Many of you have already heard the sad news. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to pull together the funds needed to bring the 2009 Balloon Manor to fruition. It was a valiant effort on the part of many of you out there that called me with suggestions, leads, and  financial contributions. (As promised, all money sent in to save the 2009 Manor will go to the American Cancer Society.) Thank you so much for all the support. Knowing that there are so many people that want to keep the Manor alive is enough to keep me working on it for the future.  I don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing, when, or what form Balloon Manor will take now, but I assure you, this is only a minor setback for Airigami. The artist crew has already been working on plans, and none of us intend to let the work get wasted.

A few other things are happening in the next few months. While none of them are on the scale of Balloon Manor, I thought that fans of the Manor might be interested in them.

• I will be taking part in the second Las Vegas Balloon Couture Fashion Show, coming up on August 16. Some of the photos from last years fashion show are on airigami.com. Like last year, I’ll be working with Kelly Cheatle to wow everyone at the show.
• September 23-Oct 10, I’ll be participating in ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, MI. This is an international art competition open to artists that work in any medium. Winners will be determined by public vote. This isn’t Balloon Manor, but I’m hoping that fans of the Manor will support my entry there.  I will be showing some of my interpretations of great masterpieces, including a life size, 3D version of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Kelly is also major part of constructing this work.
• My new book, Balloon Engineer, will hit the shelves in Barnes & Noble in late August or early September. This book has instructions to make  ten “Wonders of the World” with balloons.

I haven’t had a free Halloween season in a while, so I’m open to suggestions for a smaller projects that I and a few of the Airigami team members can be part of this year. Please let me know if you have ideas for something small, manageable, and fun that we can take part in.