Dave has kindly agreed to answer the questions this week. It would be hard to find anyone more enthusiastic about
twisting & supporting the balloon community at the moment.
He has even started his own balloon jams in the south west. No doubt these will be plugged & mentioned during the week.
I have to say that I'm pleased that his enthusiasm started after attending the care & share days &
I will try to attend one of the days soon.

Graham Lee

Oh Wow Dave... u impressed me... cant wait to list u a long list of questions... even personal one..

PT you might want to PM me the personal ones. looking forward to your questions will answer then from the start date 26/5

No please put all the personal ones on the forum :lol:
The more personal the better, especially for Dave

Graham Lee

OK Dave here are all  the questions;
but if anyone has any different one's to ask then please fire away.

1, What road led you into balloon modelling?

2, when did you get started with balloons?

3, What's your best twisting experience?

4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?

5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?

6, What's your favourite age to entertain?

7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?

8, What's your favourite thing to make at the moment?

9, What is the most asked for model?

10, What do you tend to do more of if stuck in the 'balloon production line' model?

11, Who is your market aimed at?

12, What kind of work do you do mostly - parties? Corporate? Etc

13, What is your favourite/ideal gig to do?

14, What irritates you most at a gig?

15, How do you book yourself?

16, What's the biggest thing you've ever made?

17, What has been your proudest achievement in our wonderful world of twisted latex?

18, What advice would you give to someone starting out, or wanting to increase their business?

19, What road in latex do you see yourself taking in the future

20, What is your personal goal when you set off to work? Is it money or to entertain etc?

21, What are your balloon goals for the future?

22, If you could start all over again, would you change anything?

23, How would you like the future of balloon modelling to develop?

24, Who's the most famous person you have made a balloon creation for?

25, How do you keep the enthusiasm going & what still excites you about our great world of latex

26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design

27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?

28, What makes you laugh?

Graham Lee

sorry for delay will post answers tomorrow 8-)

Dave

I have a question for you; How was the Indiana Jones movie

Graham Lee

Please forgive typos
1, what road led you into balloon modelling?
Rather than repeat myself please click Dave's story

2, when did you get started with balloons?
About 10yrs ago but only in the last 3 yrs have I really got going

3, what's your best twisting experience?
Getting paid lol. I love twisting my best experience is when people look at my models and go wow

4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
When I 1st started out I would pre-make every child a balloon and take it to the party in a big bag, 1 windy day I lost a whole bag as a gust of wind took it into a river 

5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?
I love the response I get while I make then, there is nothing else I would rather do than twist and do magic.

6, what's your favourite age to entertain?
5 to 7 yr olds

7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?
I have different acts for different age groups.

8, What's your favourite thing to make at the moment?
Twistina's Train.

9, what is the most asked for model?
Changes all the time, Monkey in a tree, Caterpillar, Spiderman or flower bracelet

10, what do you tend to do more of if stuck in the 'balloon production line' model?


11, who is your market aimed at?
Family's

12, what kind of work do you do mostly - parties? Corporate? Etc
Birthday parties for children but would like to change that


15, How do you book yourself? Good marketing and word of mouth

16, What's the biggest thing you've ever made?
F1 car


18, What advice would you give to someone starting out, or wanting to increase their business?
If you're starting out I would recommend busking it's a great way to gain you confidence and helps with your patter plus if you have some cards made it's a great marketing tool, also if you have use off the internet which if your reading this then you do, search for free instructions on the forums find 3 models at a time and work on them, keep pushing yourself for bigger and better models, go to a balloon jam or get your own together great way to network and gain friends.
If you want to increase your business start by looking at your marketing are you reaching the people who might book you? Below are the things I see as important.
Web site
Business cards
Brand
Answer machine
This is just the basic the other things are marketing with email, letter, mobile phones and so on.
Sorry I think I'm going on a bit.

19, what road in latex do you see yourself taking in the future
I would like to make some dresses and bigger models I would also like to do some stage.

20, what is your personal goal when you set off to work? Is it money or to entertain etc?
I need money but my ego likes it as well

22, if you could start all over again, would you change anything?
Nope

23, How would you like the future of balloon modelling to develop?
I would like to see some form of twisting guild to raise the profile of what we do.

26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design?
Someone setting me a challenge

27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?
Ken Stillman, Graham Lee, Thelma, Bonnie and Hey balloon lady

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Dave

I have a question for you; How was the Indiana Jones movie

Graham Lee

Fantasic, A little bit cgi at times and Harrison looks his age but great.

Dave,

Have you got a picture of the F1 car, mind you not sure if you've already posted it on the forum.
Better go and do a search.

Has anyone got any more questions for Dave?
How & when & why did you start the Jam's that you run in the Bath area?

Graham Lee

I started the jams just over a year ago, the reason was to renforce what we learnt from yours and Dee's days.
It started with just 3 including myself but has quickly grown from just a few twisters wanting to get together to a list of 24 twisters. some as far as Portsmouth and Exeter, and now some interest from Cardiff
I love getting together with others as this can be a lonly game, so I hope it continues for sometime to come with the group getting stronger not just in numbers but in skill, but this like any group/club depends on the twisters who are part of it.

Hi Dave - thanks for all your help over the past few months!

Do you always have a project that you are working on or a model that you are trying to master? If so what is your current challenge?

Hi mark
At the moment I'm working on a few things like faces, hats and much bigger models to use as promotion.
I'm also working on some magic tricks that I have come up with myself and a puppet routine

Hi Dave,

do you have a specialism in balloons? An area you are particularly interested in?

do you / and how, work on the presentation or performance side of things?

thanks
Danny

Quote from: "Danny the Idiot"Hi Dave,

do you have a specialism in balloons? An area you are particularly interested in?

do you / and how, work on the presentation or performance side of things?

thanks
Danny

I love it all but I would say I was interested most in weaving and faces. but this is what me days are looking like at the moment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk

I do work on my presentation and skill, but the best way to work on this is to get out there and show it to real people. I'm more likely to get my stuff done that way.