Yes…of course, children love balloons. They loves swords and dogs and flowers…they also enjoy huge dinosaurs, lions, octopi and aliens. However, they aren’t the only ones who appreciate balloon art.

When I’m at a birthday party…naturally the kids will be jumping up and down and eagerly awaiting their balloons. However, once I start making stuff…invariably this will happen:

Adult 1: “I’ve never seen a balloon like that!”

Adult 2: “I want one!”

Usually I’ll have enough time to get to work making balloons for some of the grown-ups.

I’ve also been to some all-adult events and balloons are always a welcome addition. They can provide great props for photos:

Or they can be a great way to identify the guest of honor:

Otherwise they are just great for breaking the ice and getting guests talking and enjoying themselves. Balloons can add just a small amount of punch to provide a great impact.

Just because children won’t be at your event…doesn’t mean that balloons won’t be a welcome addition!

I love twisting quick things on the fly, but I really love making detailed balloon sculptures. Taking the time to study a picture and to see how I can translate it into latex is awesome. Thinking of things to make is more of a challenge. So…I decided to make some nerdy balloon cause, well,  I’m a nerd at heart.

I present: Futurama Balloons!

Bender

Zoidberg

The Pair

Let me know what you think I should make next!

I made my very first balloon “dress” shortly after I started doing balloons. I’ll be the first to admit that I had no idea what I was doing. It was orange, bulbous and not the most flattering garment. I didn’t use a dress form, and the biggest motivator behind making the dress was that I had a whole bunch of orange balloons left over from Halloween.

I did try it on…luckily that picture is lost on a different computer. It wasn’t the prettiest sight.

My next attempt was at my first balloon convention in 2009. I took a dress making class and bought an inflatable dress form, so at least then I had a bit of an idea for what I wanted to do.  I ended up with quite a fabulous bridezilla.

I was certainly able to see issues. Long dresses take quite a bit of time, and the weaving got a little messy at the end. It was a fun effort.

My first dress that I actually put on a person was designed by my good friend Sarah to take part in a fashion show she was having at a New Years Eve event.  I loved it.

Since I’ve been back here and in one place, I’ve had time and the ability to work on more dress making projects. I’d be more than happy for more dress making opportunities.  I think I’ve pulled it off now!

Other than a brief trip to Chicago in January, I’ve been in the Seattle area since Thanksgiving. It’s my home, but this is the first time I’ve lived here since I was in high school.

I’m going to get around to doing more updates from the end of my trip. Just to say, the last half was a lot different than the first and I learned a lot about my own bike touring style.

Anyway, I’ve been doing lots of balloons and working on some new projects.You can find me in downtown Seattle on sunny days. I’ve been traveling all over the Puget Sound area doing birthday parties and other celebrations.

I’ve also joined the local Qualatex Balloon Network, the Puget Sound Balloon Network, which is a loose association of balloon professionals. It’s been a good experience getting to know other folks who work in balloons. Right when I joined, I participated in a group project at the Northwest Women’s Show where the group made a walk-through fairy garden. It was great to participate doing some decor. You can check out some pictures from our project here.

It’s been nice being close to family out here in Washington. I’m really looking forward to a beautiful Washington Summer, and getting ready for the next big thing.

Soon I’m going to be posting some pictures of some of the cool things that I’ve been making. This has involved dress-making, parodies, nerd balloons and much more.

Over the past week, I’ve been seeing a new kind of roadkill: armadillos. I haven’t seen a live one, but the sad sights reminded me of limerick I wrote when I learned about the prevalence of leprosy in the armadillo population.

A patient was laid up, head on a pillow
Way Down in the Lone Star town, Amarillo
He’d made chili with hot pepper
And months later, was a leper
The ground meat was made from armadillo

Hope you enjoyed it! I’m wrapping up my adventures and will soon be in Western Washington! Once I have a real computer, posts will be coming fast and furious!

From the beginning of my trip, I planned on utilizing public transit whenever possible. This means that I will happy take a train or bus when possible to bypass suburban sprawl or to get ahead in my travels. Russ and Laura of The Path Less Pedaled are a couple who took this to the extreme purchasing folding bicycles for their trip.

While a folding bicycle is incredibly convenient for multi-modal travel, it’s not necessary. However, if you are considering purchasing a new bike, a folding bicycle is absolutely something that should be considered, though they tend to be somewhat pricier than a comparable touring bicycle.

So far on my trip, I’ve taken my bicycle on trains to Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. I’ve also flown with my bicycle and took a distance bus (though not with my bike).

By far, the most frequent tool for my trip has been regional rail. These systems were originally intended to let suburban residents commute into the city, but they are also great for cyclists.

Taking a train on a bicycle tour is a great way to bypass the suburbs that surround metropolitan areas and that tend to be rather inhospitable to safe cycling.

If you are planning on utilizing a rail system with your full-size bicycle, make sure that you read the rules before heading to the station. Generally bikes are only allowed during off-peak hours, and are restricted to certain cars. Most regional rail websites will have these rules posted on their websites. This will also allow you to check the schedule and get to the station with ample time to board the train.

I’ve found that I’m able to load my bike on the train with my panniers still attached. It can be a struggle, but I find it a lot easier to handle one heavy unit than all of my panniers. I’m always on the lookout for elevators or handicap accessible stations, even if they aren’t the closest. Penn Station in New York can be a little difficult to navigate!

Many distance cyclists plan their routes to avoid big cities. Utilizing regional rail enables an easier entrance and exit out of metropolitan areas and diversifies the kind of areas one can see on tour.

One thing that I love about traveling by myself is the flexibility that I have to make decisions and to change things.

When I was planning my trip, my first goal was simply to get to the east coast and to see where I’d want to go from there and if I wanted to keep going. The answer is a resounding “YES!” I’m having the time of my life and enjoying most every aspect of this trip. Even the hard days where I’m tearing up while biking on the side of the road make me feel stronger and reflective.

When people would ask me what I planned to do in the winter, I would always say that I was going to go south and find a place to work in Florida or New Orleans and to stay for a month or so to try and replenish my coffers a bit. I hoped to do a kind of modified perimeter of the United States. I’ve changed my mind about that.

When I was getting ready to leave New York City the second time, I realized that the holidays were coming up and that I really wanted to go home, at least for Thanksgiving. This year I have so much for which I am truly thankful, that I want to spend the holiday in a traditional manner. I started looking at flights to get me home for the holidays.

I contemplated putting my stuff in storage down in Atlanta or Orlando and returning to continue from there, but then I started thinking that if I do want to stop for a month, I’d be better off doing that where I know people and where I definitely have a place to stay.

Just now, I purchased a one-way flight from Orlando, FL to Seattle. This is the first fixed date I’ve put on my trip. November 16 will find me back in what will likely be the chilly, dark and damp Northwest. It will also place me with my family and in the land where I grew up.

This will also let me try out living and working in Washington State. I’m planning to stay through the New Year. I’m signing up for some booking services and hope to work as much as possible while there. I’ll also be available to create and delver centerpieces and twisted decorations for Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you know of any events where balloons my be needed in the Northwest, please let me know!

Fortunately, I have another month of biking to look forward to as I head to Orlando. I’m also hoping to do a January bike tour down the California coast, if anyone is interested in joining me.

I have a lot of blog post ideas kicking around my head and half composed. I’m grateful to everyone for the amazing support I’ve received and all of the amazing hospitality which has profoundly humbled me. Hopefully, within the next few days I can articulate some of that into words.

In the meantime, I hope to see anyone in the Western Washington area. I may be looking for a temporary room up in the Seattle area, so if anyone knows any leads, let me know! Also, if anyone wants to try out some bike touring or winter camping, let me know! I really hope to be more social than I was back in May.

So, there’s what’s next! Wish me good fortune for my next month of on-bike adventures!

I found this in my drafts section. I suppose should go ahead publish this.  It looks like I had written this back in October!

I was excited to get back onto my bike to continue south, but I had little direction other than that which Google Maps provided me with. The ride took 3 days and the highlight was running into some other balloon artists, one of whom I had met at the previous year’s Twist and Shout balloon convention.

Steven Jones (not to be confused with the other Steven Jones) works for DAPA Balloons and gave me a call after he saw me biking along the road. It was a great surprise, and they helped with a ride across a bridge and with a place to stay that night. This was a great surprise, especially so because the ride so far was filled with traffic and monotony.

Dawn, of DAPA balloons set me up to stay that night in their house in Joppa, MD, which was an absolute delight. The next day I was out to get to Washington, DC. This was one of my toughest rides.

Riding into and through Baltimore meant losing the shoulder and traveling through areas beset with highway interchanges and lots and lots of traffic, even in the middle of the day.

Eventually, I made it to downtown Baltimore and stumble upon “Occupy Baltimore.”

After chatting with some other cyclists that I saw at the protest, I had some vague directions for the route to DC.

This was tough. The directions out of Baltimore were haphazard and difficult to follow.

One particularly demoralizing development was finding myself just about onto a nice long, and direct route to where I needed to go, and then being stymied by a closed overpass. I had to take a 5 mile detour and was tossed into a very confusing jumble of streets and bike paths by the airport.

Eventually, with the light fading, I was getting close. However, I was also in an area filled with tracts of military installation and no streetlights, so I did the last couple of miles in darkness, very thankful for my lights and reflective properties.

I took DC’s Metra train into the city and when I emerged into the streets that were brightly lit, bordered by bike lanes and even populated by other cyclists, I was extremely happy as i cycled to see my friend Erica and get inside for the night.

While in New York City, I had the great privilege of getting to work with Larry Moss and Kelly Cheatle of Airigami to create a piece for the Pulaski parade which was commissioned by Piotr Uklanski

Texture

Detalils

Goofiness

Finishing Touches

Front!

Side!

My visit to Philadelphia was more haphazard than normal. I was going to arrive in Philadelphia on Monday, but then I was going to head right back to New York City on a bus to work on a big balloon project on Wednesday. Fortunately, my friendEllen was understanding and was going to allow me to stash my bike and most of my gear while I went back to New York.

Her home was magnificent and was well worth the hills and cobble-stone obstacles encountered on the ride from the train station.

In my time in Philadelphia, I also randomly ran into a fellow balloon artist, Sarah Rose when I saw her holding a balloon in the street. It’s a dead giveaway.

Other highlights:

Meeting Balloonjamin Franklin

Seeing the Liberty Bell
Drinking Bubble Tea
Finally trying Yeungling Beer (From America’s oldest Brewery!)
Reconnecting with a childhood friend
Seeing sights from movies I haven’t seen (Cue Eye of the Tiger)