In Chinese culture, certain numbers, 6, 8, and 9 are believed to have auspicious meanings because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings. The word for eight in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means prosper or wealth. In regional dialects, the words for eight and fortune are also similar, eg Cantonese “baat” and “faat.”
There is also a resemblance between two digits, “88,” and the Shuang xi (double joy), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters (xi, ‘joy’, ‘happiness’).
The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8:08:08 p.m.
According to Buddhism, the Wheel of the Law is one of the many signs or symbols that are holy to Buddhists because they stand for our religion and make us think of its teachings when we see any of these symbols. The wheel has 8 spokes, which are the rules of pure conduct (the Eightfold Path, Right Understanding, Right Aims, Right Speech, Right Actions, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Meditation) the equal length of all the spokes represent justice; wisdom is the tire, the hub is thoughtfulness and the axle is the immovable truth.
With all this explanation about number 8, Bob’s comment of wanting to see the strange photos that I received from my oldest sister is comment 888, lucky you, here are the photos, very twisted indeed…just like number 8, auspicious 8 that is.
I bet Seiji would love to POP some of those balloons!
Those are absolutely amazing! I can’t believe no one popped any of the balloons while walking around.
What is this for?
Hi Bob, I bet he would. 😉
Hi Jenny, it’s called ‘Twisted Balloons Fashion’, as described by the site, the world of fashion has an unique way of amazing people with every chance it gets. Here is how using ordinary balloons you can create really great dresses and other fashion articles.
dress done by:
Asi cohen-Israel
Katie Laibstain-USA
August Coh-Slovenia
Rie Hosokai-Japan
Steven Jones-USA
Debbie stevens-USA
Shonna Flanigan-USA
Mark Verge-Canada
Ken Stilman-USA
JoAnn Gray-USA
Romana Kolenc-Slovenia
Niko Fric-Slovenia
Mark Byrne-USA
amazing indeed. wait, where’s my needle….
They’re a great work of art. If they were filled with helium they’d be the lightest clothings in the world.
K, must be a guy thing that wants to pop the balloons. 😉
Sim, I’m not sure what they filled these with, if it’s helium or not. It’s ashamed that it’s not permanent because I think the designs on the dresses looked great.
I am one of the artist who work on this great project in China. On the pictures you can see my work – Black and White Queen and Butterfly. More my work you can find on my web: http://www.nikoloon.com
Hi Niko Fric, thanks for the visit, it’s such an honor to have you commenting on my post. I wasn’t sure at first of the location but suspected that it might be in China for Chinese New Year, and thanks for the link to your web page, such outstanding work of art, if you don’t mind I like to add you to my Blogroll.
Hi Ginger,
Congrats on your 888th comments!
These balloon fashion are very creative. I can’t imagine how you would sit while wearing one of these dresses. 🙂
Agian, thanks for sharing the pics with us.
Thanks Salat, it’s good to hear from you. 🙂
Thought you’d like to know who actually created these dresses with contact information.
These are my friends who created the popular email balloon photo dresses in Japan.
They were hired by Producer, Paul Belanger from Florida (and PA).
Ken Stillman … CA … http://www.BalloonMaster.com
Shonna Flannigan … PA … http://adventureinfun.com
Mark Byrne … FL … http://Balloonguy.net
Katie Laibstain … VA … http://katielaibstain.com
Asi cohen-Israel http://cohenasi.com
Rie Hosokai-Japan http://www.daisyballoon.com
Steven Jones-USA http://www.aeradeco.com
Debbie stevens-USA http://www.thetwistedones.com
Mark Verge-Canada http://www.junglejackworld.com
JoAnn Gray-USA http://www.BalloonDresses.com
Romana Kolenc-Slovenia
Niko Fric-Slovenia … http://www.nikoloon.com
August Coh-Slovenia
You can do a search on http://www.BalloonHQ.com and search Balloon Dress for more photos
or go to http://www.BalloonConvention.com 2009 will be held in Cerritos, CA
PLEASE ALSO SEE the work of Marie Dadow who was not in China,
but has beautiful balloon dresses.
http://www.YouTube.com/balloonartbymarie
Enjoy the slide show.
Carmen Tellez
Carmen@CharmandHappy.com
Balloon Artist – Face Painter
Hi Carmen Tellez, thanks for the additional information, very interesting sites. I posted the you tube sideshow at the end of this post for those that are interested in watching.
These are great dresses. Thanks for posting the pictures. I really love them. They give me great ideas.
Hi dank, you are most welcome and thanks for the visit.