Balloon Painting

[Peter Blair]

Just thought I should post something here as I have not done so in a very long time. The title may be a little confusing because I am not painting balloons but using balloons to paint with. I apologize for not naming the people in the video who inspired me to try this process but just know it is not my original idea.
This piece was first painted black and then slightly watered down Jo Sonia Iridescent paint was dabbed onto the surface. These dabs are then 'smooshed" with a balloon. I was trying to get a sort of shaded finish by using two colors but in the end it all kind of mixed together. Thanks for looking!
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[John K Jordan]

Just thought I should post something here as I have not done so in a very long time. The title may be a little confusing because I am not painting balloons but using balloons to paint with. I apologize for not naming the people in the video who inspired me to try this process but just know it is not my original idea.
This piece was first painted black and then slightly watered down Jo Sonia Iridescent paint was dabbed onto the surface. These dabs are then 'smooshed" with a balloon. I was trying to get a sort of shaded finish by using two colors but in the end it all kind of mixed together. Thanks for looking!
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Beautiful! A gentleman in our turning club showed me that method and I was impressed. He uses the same paint. (I need to break down and get some to try!)

JKJ

[Mark Daily]

Wow- that’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

[Dick Mahany]

I like it! What size is the vessel and what type of wood did you use. It really turned out beautiful.

I recently turned a "cosmic clouds" platter after seeing a video and used Jo Sonja iridescent paints. They really make an interesting effect and are fun to work with. I used gentle blasts of air from an air brush to spread the paints out. I definitely need to try the balloon technique.

[Ted Calver]

Beautiful form and finish. What technique did you use to finish the inside? Spray? Rag on a stick?

[Mel Fulks]

I see faces in the purple cosmos. That really looks like an ancient amphora, beautiful thing.

[Richard Madden]

I like it a lot. Might have to try this sometime. Thanks for sharing.

[Frederick Skelly]

Beautiful!

[Peter Blair]

Ted i usually try to spray the inside while I'm painting the outside with smaller openings of course it is harder and I often slop some black paint inside and slosh it around. I must admit I am one turner who really doesn't pay a lot of attention to the inside finish of a hollow form especially if it has a small opening I usually just shoot for the general thickness I want.

[Peter Blair]

Dick I have the butterfly mentality, I flit from one thing to the next. I have made several "cosmic cloud' pieces thanks to Gary Lowe and have used a horizontal spinner to try to be a little different. The wood is Silver Maple a piece with little or no character, I don't usually cover interesting grain with paint. It is about 7 " tall. Thanks for the nice compliment!

[Peter Blair]

Thanks everyone I have two more on the go that I hope to get to today. One quite different which is an open form with the outside painted white on which I am about to try black balloon smooshing and another small one. I haven't gotten any of these to the Gallery yet and am unsure of the owner's take as she really is not keen on wooden items that don't look like wood but will be delivering these for her review early in the new year.

[John K Jordan]

...I haven't gotten any of these to the Gallery yet and am unsure of the owner's take as she really is not keen on wooden items that don't look like wood but will be delivering these for her review early in the new year.

If she rejects them perhaps there are other galleries that would like them!

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

Thanks John. Problem is that in my area they are few and far between. This one is about 1 1/2 hour drive. The owner seems to know what will sell and I am happy she takes any of my pieces. Yesterday I received a check for three items that sold in November so I can now look at another tool that I need!! LOL

[John K Jordan]

Thanks John. Problem is that in my area they are few and far between. This one is about 1 1/2 hour drive. The owner seems to know what will sell and I am happy she takes any of my pieces. Yesterday I received a check for three items that sold in November so I can now look at another tool that I need!! LOL

Yes, the distance could be a problem. Graeme Priddle took me to the gallery in Asheville where he sells work - it was a 1 minute walk from his shop! A potter friend has to drive over 2 hours to deliver his work.

For relatively small things like turnings, would shipping to a more remote gallery be worth it if necessary? I don't try to sell things so I have limited experience with galleries but I'm imagining those pieces would sell easily.

If I "need" a new tool I just ask my Lovely Bride. I don't remember if I posted it here, but she finally agreed to let me come home with this new "woodturning tool" - it can easily pick up a 1000 lb log from one end and hold it at a comfortable height so I can cut chunks off the other:
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Good clean fun! :D

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

All good points John. Here are a couple of pieces i did yesterday. The green one turned out great and then I wanted to experiment with acrylic rather than the Jo Sonia. As you can see the acrylic just sort of smudges. The effect however is not all that displeasing. Sorry but for some reason I didn't take a photo of the complete piece with the black on white.
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[John K Jordan]

All good points John. Here are a couple of pieces i did yesterday. The green one turned out great and then I wanted to experiment with acrylic rather than the Jo Sonia. As you can see the acrylic just sort of smudges. The effect however is not all that displeasing. Sorry but for some reason I didn't take a photo of the complete piece with the black on white.[/ATTACH]

Beautiful! I like the way you thoughtfully and artistically directed the balloon motion, the best I've seen. Makes me want one of yours on my shelf! (BTW, not criticism but I do wonder if an entirely black rim on that one would be a striking accent to complement the rest of the piece.)

I'm wondering if you could use it as accents at the lip and/or base or a band around otherwise conventionally finished wood vessels. My potter friend tried some interesting glaze once at the top of a big pot on what I think was a second firing. He put it on heavily at the top and the runs and sags down from the top over the base were intriguing.

Hey, in case you are interested in seeing some of my friend's pottery, about 15 years ago I shot a video of opening the kiln and he has some pictures of work in progress and finished pieces. I believe he makes the largest raku-fired pottery in the world, inventing the methods needed. He achieves the oxygen reduction atmosphere by lowering a huge SS can containing combustibles over the pots. His house looks like a museum inside!

http://paulmenchhofer.com/
http://paulmenchhofer.com/workshop.html
http://paulmenchhofer.com/gallery.html
http://paulmenchhofer.com/video.html (kiln at about 0:13 to 0:45 seconds)

I love to look a potter and other's turnings as inspiration.

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

Thanks John. I would be thrilled to send along a Piece of mine to share shelf space in you home! Black rim? Well for me I think it would work great and I may just have to try that in the future but it was soooo hard to mask this piece to keep the paint out of the inside I just don't think I could get it to would work. I too love to look at pottery to always to get enspired by that group of artists. Here are a couple more photos of some work I did to try to emulate pottery.
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I love them and did a few but the Gallery owner doesn't and so they remain in my collection. Thanks for the interest and comments and as soon as I finish this note I'll check out the links you sent. I do really admire and am inspired by anyone who thinks out of the box and has the wherewithal to make and invent tools and methods needed to make. Take care and I hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful 2020.

[Brice Rogers]

Peter,
when you're doing the balloon painting, do you apply it to a painted surface, and if so, is the painted surface dry?

I looked at some balloon painting videos on flat work and they applied the balloon painting to a wet surface. Just wondering...

[Peter Blair]

Hey Brice. I usually paint with rattle can lacquer before doing any Jo Sonia painting. When I do a paint pour ( really quite different process) I always pour or try to always pour on to a wet paint surface.

[John K Jordan]

Black rim? Well for me I think it would work great and I may just have to try that in the future but it was soooo hard to mask this piece to keep the paint out of the inside I just don't think I could get it to would work.
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I think this one with the soft transition between the rim and body looks great with the way you did the flowing colors.

For a painted body and a totally unpainted rim on a piece like this one,

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have you considered a separate rim turned from blackwood or dyed holly or something, glued into place? I know it sounds like cheating :) but I've seen pieces multi-part with a contrasting rim which I thought looked elegant.

Please show more of these if you have more!

JKJ

[Peter Blair]

Greeting again John. I agree that a dark wood insert might bring a little more class and I will have to consider adding this to some of these. By the way there are a few around here that will never see the light of day . . . . The process as you can imagine is unpredictable!
Here are a few more shots of some of the many I have done.
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I hope these give you some ideas. The last photo is of a two part turning that is hollow (not sure what this is called) on one side, the side you see here I applied white acrylic and before it was dry I spun it horizontally and dripped black acrylic on it the other side I did the reverse. Merry Christmas to all!!

[Walter Mooney]

Peter, you know what you could use to exclude the paint from going inside your vessels -- an inflated balloon! Stick it inside, blow it up and tie a knot in it. It'll press right up against the underside and edge of the opening. When you're done painting, and the paint is dry, pop the balloon and pull it out! Badda Bing, Badda Boom!

[Peter Blair]

Thanks for the tip Walter I have tried that and it works great on some of the things I do depending on the shape.