Balloon Review 089 : Bird Brained Balloons by Jeff Hayes DVD

Available from http://www.tmyers.com priced $45

Jeff Hayes is new to the balloon review section and I am unfamiliar with his work. This DVD is dedicated to bird designs. There are many bird designs on the market so it will be interesting to see if this one has anything different.

The DVD is very well made, High quality video, easy to follow instructions with each model indexed by chapter.

Let's see what we have here....

CARTOON CANARY

Clearly a parody of Tweety. This bird uses a basic design that will be used for several models. There isn't anything difficult here and the end result is good. The use of 350Q for feet means the model can stand up on its own.

PENGUIN

This penguin is based on the first design. I use a penguin often for line work and for me this one takes a little too long. It's good, but for me to use this one in a market with lots and lots of penguins it really does need to be something extra special.

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PELICAN

I absolutely love this pelican. It stands on it's own and is instantly recognisable. The beak is very effective and the head/eye structure is one that is used for several models. This pelican would look great as part of a column or maybe with a fish hanging from its mouth. I really do like this one.

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DUCK

The weakest design of the collection. The face of this duck just doesn't look right to me and in my opinion spoils the finished model. I would replace the head with the standard head/eye structure seen on other models. You would do better to seek out other duck designs plenty of which you will find in my other balloons.

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FLAMINGO

I'm not sure this model really captures the characteristics of a flamingo (see Pieter Englen's DVDs) but I really do like this design. The body is simplistic using two hearts with the rest of the design being fairly simple. The 'feathers' on top of the head add some nice animation. The wild berry contrasts well with the pink. I will be making this one again.

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STORK

Using the same basic design as a Pelican you can easily have a Stork. I really like this one. The Stork can be adapted to carry something in the mouth (such as a baby) or maybe a fish or some flowers. Really nice for a delivery piece. Too long to make for queue work but is achievable for restaurants.

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OSTRICH

The head design of this Ostrich reminds me of the TBAG lecture by Denis Hogers. The difference here is with the use of the white geos for feathers which is really very effective. Add a small weight to the feet and this bird stands on its own.

PEACOCK

Another bird variation with an intricate tail. The same standard body design. Fairly time consuming with the additional tail but the end result is very nice.

TURKEY

A simple change of colours for the peacock and you have a turkey. An easy addition to the beak and it can pass as a turkey. Perfect and ready for my Christmas shows!

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GOONEY BIRD

I'm sure a Gooney Bird must be a fantasy animal as I haven't heard of one of them before. This is one of my favourite designs. It reminds me of the sort of thing you would find on Sesame Street. Easily adaptable and I will have fun making different variations.

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SUMMARY

When I first saw this DVD I really didn't expect to get much out of it. There are many bird designs on the market. However, there really are a lot of usable and lovely designs on this DVD. Each one is a variation of the previous one and because of this the core model is easy to learn and to adapt,

Jeff is a good teacher and his instructions are easy to follow.

Recommended for anyone who has a lack of bird designs in their collection.

I look forward to seeing more of Jeff's releases in the future.

Another excellent review Darren and some great models


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

So what are some of the more specialized balloons that are needed to build these?  I will need white geos on hand, and then some of the beaks (pelican, gooney) looked like hearts?  What size?