Hello Shaun Root,
The balloon within my tile is not the "Corel" balloon, as classically depicted upon their copyright imagery. The balloon that I have used was taken from a stock and royalty free archive of photographic images available thru the likes of Wal-Mart, Target, Staples and ther merchandisers, handling the reduced price CD Rom ($3.99, Odd-Lot Trading). In original form, the balloon was taken from a photo which had other craft assembled upon a field in readiness for flight. I clipped out the crisp and colorful balloon and imported it into my tile as a starting point. I had hoped to be able to make it as distinguishably muted as it became and simply saw it as a device that would compliment the expanse of what would have been "pure" space, endless sky, without it. I could've silhouetted a Phantom jet fighter upon the sky but I was in a more laid back mind at the time and wanted to keep the feeling of serenity and thus subdued the effect of a balloon wandering aimlessly in space.As strange as it seems, I was curious to know whether the balloon would create a subterfuge for the image of a face which appears at least three times within the sky that seems to carry the balloon onward and now you have given me some insight as to what is most easily discernable in an approach to creating a tile such as this.
Although sharing a spherical geometry much the same, the markings and the sequence of banding as well as the fullness of the balloons
differs dramatically and of course, I invite you to make the same comparison
that I have made and assure yourself that there is no cause for concern with copyright infringement for either myself or ICE.org. As surely as McDonalds could never persue legal recognition for combinating a red image on a yellow field (or vice-versa), I give you my assurance that no one will find this tile or it's balloon, propriety protected beyond it's final resting place, here on the quilt helping others to understand the power of communication beyond 128 pixels...The quality of your own work Shaun, is as great an example of what I strive and struggle to accomplish, as anyone's work hereabouts and thus I continue to learn. It's always nice to hear from you, and without a tinge of sarcasm nor a thread of discontent, I thank you for your interest in my work.
Respectfully, Eddie M.

P.S. With the help that I get from yourself and others like you, I look forward to finding my self independent, that is, free of clip art of any sort, in whatever tile I may issue. Until that welcome day, I will work even harder at reducing the blatentcy of any images that have made it from an archive to my tile.