Author's Note: This wasn't the hardest thing I had to build - the floating sky base not really shown in the entry screenshots were technically more impressive. But one thing that I was especially proud of was building this floating high in the sky without using any tools (i.e. invEdit or MCEdit). It took a lot of fancy technical work and footwork to build a platform in the air to start the sculpture and then destroy it without leaving any traces.
Also not shown is the fire burning inside the base of the balloon to "keep it aloft"