cool, though I couldn't get the feet to face the right way.
Learning the T-rex (Balloon Sculpting) was a little confusing because the instructions were unclear, so I just guessed/improvised using the pictures.

Learning the dinosaur (Balloon Sculpting) was a good combination of difficulty and attractive product. The previous dinosaurs I made were either too simple or too complex, but this one was a good intermediate.

MONDAY

Learning the parrot (Balloon Sculpting) was fun because it was simple, yet a very different shape from most of the other animals. It can also double as a toucan (or really whatever bird you choose).

Learning the squirrel was easy until it was time to make the tail. The tutorial used a special type of balloon (I think with a wider diameter) that I didn't have, but I tried to follow the instructions anyway. In the process I popped a balloon, so instead I just improvised my own.

TUESDAY
This was one of those days where all of my procrastination of homework and studying caught up with me… so no balloon creatures were able to be created.

WEDNESDAY
Learning the fish (Balloon Animals) was also a good intermediate compared to the fish in my last post - cool, but not too complicated. It did use three balloons, though (it's a really big fish).
Learning the bee (Balloon Animals) was helpful because it can actually triple as a hummingbird or dragonfly, depending on which end you choose to be the head and what stripes and/or feathers you draw on it.
Learning the teddy bear (Balloon Animals) turned out to be an easier but still recognizable version of the one from before.

THURSDAY
Snow day! This gave me a lot more time, so I made up for missing a couple days earlier on. I also used this time to learn and practice some requests.
Learning the penguin was the first time a balloon ever popped while I was twisting it - others have gotten holes in them and slowly let out air, but none ever exploded. I used scissors a few times because I can't quite figure out how to rip a balloon. The tutorial-person somehow just tore the balloon in half - both sides still inflated - and I do not at all understand how that's possible. 
Learning the panda wasn't particularly difficult, but it definitely used a few new techniques. I actually used the remaining part of the penguin's popped black balloon (trying to conserve resources) - it ended up being a bit short, so I used another balloon anyway.
Learning the duck was once again made difficult by the proportions (you can see it's a bit top-heavy).
I also took the time to photograph and film some things, which will be posted soon. A mini-video can be found at the end of this post. 

FRIDAY
Snow day again! I started the day with exactly thirteen balloons left and plans to buy more very soon. I took advantage of the extra time and made a bunch.

Learning the cobra (Balloon Sculpting) included more improvisation because I couldn't really figure out the instructions again. To make the tail swirly I wrapped the balloon around my arm.
Learning the bow-and-arrow was awesome because it actually worked; that's shown in the video below.

   


I tried to make a baby duck, as per request of one of my friends. I looked at the three-balloon duck from Thursday, and then tried to make the whole thing using just one balloon. After making the second one, I purposely popped one bubble as an experimental technique, but then it started leaking (shown in video).
I also tried making a snowman, but I popped three balloons and ended up with a white blob, so I gave up. I might try again later on. 
 
Learning the guitar had just one issue - as always, the proportions. The body of it is a little bottom-heavy, but other than that it's pretty cool.
Learning the alien (Balloon Sculpting) used up my last balloon. I decorated it with a really cute face, though.

SUMMARY
After learning so many different shapes, I realize there are a lot I didn't exactly memorize. However, I plan on bringing in balloons to the next in-class workday. Then I can ask my friends for requests and practice responding quickly. For the rest of time before the presentation I'll be working on other requests, including Toothless the Night Fury, so creatively chosen by my older sister.
I'm not too far from the end of this project now, and things are really starting to build up - stage five will include a few very tough designs, as well as a lot of practice.

Blow It Up: BTS 1 from Liliana X on Vimeo.

Stage Three: Full Speed Ahead

Today's itinerary advice: Roadblocks and detours are part of the experience.

This post is a bit late, but at least I can say my balloon-animal-making is on track. I will try my best to avoid making this just an exhaustive list of the balloons I made earlier this week.

SATURDAY

Learning the 'fancy flower' and the horse were both simple, actually easier than expected.

SUNDAY

Learning the turtle took ten minutes. Near the end it seemed like I had missed a step, or maybe the instructions were wrong, so I went back and just added an extra twist where I thought was right. The only thing about this one was that I couldn't find any green balloons until exactly ten seconds after I finished it.

Learning the crown hat was fun. I made it for my friend when I was at her house for a Chinese New Year's dinner (yes, I brought the balloons and pump to her house). It took five to ten minutes, so I do want to simplify it somehow (and practice will definitely make it a lot faster).

MONDAY

Learning the stegosaurus was chosen because I thought it would be fun… it took more than thirty minutes, if that tells you anything. It takes two balloons, one for the body and one for the spines and tail. I messed up the first versions of both the body and spines, and the second versions kept randomly untwisting, but I managed to finish it.

Learning the pterodactyl (also a two-balloon animal) took more than thirty minutes as well. I learned a new trick too, but it's kind of difficult to explain. I might make a video soon that shows some of the things I've learned.

TUESDAY

Learning the dinosaur probably should have been done earlier (if you haven't noticed yet, I'm awful at choosing an appropriate order in which to learn these balloon animals). For this one, I pretty much just guessed based on the photo, with a few of my own modifications.

I made the stegosaurus again to see if I could do it faster. It still took twenty-five minutes, so I'm probably not going to make that on the spot. I plan to combine the simple dinosaur and the stegosasurus into one that looks cool and can be made quickly. (I'll update you on how it goes.)

WEDNESDAY

Learning the frog was very difficult because I could not get the proportions right; both times I ran out of balloon at the end. I might re-do this one in the future.

Learning the tiger was similar in that the proportions were difficult too. The distinguishing feature of this animal is its head, so I kept making it too big… the second was slightly better than the first.

 THURSDAY

Learning the pig was fairly easy, although I had to re-do the proportions (seems to be a recurring theme here).

Learning the fish was interesting because I made it along with the video. I realized at the end that it was very wasteful (I only used a few inches of one balloon), so I tried to re-design it.

SUMMARY

It was a mundane but educational week. The triceratops and pterodactyl were tedious, frustrating, and a lot of fun. Although I probably will never use them because they're so complicated, I realized how much freedom I have to design and experiment with these balloon animals.

I still have several more basic animals to learn, but I can take any requests if you have them now. Also, let me know if there is anything specific you might like to see in a video.

I'm really in the middle of learning everything right now - stage four will start to explore design and requests.