Blind Communication

I came up with the helium rose idea when we were working in class with manipulating roses (the "what to do with a dozen roses" project). My initial concept was "blind communication", sending a gift to a random stranger. You would not know who received your gift, and they would have no idea who it came from. The intention is to brighten up someone's day (even if it is a small gesture). I think it would be an amazing visual statement and a great interactive piece. Hopefully someone far from the Mattress Factory will see this rose descending toward them, it will spark their interest and they will follow it. That is the way I see it happening, though it might not work that perfectly. My design is to tie the bud of the rose with a tiny bit of the stem to a helium balloon that is filled enough to take it a great distance. I just realized that there are twelve puzzle pieces, so I have been pondering a new idea. Each puzzle piece could be photographed and printed small on a light weight piece of paper and place inside the balloon. There would be twelve balloons, one for each person in the class (with their puzzle piece inside and a rose attached). So each person would be letting a piece of themselves float away. I thought having some one in a car follow a balloon with a video camera would be an interesting way to document it (I don't know how practical that is, but it's an idea).
-- Kevin Clancy, Montour High School, Allegheny County