Been a bit busy this week with one thing and another, so I sat down tonight to watch video three in the series by Michael Veinburgs and was perhaps a little dis-appointed. I suppose we have to appreciate this is the very first balloon instruction set that I ever bought way back.
I liked the first hat which he called a spiral, very simple and still today would be impressive due to the balloon curling as you inflate it.
The elephant hat had possibilites and was the one I thought about adding to but his Beanie hat as soon as I saw it a helicopter jumped out so that is what I went with.
The first picture is Michael's Spiral hat and the second his Beanie Hat.

The spiral is made by either wrapping around two fingers the un-inflated balloon before inflating or wrapping the balloon around a spare pump and getting someone to hold this in place while you use a pump to inflate the balloon. Either way is easier if the balloon is fully inflated first and then deflated before you try the spiral.

Just looked in the catalogue, they have a starter pack for the super stuffer. The code is 46282

http://www.youtube.com/newballoonart

A couple more pictures, I thought the talk Ralph gave at TMJ was very interesting. I did do a little write up in the events section about the talk.
The one balloon dog as we know it only goes back to 1965/6, so not that long ago.

Following on from his lecture at The Millennium Jam last year Ralph Dewey has been building up the history of our balloon art,
Ralph emailed this over to me and has said it was Ok to post onto the forum;

Hello History Buffs,
I've just purchased a very rare A.C. Gilbert Toy Balloon Kit (#600) made in 1931.  This has been the one significant item that my balloon history collection has been lacking.  The A.C. Gilbert company was ahead of their time when they produced the kit.  It was in 1931 when Neil Tillotson began dipping balloon molds in liquid latex.  He claimed to be the first to do that, but I've received information that Neil wasn't the very first to do so.  The A.C. Gilbert company also made another toy balloon kit which contained some Tinker Toy pieces.  I've not had a chance to examine the other kit to see the difference in the two kits.  I've only seen photos of it.
See the attached photos.  

Another article about the dispute, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1HE0CF.DTL

Quote from: "Neil Drummond"All we need now is an 'oooOOHHHhh Matron!' from Graham and we're there!   :? --Neil

Just for you then Neil,  'oooOOHHHhh Matron!'

I thought you suggested another name Colin? Perhaps I mis heard?
Other suggestions have been and I think some have been tongue in cheek;

Balloon Art UK
Balloon Art Together
Balloon Art Guild
Balloon Art Association
Balloon Art Brotherhood
Balloon Art Union
Balloon Art Committee

Caring Balloon Artists or CBA for short  :lol:
Caring Union of National Twisters Society
Balloon Union Members
Twist-It Together Society

So a few more to think about.

Hi Stephen, Do you include the butterfly as a smaller model ? Just that I've been looking around the forum and people have been saying they would like a more basic section. That is why I have started the 52, one a week thread for balloons that hopefully can be made more in the real world and line work, I would make the butterfly in the real world but appreciate some people want to be really quick with the turn around of their ballooon models.

Well welcome and this is probably a good place to start    
The tutorial and model of the month threads have over 40 models all with instructions, good luck and any problems then just ask.

Sorry Neil, just re-read the thread.

I booked Shirley before the idea of the club was mentioned so there was no mention to Shirley that the day would be filmed so it is unfair to move the goalposts after agreeing fees etc.
We could make the start date for March and have the Shirley Ray day included free for members but the lecture will not be filmed.
You have to pay the lecturer a bigger fee to have the day filmed.
The same with Tom, he was booked and fee agreed before the mention of the club, I'm hoping I can perhaps record one of the sessions but will not push for this if Tom would rather not have a portion of the day filmed.

I agree twist is not a fantastic name for people outside our industry to find a balloon related club via Google, but are we looking for that?
Balloon Art would be much better but Balloon Art Together does not have the ring to it as Twist Together,
It's a shame that it looks like just Danny and I are attempting to find a catchy name for the club.
Perhaps we could use the initials of twist?

In the past two weeks we have had 533 people attempt to join the forum, apologies if anyone really is trying to join and I have missed you out.
If I have please go to either website advertised on the news page and email me and I will activate your account, thanks.
Not many to the 1000 member joining

I think the original butterfly that I posted the wings were made from two balloons, if you did this you could add some extra colour and make them larger.
The back of the butterfly, the lower wings fit into the top wings to hold in place with the rear pinch twist.

Inflate a 3 finger bubble, split into two and pinch twist, again attach around the top two pinch twists.
Add some artwork.