passenger wants to keep it, the cup can be used as a souvenir. We spent several weeks Digitizing balloons for this new cup. WELL, THEY ARE HERE! We have shipped out full cases to the pilots who’s balloons appear on the cup! Look for them at your next rally. 
Balloon Cups.
How does the process work?
We import a high resolution photo of a balloon into our cad-cam program and carefully trace each gore or pattern (Color). Then we add color to each section we have traced. When we are all done we remove the photo from the background and save the finished product in a format for printing. This PNG file has a transparent background and can be used on the web, in emails, banners, advertising and many other places. A typical balloon will have 6-10 thousand plot points.
The Accuracy of Digitization.
When we receive a high-resolution photo we enlarge the photo between 1400% - 3000% Then we precisely trace the lines in the photo. We trace them using a single-pixel line. 
In some cases, we are able to remove unwanted items from the photo. Below you will see where we carefully removed the puffy area on the right side of the balloon where the turning vents were.
The photo shown above is what we used to produce the drawing on the right. We carefully, take the time to make sure that the image on the cup duplicates the balloon as close to reality as we can.
Below are a few other examples of Balloons and their Digitized versions.
THE CUPS ARE IN! After weeks of work and more weeks of waiting we are very pleased to announce we have received the first shipment of cups. With the help of my mother (believe it or not) we turned around more than 20 cases and got them on the way to pilots all over the country. 
From Texas to Iowa and New York to California, Colorado and Florida the cups are on the way to all parts of the United States. Just in time for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend to kick off a new flying season. Just click on the "Purchase Cups" link at the top of this page.
Below is the current artwork layout for the cup.
Current artwork is subject to small changes pending approval from the balloons placed in the artwork. Changes will be very minor and we have a money back guarantee if you per-purchase cups now.
Pricing for cups by order quantity.
Peggy Watson-Meinke
Santa Paula, CA
Dave Bair
Colorado Springs, CO
Jennifer Fritton
Gasport, NY
Matt Hunter
Lake Wales, FL
Penney Suttle
Strasburg, OH
Robert Grimes
Albion, TN
Scott Griswold
Selkirk, NY
Glen Word
Anthony, NM
Sharon Hartshorn
Amarillo, TX
Adam Riley
Huntsville, AL
Tim Nelson
Sloughhouse, CA
Wayne Fortney
Kingsport, TN
James Thompson
Davenport FL
Anthony Sandlin
Fishers, IN
We want to send out a special thanks to the balloons above. Each balloon owner has pre-purchased a case of cups helping us lower the total investment in a minimum order of cups. Without their commitment, this new design would not have been possible. Please tell your fellow balloonists. Order some cups today. You can order several cases or just a couple of sleeves but each order helps.
Thank you for all you do for the Balloon World.
Jeff A Thompson.