Balloon Chat

Quote from: "PrinCeSs"Hi Craig, since u r full time twister now, how u overcome all the problems u have with ur wife couldn't stand the squeking noise. When and where do u practise? :D

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Sorry Craig forgot to put the questions up for you;

1, What road led you into balloon modelling?
I am in lincoln magic club which is the only club for entertainers for 40 miles but only have 6 members and every one there hates doing balloons but I have done balloon classes there but over all I found theres a market of them and I just love working with balloons and working with kids.I was a balift around 7 months ago and removed a tv set top box where 3 kids was eatting there tea and watching cbbs and at that point I just knew that I wanted to make kids simle not like that day

2, when did you get started with balloons?
It was in 2002 I just had a op and couldnt walk for 2 months soI had to do some thing to stop me going mad :D  

3, What's your best twisting experience?
I love being told that I am the best they have ever seen and kids wanting to learn this art and not only this but to get other twister say they like what you do is always good

4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
I have been lucky so far I have only been full time twisting for 3 months but if I had to say one thing it would of been my first gig when I had no idea what I was doing and could only make 6 or 7 things from balloons made easy dvd :D

5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?
Just theres no one thing i love the smiles it can bring i love i can do this as a job and get payied well for it and just like a painter can turn a blank page in to art I feel I can do this with balloons

6, What's your favourite age to entertain?
I like 5-7 becuse this is when you get the best things asked for like a pig whith a hat stuck up a tree,but i like doing adult work aswell like stag and hen nights or just on the street I love to see adults walk down the street with a big balloon on there head lol  :P

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Craig here are some more questions;

7, Do you have the same act but vary the presentation for all ages or do you have set acts for different ages?
To be fair I dont have a act and its the same thing for all ages apart from I dont do rude balloons for kids :D I like to try and teach other how to make a 1 balloon dog but to be fair I am working on getting a act and have some ideas but going to keep them right now :twisted:

8, What's your favourite thing to make at the moment?
I like to make MONEY  :lol:
But out of a balloon I realy like the dog from twistinas pdf

9, What is the most asked for model?
Teddy bear with love heart but I think to be fair what ever you make first every one wants like if i do a monkey thats it monkeys all night ;)

10, What do you tend to do more of if stuck in the 'balloon production line' model?
I make what ever the kid ask for if they have been standing in line waiting but if they want to push in or you get the kid draged to the frount of the que I dont do them any thing or pass them over to nat who will make them a sword

11, Who is your market aimed at?
I would say big shops and other events but I do partys but push for corporate work the most

12, What kind of work do you do mostly - parties? Corporate? Etc
The corporate work is what i mostly do but I am doing more partys now I have gone full time but If i could do corporate all the time I would

The more detailed description & answers you can give to your answers then the more questions may flow back your way from balloon chat members from the answers you've given. This way we all get to know you better  :D
Do you want to talk about the op?
Is Lincoln the only magic club you go too?
Are you a member of any other organisations?
At a gig how often do you get told your the best twister I've seen?
Come on Craig in the 6 years you've been twisting something odd/bad must have happened?
What do you mean by "Adult" work?

Quote from: "Professor T Wist"Hi Craig

Who would you most like to make a balloon model for and why? What would you make them?

Quote from: "Danny the Idiot"Hi CashMagic,

whats your favourite way to learn new sculptures?
I learn from dvds or from jams but to be fair if I look at a pic I can mostly do it but it help to see some one make it I have books and pdfs but a film is my fav

Will you be coming to the TMJ in Mol, Belgium in November?
I was hoping to but just dont know about the funds as I have only just gone full time at this so still trying to raise my name and my funds but if I dont do it this year I will in 2009

Multiple or one balloon?
I dont realy like doing one balloon stuff but will do it if I am pushed for time or I didnt like the kids manners :twisted:


what make of balloons do you favour? Or a mix?
I mix but I use sempertex hearts only as I like the necks on them and they work very well with the teddy bears (any chance of a free bag graham for the plug) :lol:

Favourite balloon colour?
Thats a hard one I like lime green and goldenrod

best reaction? to what balloon?
I make the Ken stillman giraffe head on a 360 neck and some time add a 12" round for a body and 4 260s for legs and this just towers over the kids and the best reaction was "WHAT THE F%^K I WANTED A GIRAFFE BALLOON NOT A FULL SIZE ONE"

cheers
Danny

Quote from: "Krazy Kev"Hi Craig,
Any master plans for working on a DVD or book in the future?
Kev
I dont think a dvd as the costs involed and the amount you get back is not great, but any one on facebook will see I am working on a pdf with 2 other people we want to incorporate several people's ideas into one product that everyone can benefit from, a PDF which contains X number of designs from various artists. Each participant would submit a design for consideration and be compensated for their efforts. Then all the designs would be built into one product. The benefit to the artist in this project is they will profit from a single design and not have to compile an entire set of designs for a single product and I will assume the responsibility of producing the project. The compensation will be a percentage of the PDF sales profits in order to have unlimited income potential long term, and give each artist incentive to promote the product. Working together we can give, up and coming artist a chance they have been working for, to publish their own work.

so If any one intressed pm me as soon as :D  :D  

Quote from: "Graham Lee"From an earlier post;
I have up dated the 1st post but here we go

1, Do you want to talk about the op?
I had a hernia fixed there not more to it but they was problams which left me with a blood clote in my balls :oops:

2, Is Lincoln the only magic club you go too?
Its the only one for 40 miles its not a big club only 6 members but I teach how to do balloons there now and then

3, Are you a member of any other organisations? not related to magic.
No but me and a mate have been talking about make a organisation for just twisters but thats as far as its got :roll:

4, At a gig how often do you get told your the best twister I've seen?
Every time the kids have never seen a balloon twister before :lol:  :lol:

5, Come on Craig in the 6 years you've been twisting something odd/bad must have happened?
Even tho I have been twisting for 6 years I have only been working in front of people for 2 years and only gone full time in the last 3 months but would have to say my first gig had to be the most bad I didnt know what to make or what to do I only know 7 things from balloons made easy dvd which I got from ebay

6, What do you mean by "Adult" work?
I like doing rude balloons as alot of people has never seen things done with balloons like adult toys or balloons doing other stuff to other balloons :lol:  :lol:  I can put pic up if you want

Quote from: "P2K"Craig,

How did you get your first paid gig?
I got my first paid gig by busking in my home town and some one from lincoln city saw me and what I could do, and he got me to do all the home games last year. And taken me on for this year aswell

How did you first advertise yourself?
I advertise on the internet with my site and I am on some other sites like ukentertaners which I get a lot of work from, also word of mouth,handing cards out , just going in to places and asking if they have any events coming up,putting cards in shop windows, I have my car with all the stickers on it,I got the paper to do a story on me so to sum up I do as much as I can :D

Martin.

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Craig,

How do you know that it dosn't loose you work? Someone is not going to look at your site see the adult section & then ring you up to tell you they wont use you. They will just go on looking for another site & entertainer that is more suitable for little Johnny or auntie Mary's party.

Like I said I fully under stand if I have lost work I cant tell I went to the magic club last night and I have the most work out of the other members if I lose 1 or 2 gigs from me doing adult balloons well so be it as for every 1 or 2 I gain 1 or 2 adults gigs  8-) we should do a poll should I do rude balloons yes or no

Quote from: "cashmagic"

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Craig,

How do you know that it dosn't loose you work? Someone is not going to look at your site see the adult section & then ring you up to tell you they wont use you. They will just go on looking for another site & entertainer that is more suitable for little Johnny or auntie Mary's party.

Like I said I fully under stand if I have lost work I cant tell I went to the magic club last night and I have the most work out of the other members if I lose 1 or 2 gigs from me doing adult balloons well so be it as for every 1 or 2 I gain 1 or 2 adults gigs  8-) we should do a poll should I do rude balloons yes or no

Quote from: "P2K"

Quote from: "cashmagic"

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Craig,

How do you know that it dosn't loose you work? Someone is not going to look at your site see the adult section & then ring you up to tell you they wont use you. They will just go on looking for another site & entertainer that is more suitable for little Johnny or auntie Mary's party.

Like I said I fully under stand if I have lost work I cant tell I went to the magic club last night and I have the most work out of the other members if I lose 1 or 2 gigs from me doing adult balloons well so be it as for every 1 or 2 I gain 1 or 2 adults gigs  8-) we should do a poll should I do rude balloons yes or no

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Here you go Craig, some more questions;

13, What is your favourite/ideal gig to do?
I like doing line work which is funny as most twisters hate this but I like like doing this lol
but I also injoy doing partys of 10 to 15 people as i can do my better stuff

14, What irritates you most at a gig?
Kid who push in or the mums dragging the kids down and sayying make my child a balloon

15, How do you book yourself?
I use the internet, drop cards off in shops, go to networking meeting, got my car with stickers on it,I have my gotie diffant colours this gets people to ask me why and i tell them what i do and give a card,I have t-shirts with my logo on it

16, What's the biggest thing you've ever made?
I make all the stuff on david grist vol 9 but also make a 9 ft duck and the othe day I made a 7 ft snake for a 13 year old I will put a pic up later

17, What has been your proudest achievement in our wonderful world of twisted latex?
I would have to say getting the backing from the princeses trust and getting in the paper on the front cover

18, What advice would you give to someone starting out, or wanting to increase their business?
keep out of lincoln or you will fail :evil:  :lol: but give cards out every where and never give up some thing that work for one might not work for others

Quote from: "Graham Lee"Craig, here are the last few questions unless others have any more for you?

19, What road in latex do you see yourself taking in the future
I hope to get to the point where every one knows my name like ken stillman or graham lee :D
I want to teach how to do this great art to more people so they can get the bug like I have.

20, What is your personal goal when you set off to work? Is it money or to entertain etc?
I think its money as we all have to put food on the table but I dont look at this as work as I love it so much but it is my only income so I have to entertain and make people smile or I dont get any more work :cry:

21, What are your balloon goals for the future?
Like I said in a other post I am working on a pdf with some other people and hoping to bring more in to it as well.
I also want to get to some of the big balloon jams all over the world :D

22, If you could start all over again, would you change anything?
Yes I think I should of gone full time a lot faster instead of sitting on my ass thinking of it

23, How would you like the future of balloon modelling to develop?
It would be great if in the uk we had a big balloon jam like the others have and for more people to think about the uk like sempertex to get more of the balloons over here like 660s and the other shapes we are here and we need the same stuff as the USA. :x

24, Who's the most famous person you have made a balloon creation for?
I have made a balloon for the actors of lazy town as they was going to be at a fireworks show I was working but they didnt come as one of them was ill :cry: But I did give it to the dj of lincs fm dont know which one  :lol:

25, How do you keep the enthusiasm going & what still excites you about our great world of latex
The endless things you can make I love going on the internet and seeing that some one has found a way to make a balloon look like some thing new and when you look at a pic and say thats a bike and dont even think thats a balloon bike

26, What inspires or is your thought process in coming up with a new design
I dont realy come up with any thing new my self I am a copy cat :twisted: but some times I chage things around abit or when I walk down the street you get a thought I bet I could make that :idea:

27, Who would you like to work with dead or alive?
the one and only Tommy Copper but in the balloon world ed chee or don cadwell or bad to the balloon mark any one realy

p.s I forgot the best person Graham Lee the best balloon artist in the world (if you can send the free balloons to the same place) :D  :D  :D  

28, What makes you laugh?
Kids jokes
eg:  Q-why did the chicken cross the road
       A-to get run over :lol:  :lol:
I always ask the kids for jokes even if they dont know any they try to make one up or just say you are a joke but that just hurts :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

Quote from: "cashmagic"I have had 20 people click on the children partys and out of that I got 10 partys