Balloon Review 067 - Twisted Creepy Crawlers DVD by Brian Potvin

Available from : - Brian's facebook page

A newcomer to the Balloon Review section. I am not familiar with Brian's work but was excited to see his DVD mentioned on these forums so I purchased it! There are some nice items on this DVD and I look forward to trying them all out.

Just some initial comments about the DVD. This DVD is intended for intermediate and advanced twisters. Brian has assumed a lot of prior knowledge with these designs which is great for me as I can follow along and make them quite quickly but less experienced people will struggle. The quality of the DVD is very good with each model rapidly accessible via the chapter function.

Let's see what we have here!

FLY

KIT LIST : 160Q BLACK / 160Q LIME GREEN / 160Q RED / 5" CLEAR HEARTS (i used yellow)

This fly is very small and intricate to make. To be honest. I don't really like it as it lacks stability and the black legs keep twisting all over the place. Maybe this will work as an additional feature for a display piece but I do not see myself using it on its own.

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SCORPION

KIT LIST : 160Q BLACK / 5" WHITE ROUND / 350Q MOCHA BROWN / 260Q MOCHA BROWN / 5" MOCHA BROWN HEART

I really like this mini-scorpion. Brian uses purple for his original design which probably looks a whole lot better. The main body is made of a heart (with two twisted lobes) with the 350Q as the main front part. It all fits together really well and has a cartoon look and feel to it. Handy for restaurant type work where you have a little more time and a design that can be adapted for any beetle style animal.

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HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

KIT LIST : 321Q RED / 350Q LIME GREEN / 260Q DARK GREEN

This little creature can be mounted on a wristband or worn as a bracelet and would be great for anyone doing library shows. Nice and quick to make although the small spacer bubbles in the body can be a little tricky.

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RICKERTY CRICKET

KIT LIST : 160Q LIME GREEN / 260Q LIME GREEN / 260Q WINTERGREEN / 160Q WHITE / 160Q DARK GREEN

A cute cartoon style cricket. The head and body is similar to the caterpillar. The body is easy and looks good with contrasting colours. The legs require careful shaping and Brian also suggests using glue to keep them in place. The photo doesn't really do this one justice. It does look very good.

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ALIEN ANT

KIT LIST : 11" RED / 321Q RED / 160Q RED / 260Q RED / 350Q RED / 5" WHITE / 6" RED HEART / 646Q RED

This alien ant looks really cool and is free standing. The construction is a little tricky especially as it involves pinch twisting 646Qs. The moment you add any legs the whole model goes funny and becomes very unstable. It does take patience to position the legs.

I actually think the same ant remade in various shades of green or blue would be better. This reminds me of the movie 'Bug's Life' or 'Antz'.

I love it - but it isn't quick to make so be patient.

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NON PRAYING MANTIS

KIT LIST : 321Q LIME GREEN / 260Q RED / 160Q YELLOW / 646Q GREEN / 260Q LIME GREEN / 160Q WHITE / 350Q LIME GREEN

This design builds upon all the previous ones to produce an amazing praying mantis. The head design is lovely and this bug looks particularly mean with 321Q claws. From the front this looks great but I can't help thinking the 646Q body looks a little plain after building such complex face and body. This would be wonderful as a decoration piece for 'bugs week' at our local zoo - now there's a thought!

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BROWN WIDOW SPIDER

KIT LIST : 260Q MOCHA BROWN / AGATE BALLOON / 5" YELLOW ROUND

This design is a very simplistic hat. This one looks better when it is being worn but even so I am not so sure that the hat design really gives a good spider shape. There are better spider hat designs around and so this is not one for me.

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GOLLIATH BIRD EATING SPIDER

KIT LIST : 646Q MOCHA / 350Q MOCHA / 260Q MOCHA / 260Q BLACK / 5" ROUND BLACK

Another variation of a super-sized spider. This one is fairly quick to make. The body design is simplistic and the nice feature here is the inside of the upper body as a series of pinch twists keeps all the legs pointing in the right direction. This one is designed to be worn as a hat but it would look good as part of some halloween decor display.

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EMPEROR SCORPION

KIT LIST : 350Q BLACK / 260Q BLACK / 321Q RED

A variation on the previous spider. Brian doesn't show how to make this complete model as it uses the same base as the previous design. A fairly good scorpion design with good use of 321Q for claws. Unfortunately I was using an old batch of 350Q black balloons which kept popping so my final effort isn't as good as it should be.

[attachment=0:3988vqf7][/attachment]scorpion.jpg[/attachment:3988vqf7]

EVIL MOSQUITO

A rather funny looking mosquito. I am not too sure about the face. The body design is very similar to all the others. Possibly one of the weaker looking designs from the collection.... but my wife liked it!

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