I don’t know where I got the idea for a dirigible cicada miniature model but here we are. Falling asleep with my YouTube queue probably with videos on the recent 17 year cicada cycle followed by the use of airships during WW1 must have blended together in my subconscious. I enjoyed creating the last insect - the custom bee - I had to do another but this was too large for a piece of jewellery.
So I worked on each separate section, hoping it would all fit together in the end. That’s always the scary part - will the wings fit on the body? Will the scale of everything maintain the illusion of an actual, albeit fantastical, airship once joined? Unlike very clever model scene makers I don’t work with a scale ruler. As I don’t fabricate or cast metal there is no real point - I’ll still have to adjust a part in my collection to fit.
I started with the wings - they bring everything together and set the scale. Like the last piece - the body is a brass screw electrical terminal. The abdomen has two main parts - the high copper piece with a grill and a lower section made from a cut out earing drop I filled in with resin. The wings are also filled with resin and a very light dusting of green and gold mica.
I’ve been making miniature nebulas lately so that is where the glass “hot air balloon” came from. It is fitted with a vintage brass bead cap, chains, tiny brass drops and internal details. While I was searching for pieces I came across the hand blown green glass bead with a swirl pattern. I had to incorporate it but it was difficult to do so. Adding a piece to one side of a symmetrical design alters the way it hangs. The swirl on the bead is matched with the black swirled disk hanging under the balloon.
She has wrapped wire legs with metal crimps, two brass and steel “propellers” affixed to the front, one large rear flag and bunting on the secondary “balloon” tether. Everything attached is done so using screws and very rarely, glue. I have no idea how many separate components I used but it would be well over 100. I’ve been working on and off for a week - probably about 40 hours not including the time sourcing parts, taking photos and writing this. The rigging was a nightmare. The chain at the back, connected to a “U” shape piece is the ship’s anchor.
A friend who is a genius wood worker turned some gorgeous wood bases for me. I think it’s Jarrah. It has four brass legs on the bottom. The hanging mechanism consists of a filigree disk, a vintage brass corrugated bead and assortment of brass rods, copper and brass tubing and beads. The top section pulls out so it can be packed for shipping.
One final surprise. I left a hole in the body for a tiny green LED light. It is difficult to use - turning on by pushing the light into a battery. But it could be used on special occasions to show her off. The battery type is a bit exotic but available online.
I’m thinking about entering her in a local art competition before putting her up for sale. I hope you like her.
Let’s talk about Balloonomania, which was an Actual Thing in the late 1700s that swept France and later Britain like a great rush of hot air.
These fellows, the Montgolfier Brothers, made a balloon, and King Louis XVI was like “I want a balloon” so they made a huge fancy balloon decorated with all kinds of crap like suns and zodiacs for him. Here’s a statue of them blowing up a balloon.
Launching these balloons drew huge crowds. People quickly became enamored with these huge round balloons. Joseph Montgolfier claimed he discovered the premise of hot air after he watched his wife’s chemise inflating over the hearth.
Other balloonists (aeronauts) soon appeared to compete with the Montgolfiers. Jacques Charles built a balloon and launched it to great celebration. Ben Franklin was there, because of course he was. When it landed, peasants attacked it out of fear. Or, they just hated balloons.
Jean-Pierre Blanchard and his wife, Sophie, became bad-ass balloonatics when they ascended with balloons (riding them) to the surprise and delight of onlookers, defying gravity and height with the help of enormous round floating things.
A fellow by the name of Lunardi proclaimed himself an idol due to the massive crowds the massive balloons he constructed and piloted were able to draw, making him the first “balloon-idol” in human history.
In short, Lunardi made balloons hot. Pictured is one of his extremely hot balloons, barely fitting into the pantheon on Oxford Street in London. There’s no doubt that it was one of the biggest, roundest balloons people had seen at that point in history (1784). Wow. It’s huge.
Balloons became so omnipresent that the term balloonomania (French: balloonomanie) was coined. There was a revolution of souvenir goods being sold. Think of NASCAR plates except with balloons. Hairclips, cufflinks - everything you can think of adorned with the balloons.
These collectibles were especially popular among the French. There were even examples of literature fascinated with ballooning, such as the “Ballooniad”, a street ballad. Balloons were on everyone’s lips.
And with reverence came mockery. Cartoons became popular (rhyming?) and often depicted sexually-tinged comedic images such as those you find below.
Richard Holmes wrote in his book Age of Wonders of these cartoons: “balloon-breasted girls lifted off their feet, monstrous aeronauts inflated by gas enemas, or ‘inflammable’ women carrying men off into the clouds.
Let’s look at another. This one speaks for itself. Were these images really mockery, poking fun at the balloon craze? Or were they evidence of the sexual interest people began to feel for balloons, and still continue to feel today?
Balloonomania continued into the 19th century, but let’s be honest: for some of us, balloonomania never ended. Some of us are still wild with obsession of huge, round balloons and huge round things.
After all, the blimp, dirigible, and zeppelin obsession of the early 20th century is further indication that humanity has continued to stay fascinated by balloons that are vast, round, and fully inflated. You could even say we’ve developed a proclivity toward them.
I hope you all enjoyed this brief exploration into the history of balloons, blimps, and other huge round spherical things full of hot gas. Balloonomania continues: here is an early 21st century depiction of an anthropomorphic canid filled with hot gas and round like a balloon.
UPDATE
I’m planning to do further historical pieces on this subject.
And take a look at this! Balloonomania fan art La Caniche Gonfléby@sharpt00th
Let’s talk about Balloonomania, which was an Actual Thing in the late 1700s that swept France and later Britain like a great rush of hot air.
These fellows, the Montgolfier Brothers, made a balloon, and King Louis XVI was like “I want a balloon” so they made a huge fancy balloon decorated with all kinds of crap like suns and zodiacs for him. Here’s a statue of them blowing up a balloon.
Launching these balloons drew huge crowds. People quickly became enamored with these huge round balloons. Joseph Montgolfier claimed he discovered the premise of hot air after he watched his wife’s chemise inflating over the hearth.
Other balloonists (aeronauts) soon appeared to compete with the Montgolfiers. Jacques Charles built a balloon and launched it to great celebration. Ben Franklin was there, because of course he was. When it landed, peasants attacked it out of fear. Or, they just hated balloons.
Jean-Pierre Blanchard and his wife, Sophie, became bad-ass balloonatics when they ascended with balloons (riding them) to the surprise and delight of onlookers, defying gravity and height with the help of enormous round floating things.
A fellow by the name of Lunardi proclaimed himself an idol due to the massive crowds the massive balloons he constructed and piloted were able to draw, making him the first “balloon-idol” in human history.
In short, Lunardi made balloons hot. Pictured is one of his extremely hot balloons, barely fitting into the pantheon on Oxford Street in London. There’s no doubt that it was one of the biggest, roundest balloons people had seen at that point in history (1784). Wow. It’s huge.
Balloons became so omnipresent that the term balloonomania (French: balloonomanie) was coined. There was a revolution of souvenir goods being sold. Think of NASCAR plates except with balloons. Hairclips, cufflinks - everything you can think of adorned with the balloons.
These collectibles were especially popular among the French. There were even examples of literature fascinated with ballooning, such as the “Ballooniad”, a street ballad. Balloons were on everyone’s lips.
And with reverence came mockery. Cartoons became popular (rhyming?) and often depicted sexually-tinged comedic images such as those you find below.
Richard Holmes wrote in his book Age of Wonders of these cartoons: “balloon-breasted girls lifted off their feet, monstrous aeronauts inflated by gas enemas, or ‘inflammable’ women carrying men off into the clouds.
Let’s look at another. This one speaks for itself. Were these images really mockery, poking fun at the balloon craze? Or were they evidence of the sexual interest people began to feel for balloons, and still continue to feel today?
Balloonomania continued into the 19th century, but let’s be honest: for some of us, balloonomania never ended. Some of us are still wild with obsession of huge, round balloons and huge round things.
After all, the blimp, dirigible, and zeppelin obsession of the early 20th century is further indication that humanity has continued to stay fascinated by balloons that are vast, round, and fully inflated. You could even say we’ve developed a proclivity toward them.
I hope you all enjoyed this brief exploration into the history of balloons, blimps, and other huge round spherical things full of hot gas. Balloonomania continues: here is an early 21st century depiction of an anthropomorphic canid filled with hot gas and round like a balloon.
