Those are today's request from a little girl that comes in almost every week this month w her parents and asks me for the weirdest stuff, I don't mind it since it makes me improvise and test my skills, so far I've made her a vampire, Santa, chainsaw, tiki, trident, pig.I think today I'm just going to try my best to make a peace sign since I don't have the colors to make a hula skirt.

What do you guys think? Does everyone get kids like these? And how do you react?

Oh sure. I get kids like this. It depends on their manners and attitude whether or not I comply with their wishes. If I sense they are just being difficult, I pull out the old line, "I don't have time to do that tonight."

But I do have families who come in just about every week and are delightful to entertain. For them I would twist a scaled replica of the Mona Lisa, if they asked.

But mostly I like it when asked for something that's outside of my usual choices. I get bored making the same stuff and it's also nice to sometimes have to use the noggin to figure out how to twist something.


wes holly

How come you get the easy ones??

Things I have been asked to make:
Jupiter, microscope, Princess Leia, Peace sign, ying yang, Narwhale, manatee, Taj Mahal, Empire State with King Kong, DNA, Chuck Norris Delivering a baby, one eyed Hillary Clinton, bacon and eggs, bottle of ketchup, Phillies Phanatic, Mount Rushmore, Bat Mobile, Fleur di Leas, H.R. PuffnStuff, Boi-Dome, TEaPot, StarShip Enterprise, Orangatang, Root Beer Float, and a Swiss Army knife!!

Peace Sign # 79770 OR http://markbyrne.balloonhq.com/complete.......0&idl=17

Think in general shapes and work out from there... picture the image in your mind then think what it would look like if you were squinting at it.

Is it tall, short, round, flat, colorful? Another great tool is to use Google images on your phone if you get stumped..

Yesterday made a full size Woody Woodpecker...

Hey wes its nice to know I'm not crazy for actually trying, I've realized I too get bored of my usual stuff and like the challenge.
And oh my god mark!! and I thought I had difficult requests! the family came in yesterday and the girl ended up changing her mind about the peace sign and the hula skirt, I cant remember what she asked for but I think it wasn't too hard, her brother asked me to make him chucky though.. that was pretty hard for me since my skills are pretty basic, the hardest stuff I make is the stuff from your first bad to the balloon, lol.

thanks for the ideas though, it always helps to actually know what you're making.

Nice hat. Not many people know what exactly the peace sign is. It's actually semaphore signalling

http://www.themeter.net/semaphore_e.htm

The peace sign is made up of a "N" and "D" which stands for Nuclear Disarmament. So the next time you make a peace sign you can give them an interesting little fact!

Mark

H.R. Puffinstuff!!!! never got that one!

#77893
http://markbyrne.balloonhq.com/complete.......0&idl=44

I do tell them the N D story, I leads into jokes about things gone by.
then ask the 8 yr old if they know what a vhs is...look at the parent, a rotary phone... a phone booth, mix tape, each time look at the parent.

I make a peace sign from two different colored balloons. I then connect them so they look like 77. Then twist the vertical legs togethor so you have a small equilateral triangle. You can probably figure the rest out from there. Kids like the two color version because it looks kind of tie-dyed.

I tell the kids to keep it with them and if any one tries to start a fight just hold up the peace sign...If that doesn't work you can hit them on the head with it. (Sounds a little course here but it is a very light hearted line in real life)

Mark, I just came up with a very simple, yet elegant one balloon starship enterprise. All of my trekkie friends love it!

Alex, I'd love to learn that Starship Enterprise. Can you share it here or is it published?

One or two balloons?

It's one grey 260. I start with a large flower petal then two large bubbles (like dogs feet) just big enough to shove into the center of the flower petal. A pinch twist, then a three finger bubble and another pinch twist. The engines are a small bird body roll-through. I try to make the balloon just large enough so that there is only enough to make the engines and I use the tail to secure the roll-through.

The extra touch; write the enterprise registration number on each side of the saucer (NCC-1701D)

Thanks Alex!

I'm going to try this. It sounds very practical. I like your simple way of doing the Engines (aka Nacelles). By keeping the scale small there is no need make the struts. Clever.