|
|
The Guide |
Photos |
Videos |
Columns |
Calendar
|
|
|
| The Octopus looks happy as it begins to come together. |
A 23 member team of balloon artists, an eight member flight crew, and countless community members were needed to launch the first ever piloted latex balloon sculpture. Nearly 20,000 animal balloons were twisted together by the hand-picked team of artists from around the US and Canada to create the Fantastic Flying Octopus. Several thousand people showed up to watch the construction and launch of the craft, powered by the wind and 10,000 cubic feet of helium. Challenges to be overcome included building the sculpture in a barn with a gravel floor and launching in the afternoon which necessitated completing the sculpture under the hot sun; both of which (gravel and sun) are natural enemies of balloons. Approximately 700 man hours went into the construction of the octopus over 5 days to complete the project before the first balloons deflated.
This first collaboration between pilot John Ninomiya and artist Larry Moss was a success. The entire week-long project, from the inflation of the first balloon through the successful launch and landing of the sculpture and pilot can be seen in this documentary.
See all the Octopus photos and read Larry's project summary.
Summer Balloon Camp® will become the first interactive balloon convention. For years we've been making it possible for people at home to watch what's happening at conventions through our daily photo uploads at many events. This month marks the first time we've made it possible for BHQ members sitting at home to affect something happening at a convention. A figure-tying competition will be held in Las Vegas at Summer Balloon Camp. Those unable to attend will be able to cast votes on their favorite sculptures. All votes will be added to the votes of balloon campers voting in Las Vegas. Winners will be announced online and at the convention at the same time.
Make sure to follow the event on-line after it begins on August 10.
Read contest details and the first question now.
|
| This Casino-themed arch was designed for a weekend event at a mall. Its colors and pattern were custom designed,complete with foam board dice accents. |
Up Up & Away from Melissa Rauser provides custom balloon decor for major events. Although Up Up & Away has a classy stand-alone web site, Melissa has also invested the time to construct a diverse BHQ Portfolio.
Visit the Up Up & Away BHQ Portfolio.
Over the last couple of months, a rather serious spam problem has developed on BHQ. Serious to us means that a single piece of spam gets through the mailing lists. Unfortunately, BHQ has become a target for spammers, system crackers, and other such things. We aren't sure exactly why we've become a target, but our servers are experiencing thousands of attempts to deliver spam per day, as well as a huge number of attempts to break into the system. (We're happy to say the break-in attempts have failed.) As strong as our spam filters and security measures have been in the past, when we get hit with as many thousands of attacks as we're seeing behind the scenes, a small percentage of spam messages will manage to get through to your mailbox.
On average, we're seeing one or two inappropriate mail messages actually getting through each day. We are working hard to prevent these messages from reaching the email forums. Please bear with us and understand that what you are seeing is a tiny representation of what's really hitting our servers.
To make everyone feel better, there are a few things that we want to highlight:
