Colin Myles Interview 1st/7th Sept

Started by Graham Lee, July 22, 2008, 07:59:57 PM

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Graham Lee

A good old friend has kindly said yes to being interviewed on the site, Colin runs a shop up in Dundee Scotland and can turn his hand to twisting & decorating, he is comfortable with either. Colin has won numerous awards all over the world at all the major balloon conventions. Colin dosn't go out entertaining & twisting, he mainly works from his workshop coming up with some truly amazing designs & concepts. So the compiled list wont be of much use to us as although he dosn't go out entertaining I think he could as he's a very funny chap, especially after a few beers :)
To View Colin's website; http://www.smileyballoons.com/
or portfolio; http://colinmyles.balloonhq.com/

I'm really chuffed that he has agreed to answer questions on our little forum :D

P.S. I feel that I should publicly thank Colin for helping me overcome my dreadfull fear of flying.
Those that know me will tell you how paranoid I was about the whole situation and without his encouragement &
holding my hand I may never have got to experience the wonder & excitement of going to America & China with him.
So Colin, I thank you, it was very much appreciated.
"Lets Improve Our Art"
Balloon Excellence 2012 Award Winner
For Services to the Balloon Community.
https://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk
http://www.sempertexballoons.co.uk

Graham Lee

#1
Colin is raring to go next week so if we could get some questions up for him to answer as the normal  list wont be relevent :)
"Lets Improve Our Art"
Balloon Excellence 2012 Award Winner
For Services to the Balloon Community.
https://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk
http://www.sempertexballoons.co.uk

Graham Lee

#2
Colin,
I'll go through the set questions & take out the ones that are not relevent to you. So here we go with the first few, if anyone else wants to fire away at Colin with other questions then please do :D

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?
"Lets Improve Our Art"
Balloon Excellence 2012 Award Winner
For Services to the Balloon Community.
https://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk
http://www.sempertexballoons.co.uk

daveandrews

#3
Hello, Colin, nice to meet you.

That's some neat weaving, and the work in your portfolio is simply b***** incredible. I'll get up from the floor and give you a couple of questions.

1. Have you never twisted in public.

2. If not, would you like to, and would it be 'strolling' or an actual, say, birthday party.

3. Which actually came first. The decorating, or the twisting.

Dave



Dave Andrews
https://www.partymagic.org.uk/

Winner \'People\'s Choice Award\' at KIDabra International Conference
for family and children\'s entertainers in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

colin myles

#4
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Colin,
I'll go through the set questions & take out the ones that are not relevent to you. So here we go with the first few, if anyone else wants to fire away at Colin with other questions then please do :D
First of all can I thank you for asking mr to do this, I think that Graeme has done a wonderful job with the forum in such a short space of time.  Anyway to the fray :D
1, What road led you into balloon modelling?
It was a natural continuance from decor work, people would ask for small sculptures which usaually work better with non round balloon, so I started doing the usual basic twisting from Marvin Hardy book, my dogs are still pretty bad,

2, when did you get started with balloons?
My wife Ray and I started a party shop in the early 90's, with no thought at all of doing balloons, it was purely to sell party goods and fancy dress, but people kept asking for us to inflate balloons

3, What's your best twisting experience?
Gosh that is a difficult one, the best experiance, there are so many, I have been so lucky over the last few years to
have been involved in a lot of great projects, travel to places I never dreamed I would visit, and also meet a huge amount of very intresting people some of whom I can now call friends.
But probably the most rewarding experiances for me is the ability to make someone happy from something, that is made from my mind and hands


4, What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you during a ballooning/entertaining session?
A wedding job quite a number of years ago, involved making a canopy across the dance floor, which is time consuming but not especially challenging. Anyway I had just finished the canopy when the best man walked in, and said wow that is
great but I did not think we were having balloons at our wedding.
I phoned back to the shop and of course the hotel I should have been in was actually next door. (The scores hotel St Andrews, not the St Andrews hotel on the Scores
I will not bore you with what happened next nor am I particularly proud, but I did transport everthing next door, and even got a thankyou from the bride a couple of weeks later, saying how professional everyting was
but the feeling in my stomach when I realised I was in the wrong place was definately the worst moment for me

5, What do you most enjoy about twisting & why?
That is an easy one simply the joy to everyone ( including me ) that it brings

Graham Lee

#5
Colin, some more questions that are suitable for you I think?

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

9, What is the most asked for sculpture?

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?

I know you were a good friend of David Grist & worked with him a lot. Do you have a funny moment that you could share with us all about the both of you?
"Lets Improve Our Art"
Balloon Excellence 2012 Award Winner
For Services to the Balloon Community.
https://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk
http://www.sempertexballoons.co.uk

colin myles

#6
Quote from: daveandrewsHello, Colin, nice to meet you.

HI Dave and nice to meet you also, thanks for the questions

That's some neat weaving, and the work in your portfolio is simply b***** incredible. I'll get up from the floor and give you a couple of questions.

1. Have you never twisted in public.
I did once twist in public :oops:  quite a few years ago at our local gala week, I suppose it was ok apart from the howling wind and driving rain ( normal summer weather in Scotland ). To be very honest my basic repetoitre is very limited,
I can probably make anything but usually, I have to look at a picture first, I think like anything practice makes you better

2. If not, would you like to, and would it be 'strolling' or an actual, say, birthday party.

In some ways yes I would like to attempt public twisting, before i did i would have to practice to have 30 or 40 good
simple sculptures to do. I actually have a dream of taking two weeks off. travel to Europe with a few bags of 260q's
and see if I can earn enough to survive, although I would probably take my Visa card just in case  ;)


3. Which actually came first. The decorating, or the twisting.

The decorating was first, millons of weddings and birthday parties, only after about four years of decorating did I start to twist. I suppose the twisting came because people asked for specific sculptures and I had to learn how to work with 260q's to make the sculptures. One of the reasons I think it took so long before I really got into twisting was that I could not
blow a 260q up by mouth (  :oops:  I still cnnot )

colin myles

#7
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Colin, some more questions that are suitable for you I think?

Questions suitable for me   :lol:  

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

Difficult one Graham, I suppose the current project is always the favourite, I have to make a tractor for the weekend,but that is one of the best things about the job, I never know what will be asked for next, it could be unusual decor, a sculpture, or even a balloon dress, I must admit i like all aspects of balloon work equally.


9, What is the most asked for sculpture?

Probably at the moment, the sculpture I am doing most is a seven foot thistle ( hoots mon ), I first made it at a competition about three years ago then really very occasionally, but I have made eight in the last few weeks



11, Who is your market aimed at?

Good question Graham, that is something I should think about  :idea:

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

In summer time most of our work is for weddings, ( for my sins, ) still nowadays it is good repeat business. In the winter
time it becomes far more corporate work, it seems most componies have their balls in winter

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

My favourite gig, I should say one that pays well and is not stressfull to do. but really I prefer a challenge of something that I have not done before, which of course usually involves lots of stress, but ultimately a lot of satisfaction if things go well.
One of my current favourites was the job we did together at the Cafe Royal.


I know you were a good friend of David Grist & worked with him a lot. Do you have a funny moment that you could share with us all about the both of you?

David, the world is certainly a poorer place without him. both his creativaty and his humor.

There a lot of stories, but I will give you one. In America we shared a room with another two people, four people in one
room is never good, but David was never fantastic at being tidy, and neither for that matter were the other two, the room
really was like a bomb site.
One day David and I were on our way to our room going along the corridor, when we saw the maid come out. Without a word we both about turned and went straight back downstairs, not daring to return till after midnight
I will think of other David stories that are printable, and post them later in the week

Graham Lee

#8
Hi Colin, a few more questions;

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

Graham Lee
"Lets Improve Our Art"
Balloon Excellence 2012 Award Winner
For Services to the Balloon Community.
https://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk
http://www.sempertexballoons.co.uk

Graham Lee

#9
Colin has asked me to put up some of his pictures for you to see;
"Lets Improve Our Art"
Balloon Excellence 2012 Award Winner
For Services to the Balloon Community.
https://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk
http://www.sempertexballoons.co.uk

Danny the Idiot

#10
Hi Colin,

how long did it take to weave the giant dog?



best wishes

Danny
Danny Schlesinger
Balloon Excellence Award Winner
https://dannytheidiot.com
https://www.CircoRidiculoso.com
Follow me on Twitter at @danny_the_idiot

daveandrews

#11
I'm off to commit suicide  :o  and I'm going to use Sempertex balloons. As they are longer, slightly, I might not succeed  :lol:

Colin, you really are too much.

Dave



Dave Andrews
https://www.partymagic.org.uk/

Winner \'People\'s Choice Award\' at KIDabra International Conference
for family and children\'s entertainers in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

colin myles

#12
Quote from: Graham LeeHi Colin, a few more questions;

14, What irritates you most at a gig?

I really cannot think of anything that irritates me when I decorate, I try to get along with
whichever facility I am working, my usual motto is to keep my head down and only speak
when spoken to.

Okay I do remember about a year ago I got pretty upset with a band ( they thought they
were good which they were not ), I had just about finished setting up and the drummer
said what would you think if I popped all your balloons, I looked at him and asked what he
would think if I smashed up his drum kit, there was pretty much silence after that

15, How do you book yourself?

We do some wedding fairs, but pretty much all our bookings come from word of mouth,
although I have been thinking of trying to work with an agent, especially for work in the
London area, so if anyone has any good contacts ????????   :lol:

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

I am honestly not sure, it probably is the monster truck that David grist and I made for
a competition in America, although the poodle is pretty big as well, thankyou Graham
for posting some pictures onto the forum


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

Hopefully that day has not come yet

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

To someone just coming into the business I would really reccomend to try and learn as
many techniques as possible, which will give you so many tools to work with in the future.
In just a few years the amount of information availlable has increased hugely, I know I
am pretty sad but everyday I look at pictures on about four websites to try and increase
my knowledge. I also think entertainers should try and learn at least the basics of decorating
a lot of events you are performiing at may be intrested in having some decoration done
beforehand, which is I think a great way to increase income.


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

A really good question Graham, this is something I have been asking myself a lot recently
I really do think the world is opening up to balloon art, we were of course both lucky enough
to be invited out to China last year. I think opportunities such as this will become more
frequent, as the public are exposed to good examples of what the balloon world has to
offer.

I have really enjoyed doing this so far, some of the answers have really got me thinking,
so please if anyone has anything they would like to ask, fire away.
I am sure you have some questions Thelma, even if it is just to ask how I manage to
retain my youthfull good looks   ;)

colin myles

#13
how long did it take to weave the giant dog?

Hi Danny, the poodle took 20hours to twist, if you say it quickly it does not sound to bad
one of my biggest fears if i ever do line work would be if someone asked me to make a
poodle,  :oops:  I think it would be eh hang on there son this should not take too long

                                                                                  best wishes
                                                                                              Colin

colin myles

#14
"]I'm off to commit suicide  :o  and I'm going to use Sempertex balloons. As they are longer, slightly, I might not succeed  :lol:

Hi Dave, thanks, you give me the opportunity to plug Qualatex  :D  :D
Sriously though, I am jealous of the entertainers, I have been doing some teaching recently
and think the principles of entertaining applies to teaching, I am trying to learn this but
find it very difficult. I suppose I am just a dour Scotsman who likes to shut himself off
from the public. In fact one day I might become prime minister   ;)